The best time for your coffee
November 4, 2013 6:02 PM   Subscribe

"If you are drinking your morning coffee at 8 AM, is that really the best time? The circadian rhythm of cortisol production would suggest not."
posted by paleyellowwithorange (89 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
Any time is the best time, silly.
posted by entropicamericana at 6:04 PM on November 4, 2013 [11 favorites]


Balderdash. They didn't control for Hating Your Job and/or Riding the 7 Train.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:10 PM on November 4, 2013 [44 favorites]


How about 6:30?
posted by rikschell at 6:11 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


Everyone in favor of having someone tell us the best time to do everything so that we can become better people raise your right hand.
No, not now. I'll tell you when.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 6:12 PM on November 4, 2013 [74 favorites]


Why not both?
posted by jquinby at 6:12 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


People attempting to min/max reality make me sad.
posted by The Whelk at 6:12 PM on November 4, 2013 [34 favorites]


Anyone who says I approach my maximum level of alertness at 8-9 AM has a different definition of alertness than I do. Maximum level of stress, perhaps.
posted by JohnnyB at 6:16 PM on November 4, 2013 [13 favorites]


You monsters, my blood is 50% filter and 50% French press. Ain't no circadian rhythms left in this house. The right time for drinking coffee is now. Forever.
posted by 1adam12 at 6:20 PM on November 4, 2013 [26 favorites]


I follow the "caffeine-cortisol-averaging" strategy, making hourly coffee ingestions to level out the highs and lows of my Zeitgeber rhythm.
posted by notyou at 6:23 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


Yeah, if my maximum alertness is between 8-9am, lord help me.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:28 PM on November 4, 2013 [10 favorites]


I drink Turkish coffee and the best time to drink it is whenever I feel like it...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 6:36 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


Right, well our circadian rhythms of cortisol production did not evolve in a pre-historic environment where we had to wake unnaturally to an alarm clock and then go sit in front of a computer monitor all day for no actual good reason. So how about I drink my coffee when I damn well want to because my "natural rhythms" mean nothing in a completely arbitrary and unnatural 21st century working world.

And get off my lawn.
posted by jnnla at 6:39 PM on November 4, 2013 [16 favorites]


All I know is that if I have coffee any time AFTER 10am, I am gonna be awake till 3am and be in the throes of an anxiety attack while I'm at it. I am dangerous on coffee after 10.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 6:40 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


What? Every time is a good time for coffee.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:41 PM on November 4, 2013


Did not RTFA. Too tired. Will read it tomorrow at 8:00am with my GODDAMN COFFEE.
posted by Cookiebastard at 6:44 PM on November 4, 2013 [4 favorites]


Are you telling me I shouldn't be drinking this Mountain Dew at 9:45 p.m.?
posted by briank at 6:47 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


For someone heavily invested in a field that seems to just be making up words we already have words for, this post sure does show a clear lack of understanding of how stress, cortisol levels, caffeine and alertness are related, yes, but not the same fucking thing at all.

PHDerp
posted by hobo gitano de queretaro at 6:48 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


When I win the lottery and pursue a life of active leisure that, importantly, means I don't have to adhere to anyone else's goddamn schedule, I'll do a caffeine detox. As it stands now, though, for me, pre-lottery, that salt ain't gonna mine itself. And I need my bump--make that plural, bumps--throughout the day.
posted by zardoz at 6:49 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


Make mine a venti skinny macchiato Zeitgerber with sprinkles.
posted by islander at 6:53 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


it's not about rhythms or any thing, but i recently moved my morning coffee from 7:30 to more like 11 and i do find more of a boost and less of a sick stomach.
posted by nadawi at 6:54 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


Wait, scientists drink the most coffee? I thought everyone was like this. We just opened a new office, and brought in an espresso machine before furniture. Isn't that normal? How do other people get anything done?

*googles*

whoah...
First coffee house in Christendom: 1645

Age of Enlightenment begins: 1650.

