I had a similar thought to this the other day. For nearly my entire adulthood working, something around 15 years, not a single day has passed where I have explicitly recall NOT having coffee.

Addiction is real. 😬

I really hope I can avoid that, haven't fallen into it yet.

Why not both?

More espresso, less depresso.

That can be said of most narcotics

And, following that, a laxative

Where I was raised there wasn't a taboo over coffee as a "drink for adults" (something that I learned from American movies and found quite funny). When I was a kid I'd drink coffee with milk because I didn't care much about coffee, but nobody would bat an eye if I did... I also never understood that thing about people drinking coffee and getting energized. From what I learned, American-style coffee has about half the caffeine of the regular coffee we have here (Brazil), and not rarely I have coffee with bread or cookies before bed (if I didn't have dinner and I'm feeling too lazy to make something). It doesn't affect my sleep in the least and I never felt the least energized with coffee. I always thought this thing about caffeine getting you high was a joke from movies, but people in real life do seem to claim it :S
(well, I do remember teens smoking oregano thinking it was pot and claiming to be high as well...)

ps: Nope, I'm not addicted to coffee. The regular breakfast here is coffee with bread and butter, but most of the time I don't have breakfast before leaving so I don't drink any coffee the whole day, and I go weeks without drinking it. If it isn't to have coffee with bread, cookies or biscuits, I don't have coffee at all.

I also always see people saying that having a coffee or a smoke helps them take a shit in the morning, because they wake up, have a coffee and cigarette and they take a shit... well, I wake up, don't do either, and after 5-10min I take a shit too...

Eventually?!

Yeah, although it's called espresso

This is my emotional support crack pipe, you have to let me take it on the plane!

I think that's just movies - kids just wouldn't like coffee because it's bitter. No one I've known has said kids can't have coffee, just recognize they won't like it.

Hell, my father let me taste his coffee and beer when I was 5-ish because I was curious. I disliked the coffee completely, but the beer had something...

I stumbled on liking coffee in my 20's.

Edit: caffeine effects people differently. As a young adult caffeine wouldn't keep me from sleeping, today if I have coffee late in the day it may impact my sleep. A sibling can't have any caffeine after lunch or it definitely messes with sleep.

I call coffee 'care coffee'. Because I don't care about anything until I have some xD

You mean it moves to an addiction?

Hmm. Im gotta go choose wisely then..

I can quit it anytime I want to suffer caffeine withdrawal headaches.

Ty grammar Nazi.

I LOVE DRUGS

(I JUST HAD COFFEE IM SO HYPED HOMIE)

99.999% of caffeine users stop before the drink that will cure all their mental illnesses forever and ever and ever.

There's a common myth over here that coffee can stunt a child's growth. A myth I only today learned was false after researching it for this comment.

Interestingly, many skip that first step. Iirc, it's about 30% who don't get more awake but rather start to relax under caffeine. About the same % who also need to poop right after, but not the same people. Lol

Narcotics are opioids or other downers.

Caffeine is obviously psychoactive but is not a narcotic.

Anything you regularly enjoy becomes an emotional support.

As your article mentions, there is no single legal definition of "narcotic". That article even mentions multiple non-sedative illicit substances as being "narcotics", such as cocaine, cannabis, etc.

Ok dweeb, by all means continue calling coffee a narcotic.