I think I just understood something about history, and my profession, that I never knew before.
posted by agentofselection at 6:56 PM on November 4, 2013 [62 favorites]


For such a trivial issue, this is the most delightfully angry thread I've seen in a while.
posted by General Tonic at 6:58 PM on November 4, 2013 [12 favorites]


DON'T YOU TELL ME WHEN TO DRINK MY COFFEE!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:59 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


I only drink coffee at midnight, when the moment is not right, my timing is quite unusual.
posted by hellojed at 7:04 PM on November 4, 2013 [6 favorites]


Any time is the best time, silly.

For some of us, this is Not True. For a number of reasons (including that I'm not a huge fan of most soda that isn't root beer) I don't really drink any caffeine so, when I do, it gets CRAZY.

Last time someone at work gave me half a cup of coffee I started sending my husband emails explaining that I no longer believed in cause and effect and that, while I was typing and words were appearing, this was the result of serendipity and my fingers moving on the keyboard were not actually making the words happen. He sent me an email asking if I was okay. I said yes (well, the word appeared on the screen while I waggled my fingers but that was probably coincidence). Afterwards he texted my work friend to ask if I was okay. She said, "Uh, Mrs. Pterodactyl just came in acting super weird so I'm not really sure?"

Shortly afterwards I informed him that I believed that, if given a place to lie down in a sufficiently dark room, I could lift a couch with my mind.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:04 PM on November 4, 2013 [55 favorites]


What the hell am I supposed to drink to get me through to 09:30?
posted by arcticseal at 7:15 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


For such a trivial issue, this is the most delightfully angry thread I've seen in a while.

I know, right? Here I was thinking, "Oh that's interesting; and there's some interesting stuff in there about light, too. Here, I'll share it."

Did not factor for a bunch of MeFites hopped up on caffeine.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 7:15 PM on November 4, 2013 [10 favorites]


I am not interested in drinking coffee at an optimal time. I am interested in drinking coffee when I need a jolt. And that will be the wee, wee hours of the morning while I'm trying to feel alive again...
posted by jim in austin at 7:16 PM on November 4, 2013


I am not interested in drinking coffee at an optimal time. I am interested in drinking coffee when I need a jolt.

This is one of the interesting things discussed in TFA; e.g. "Do you ever drink your coffee and feel like it just didn't work? I know I have that feeling sometimes." I've had that experience, and thought the explanation was worth knowing.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 7:19 PM on November 4, 2013


I am fading toward bedtime now, so am not going to provide links, but i have read articles suggesting that the consumption of coffee was historically linked to the Industrial Revolution model, when Workers had to be alert at a Specified time. Get caffeinated; clock in. There.
posted by kozad at 7:19 PM on November 4, 2013


All I know is that every tax preparation professional I have ever worked with drinks WAY too much coffee, all day, all the time. The stereotype in my mind is programmer is to Mountain Dew as CPA is to coffee. During the height of tax season I will occasionally join them in an afternoon coffee, but the rest of the year? Fuck that.
posted by Curious Artificer at 7:23 PM on November 4, 2013


I am interested in drinking coffee anytime I feel like it at my new job which HAS A KEURIG IN THE BREAKROOM! (Little things make public librarians happy)
posted by Biblio at 7:25 PM on November 4, 2013


But, do you ever drink your coffee and feel like it just didn’t work?

Yes. It's called drinking too much coffee and now your body has adapted to the caffeine.

In any event, I now have cinnamon and MCT oil in my coffee, instead of creamer and stevia, so I am a bit too next-level for you guys.
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:29 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


if you never stop drinking coffee as long as you are awake you don't have to worry about this
posted by spitbull at 7:31 PM on November 4, 2013


If I could make these new-to-me cortados at home, I would drink them as often and as early or as late as my shaky hands would allow. But not more than twice a day. Four. Definitely four.

Aso, count me in among the folks who would be dead twice a week if I waited on my coffee until 8:00AM. I drink a mug of undiluted cold-press at 6:00 and another of same as I drive to work at 7:45. Man, 8:00? Do these people telecommute or something? *a light dawns*
posted by wenestvedt at 7:36 PM on November 4, 2013


My two year old daughter woke up at 5AM as part of her performance art project "Fuck Daylight Savings Time". I'm drinking coffee whenever I damn well please.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 7:37 PM on November 4, 2013 [53 favorites]


They claim that (with general overuse?) the caffeine loses its effectiveness over the course of the day; in my experience this actually accelerates until it starts having negative effects.

I definitely need coffee in the morning, but I've always felt like half the effect is the "internal hot shower" I get. However, after the first cup or two, coffee begins to put me to sleep more and more easily as the day goes on. As a mater of fact, if I'm up at 3am and can't sleep I'll make a cup of coffee and be fast asleep 20 minutes later, and an afternoon cup of coffee can bring on a nap if I'm a little too comfy. Someone once told me it's an ADD thing, like the way stimulants affect those with ADD differently, but I have no idea if that's the case.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:38 PM on November 4, 2013 [5 favorites]


I would become unemployed were I to follow this ridiculous suggestion. Actually, I would probably become dead in a traffic accident just as my employer was considering termination. Absurd. Re-do the science please, until you get it right.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:41 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


"internal hot shower"! That's brilliant! That's why I like hot drinks and warm foods (e.g. porridge or toast) any time of the day, and hot meals even on the hottest days of the year - I just like to feel warm inside.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 7:43 PM on November 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


What would Pippi do?
posted by ovvl at 7:53 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


My first cup happens at 5:29 am weekdays. I hope that's optimal because it's unlikely to change.
posted by rtha at 7:55 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


Man, "zeitgeber" looks like it must be a hoot to say, but I've never gotten my head around German pronunciation so I'm really just speculating here.
posted by Now there are two. There are two _______. at 8:01 PM on November 4, 2013


I appreciate the idea behind the article, but between 8 and 9am I am asleep. It's utterly pointless to try to pin everyone to the same circadian rhythm. Now, if he'd said "An hour after you wake up unassisted" that might be sort of useful.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:01 PM on November 4, 2013 [7 favorites]


I've definitely had those times when I drank a cup of coffee and then got inexplicably way sleepier than before. It makes me angry, because if you can't count on coffee, what on this godforsaken earth can you count on.
posted by naju at 8:24 PM on November 4, 2013 [7 favorites]


An hour after you wake up unassisted"

This would have drinking my coffee at 4:30 am several nights a week, And I can tell you that from the small sample of times where I have tried this ("fuck it, I'll just get up and go to work instead of staring at the ceiling") it has always ended in disaster or injury by 2:00 PM. The only time I am absolutely reliably sound asleep at any point during my 24 hour trip is at 6:00 AM, when the alarm clock goes off. The only remedy to the incommodious circumstance I find myself in 5 mornings a week is coffee, immediately, and forthwith.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:24 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


The best time for a first cup of coffee is subcutaneous injection .5 hours before your alarm goes off.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:31 PM on November 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


Ever wonder what the best time is to drink your coffee? You probably know it is not a good idea to drink part of your daily dose of caffeine in the afternoon.

Don't you tell me what to do, you don't know me!
posted by barnacles at 8:34 PM on November 4, 2013


naju: "I've definitely had those times when I drank a cup of coffee and then got inexplicably way sleepier than before. It makes me angry, because if you can't count on coffee, what on this godforsaken earth can you count on."

There are people for whom this is true, particularly if they have ADHD symptoms. Or if they're just awesome and too strong for their coffee.
posted by barnacles at 8:35 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


My dad would say he can't wait til 11 am to poop.
posted by onlyconnect at 8:37 PM on November 4, 2013 [4 favorites]


I liked this article and don't understand why people are so angryface about it.
posted by sweetkid at 8:37 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


The best time to drink my breakfast coffee Diet Coke is within 10 minutes of waking and ideally before my children wake up. Otherwise shit is going to get really real really fast.

Even my four-year-old will say, "Mommy, there are no more Diet Cokes, it is a crisis situation!" He knows.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:38 PM on November 4, 2013 [6 favorites]


Eyebrows McGee: "Even my four-year-old will say, "Mommy, there are no more Diet Cokes, it is a crisis situation!" He knows."

Sounds like my house, except replace "Diet Coke" with "Coke Zero" and "four-year-old [child]" with "cats".
posted by barnacles at 8:40 PM on November 4, 2013 [5 favorites]


This is because cortisol production is strongly related to your level of alertness and it just so happens that cortisol peaks for your 24 hour rhythm between 8 and 9 AM on average

If I'm alert between 8 and 9 AM it means either I haven't gone to sleep yet, or it's one of those few beautiful instances in my life where I've let my circadian clock precess the whole way around, past the point of upside down land (getting up at 8PM and sleeping at 12PM) and all the way to the other side, where normal people live. Oh how I hate them.
posted by kersplunk at 8:42 PM on November 4, 2013 [5 favorites]


I liked this article and don't understand why people are so angryface about it.

We have people here who, when caffeine is lacking, hear their cats talking. QED.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 8:43 PM on November 4, 2013 [13 favorites]


Shortly afterwards I informed him that I believed that, if given a place to lie down in a sufficiently dark room, I could lift a couch with my mind.

What did you say when your husband asked the obvious followup question: why, if you have telekinetic powers, are you going to squander them rearranging the furniture?
posted by medusa at 8:45 PM on November 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


Also: if you think people are angry in this post, wait til you see the reaction to my shocking new blog post on the best time of day to read metafilter. The answer is not what you think!
posted by medusa at 8:46 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


I read this article a few days ago and have been following the suggestion to drink coffee between 9:30 and 11AM. I think it works. However, just to get to the 8AM to 9:30 cortisol surge, I need a strong cup at about 5:30AM to 6AM.
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:04 PM on November 4, 2013 [4 favorites]


There are people for whom this is true, particularly if they have ADHD symptoms.

Possibly. It happens reaaaaally rarely, though. It's hard to describe, it happens when I'm already feeling a mixture of hyper, insane and exhausted, and then I drink coffee and my brain is like "WHAT? DUDE, WHY" and then knocks me out cold in retaliation.
posted by naju at 9:09 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


The ideal moment for my morning caffienation routine is about 30 seconds after I'm awake and 20 seconds before I want to kill someone.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:45 PM on November 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


I can't drink coffee for more than about 5 days in a row without crashing and burning hideously. I call it Chasing the Brown Dragon.
Day 1: Awesome, I am on a roll, getting shit done. I must bring order to the universe. Why don't I drink this stuff every day?
Day 2: Same as day 1, with a slight edge.
Day 3: Only feeling slightly above baseline.
Day 4: Probably slept poorly the previous night. Woke up at 3am and decided after staring at the ceiling for an hour to go in to the office. On a roll until anyone else arrives, then spend the rest of the day scattered.
Day 5: Hating everyone and everything. More coffee only makes it worse. Instead of motivation to tackle interesting problems I find myself engaged in mindless repetitive tasks.
Swear off the stuff and spend the next two or three days struggling with zero motivation.
Rinse and repeat every month or so.
posted by Joe Chip at 9:48 PM on November 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


I am not interested in drinking coffee at an optimal time. I am interested in drinking coffee when I need a jolt.

The point of the article is that the optimal time to drink coffee is when you most need a jolt.
posted by John Cohen at 9:50 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


So coke light at 7:30 AM is right out?
posted by MartinWisse at 10:29 PM on November 4, 2013


Shortly afterwards I informed him that I believed that, if given a place to lie down in a sufficiently dark room, I could lift a couch with my mind.

Don't be ridiculous, you can't do that.


You have to start with something small, like a coffee cup.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:24 PM on November 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


Day 4: Probably slept poorly the previous night. Woke up at 3am and decided after staring at the ceiling for an hour to go in to the office. On a roll until anyone else arrives, then spend the rest of the day scattered.

If you kept up this 'anti-clock rotation', you would probably still have the same number of productive hours at the office, but you'd be showing up at all sorts of hours for your '9-5' shift. The anger and frustration comes from trying to accommodate everyone else's primitive concepts of 'productivity' tied to the first shift...
posted by mikelieman at 11:53 PM on November 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


The whole thread here reminds me of this aptly inscribed mug.
posted by KMB at 12:05 AM on November 5, 2013 [8 favorites]


Caffeine takes time to kick in so surely you should drink it before you need it? Also, caffeine metabolism is so variable between people. A good part of this is genetic (eg CYP1A2 variants) and a good part is habituation and some of it is other life style factors and some of it is kind of random. This is an area of active research and the variability isn't exactly controversial by now.

For example, I have the slow CYP1A2 variant, so caffeine affects me for about 12 hours after I drink it, and I have a regular daily habit where I generally drink the minimum amount required for efficacy so I get pretty bad withdrawal symptoms if I go without. Together this means I have to get in my daily dose before 10 am to avoid being kept awake that evening. If I do miss it by accident my slower metabolism means I don't notice the lack for several hours, so I get a killer headache mid-afternoon when it is far too late to do anything about it for that day. So if my husband finds my undrunk tea cold on the bench he makes a point of letting me know so I can fix it asap (or at least know what's coming that afternoon).

So assuming there's some kind of perfect time for everyone to drink their daily coffee does not make any scientific sense when you look at all the relevant things, of which cortisol levels is only one (and which I bet are also genetically determined and thus different between individuals to at least some extent). Hard and fast nutrition rules never do.
posted by shelleycat at 2:04 AM on November 5, 2013 [1 favorite]


I will continue to wake to my cicada rhythm, thank you. See you in 17 years!
posted by pracowity at 2:39 AM on November 5, 2013 [12 favorites]


Therefore, if we are drinking caffeine at a time when your cortisol concentration in the blood is at its peak, you probably should not be drinking it.
Sounds very quantum. Some sort of exclusion principle, or spooky action at a distance.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:30 AM on November 5, 2013


So, do you want to hear the saddest story of the world? Here it is:

I took an antibiotic (clindymicin) for a tooth infection a year ago, and now I can only drink one cup of coffee a day or my body revolts.

(but now I drink tea all day, which is pretty okay, so dry your tears).
posted by angrycat at 3:43 AM on November 5, 2013


This is good and all, but when is the best time for me to shoot smack? And if that is a better high than caffeine (just postulating here), couldn't 8:00 be the best time for coffee and 9:30 be the best time for smack? It's like they aren't even calculating in our other vices or taking into account any Dorfman-Steiner optimization work.
posted by Nanukthedog at 3:45 AM on November 5, 2013 [1 favorite]


If I don't have coffee before 11:00a, I start getting a splitting headache. I don't care about alertness anymore. I just want to keep the withdrawal symptoms at bay.
posted by klarck at 3:47 AM on November 5, 2013 [1 favorite]


I must have a slow C-something-something too, because my headaches don't start until mid/late afternoon...
posted by mikelieman at 4:44 AM on November 5, 2013


best time is just as you get into the office !!
posted by iansmith576 at 5:21 AM on November 5, 2013


wenestvedt: "If I could make these new-to-me cortados at home, I would drink them as often and as early or as late as my shaky hands would allow. But not more than twice a day. Four. Definitely four."

I know, right? CORTADOS. Like a cappuccino but with less foam, like an espresso but with more creamy. I've only found one coffee shop in my area that makes them, which means that I never go to any other coffee shops anymore.
posted by specialagentwebb at 5:24 AM on November 5, 2013 [3 favorites]


This is good and all, but when is the best time for me to shoot smack?

If you think it's bad when your caffeine stops working, just wait until the day your heroin stops working.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:24 AM on November 5, 2013


If it weren't for coffee, I wouldn't be typing this sentence. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure it isn't the coffee that's doing the typing. It We I think that's just fine.
posted by tommasz at 5:32 AM on November 5, 2013 [3 favorites]


I liked this article and don't understand why people are so angryface about it.
posted by sweetkid at 11:37 PM on November 4


"Never trust a junkie"
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 5:55 AM on November 5, 2013


It takes about an hour for caffeine to reach peak levels in the bloodstream after ingestion. The half-life of caffeine (how long it takes before half of it is cleared from the bloodstream) is 5-6 hours on average.

As interesting as the explanation of cortisol production in the article was, 8am-9am seems to me like the perfect time to have coffee.
posted by A dead Quaker at 6:00 AM on November 5, 2013


It's not just the caffeine, it's the ritual, the aroma, and years of conditioning.
posted by malocchio at 6:21 AM on November 5, 2013 [2 favorites]


no no no, the correct rythm is

noon: wakeup, eat everything
3pm: begin smoking cigarettes
5pm: begin drinking coffee
8pm: switch to beer
10pm: switch to now legal marijuana
midnight: cocaine baby!
5am: maybe the cocaine was a bad idea....
7am: get another carton of cigarettes
10am: water?
noon: eat everything
posted by Glibpaxman at 6:29 AM on November 5, 2013 [1 favorite]


oh jesus don't even remind me how great cigarettes were. ah, those breakfasts of coffee and cigarettes. yeah, my lungs think it's great I'm not smoking now, whatever whatever. For a time it was, 'Hate your life? Don't want to get out of bed? Here's a cup of joe light and sweet and a Camel! Now everything is okay!"
posted by angrycat at 6:54 AM on November 5, 2013 [6 favorites]


I am sort of in horrified awe of people who willingly drink coffee every day. To me it is the gastrointestinal equivalent of punching a wasp's nest.
posted by elizardbits at 8:44 AM on November 5, 2013


Is it coffee, or all caffeine? Because coffee is fucking nasty, but don't you lay a finger on my Red Bull.
posted by restless_nomad at 9:42 AM on November 5, 2013


To me it is the gastrointestinal equivalent of punching a wasp's nest.

I drink black coffee within seconds upon awaking but I kind of have to imagine I'm a hard boiled noir detective to do so.
posted by The Whelk at 9:45 AM on November 5, 2013


Apparently I am doing it right by accident, since I don't wake up until about 9:30 and I immediately have coffee. Glad to know this is approved by Science!

(OK probably the whole sleeping late thing is bad for my rhythm or blah blah blah)
posted by wildcrdj at 10:59 AM on November 5, 2013


The Whelk: "I drink black coffee within seconds upon awaking but I kind of have to imagine I'm a hard boiled noir detective to do so."

You just gave me the best idea for putting my Arduino to use by hooking it up to a clock and various servos so I can have french press coffee waiting for me when I wake up, like you can do with drip coffee machines. THANK YOU
posted by invitapriore at 12:46 PM on November 5, 2013


That's some Korban Dallas level shit there invitapriore

TO QUIT IS MY GOAL
posted by The Whelk at 12:47 PM on November 5, 2013 [1 favorite]


Heh, every day the ratio of grinds to water decreases, like the filters on his cigs.
posted by invitapriore at 12:48 PM on November 5, 2013


the best idea for putting my Arduino to use by hooking it up to a clock and various servos so I can have french press coffee waiting for me when I wake up, like you can do with drip coffee machines

Prototyped already with a Raspberry Pi, actually.
posted by mikelieman at 6:48 PM on November 5, 2013 [1 favorite]


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