Coffee is an essential element in American culture, and an average American drinks 2.3 cups of coffee per day. You probably can’t imagine starting your day without having your daily dosage of caffeine. But suddenly, you don’t feel like drinking it anymore. Your body has developed a sudden aversion to coffee. How and why did this happen?
A sudden aversion to coffee is most common during pregnancy, but some of us may still experience it during normal times. In most cases, this aversion is not life-threatening – it’s simply caused by other food sicknesses, nausea, or overuse. People who develop coffee aversion may feel nausea, sick, or dizziness after consuming coffee. Simply stop drinking it and try again in a few days.
But that’s just scratching the surface of why you might get a sudden aversion to coffee. Keep reading to learn more about how you can develop an aversion to coffee.
Sudden Aversion to Coffee
Coffee aversion is typically characterized as an upset stomach after consuming coffee, along with general discomfort and disgust for the flavor of coffee. You may blame a bad piece of food you had last night. But the issue could also be from consuming too much coffee and the associated caffeine.
It happens when your body can’t digest coffee properly. Often it is developed gradually, and not many people understand it’s going on until it becomes noticeable. Studies have identified particular genes that contribute to a person’s ability to metabolize caffeine. So some people may be able to handle several servings per day and be able to metabolize caffeine faster, allowing them to fall asleep even after drinking coffee late in the day. Lucky!
Symptoms of Coffee Aversion
The symptoms are much milder than most beverage aversions. Please don’t confuse it with allergies because the symptoms of allergies are much problematic than that of aversion.
You will feel the symptoms right after having thought of consuming it or consuming the coffee.
Below are some common symptoms of coffee aversion. When you find yourself experiencing the following issues before or after drinking coffee, be careful it doesn’t get out of control.
High Blood Pressure
After consuming coffee, if your blood pressure rises (mainly because of hypertension), it can damage your organs, increases the risk of kidney failure, adrenal, and thyroid disease. That’s why your body may try to avoid the consumption of it by creating a coffee aversion.
Stomach Problems
This problem can happen if you consume coffee more than regular dosage, or coffee temperature can cause this problem. If you are drinking the coffee in proper ways and amount but still facing the same problem, try reducing coffee intake.
Feeling Jittery
Your morning coffee cup can make you feel awake from its stimulant effect, and the same effect can make you feel jittery. When you don’t fully hydrate before taking your first coffee of the day, caffeine may react with your cells’ toxins. So, hydrate first before taking the coffee. Still feeling jittery? Then we can assume that’s the effect of the coffee aversion.
Nauseous/Vomit
If you are consuming healthy foods but still feeling nauseous or vomiting after drinking coffee, there is a chance that caffeine is harming your body. Measure the quantity of caffeine you are taking – healthy adults can take up to 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine per day. If you’re consuming more than this, stop!
Causes of Coffee Aversion & How to Fix It
You should try and figure out the reason for your coffee aversion unless you want to spend the rest of your life ignoring this heavenly beverage.
Common causes of coffee aversion can include the following:
Acidity
Because of its low pH level, coffee can act as a pretty acidic substance. This amount will have a high effect if any person consumes it on an empty stomach. When you have a hyposensitivity or hypersensitivity to caffeine, consuming a little extra caffeine can cause adverse side effects to your body.
Reduce coffee consumption or use low acidic coffees, like decaf coffee and coffee extracts. The level of caffeine in these types is relatively low, while you can still get the flavor.
Genetic Makeup
Having caffeine sensitivity can be a real reason for your aversion. While one person can take a couple of espresso shots but won’t feel anything, others feel discomfort just after taking a sip in the latte. Why? Genetic history might explain the best.
These three groups are widely accepted to measure the sensitivity level of a person.
When it comes to caffeine sensitivity, all people usually fall into one of the three categories below.
Normal Sensitivity
Most people fall into this category. The preferred caffeine consumption level can be up to 400 mg. Consuming more than this can cause nausea, headaches, and anxiety.
Hyposensitivity
Those who consume caffeine regularly often develop this trait. This is the group of people whom we know as coffee addicts. Even after consuming more than the prescribed amount of caffeine, they don’t feel fatigued or any problem.
Hypersensitivity
These people are completely intolerant to the little dosage of caffeine. Besides, consuming a little bit of caffeine can cause several side effects. This sensitivity can arise for genes or the liver’s ability to metabolize caffeine.
Lactose Intolerance
When someone has lactose intolerance, consuming a little bit of cream or milk can create coffee aversion, causing them diarrhea or stomach problems.
To solve this problem, you can add lactose-free cream and milk to your coffee or add a lactase enzyme to your coffee to break down the lactose.
Caffeine
As mentioned earlier, intolerance towards caffeine can be a reason for your aversion to coffee suddenly. This can make you nauseous, jittery, raise your heart rate, and make you sick and dizzy.
As caffeine is a common reason for coffee aversion, you should refrain from drinking it for a while to see if you feel better.
You can also try drinking decaf to see if that fixes your sudden aversion to coffee.
Coffee Aversion vs. Coffee Allergy
Those with coffee aversion might feel sick after drinking it or feel jittery and uncomfortable by having just thought of coffee. These problems can be genetic or even psychological. But, lots of people have overcome this problem and can process coffee in the usual way.
On the other hand, coffee allergies is an adverse immune response to coffee. Your immune system treats the particles of the coffee as harmful to your system. This reaction starts very quickly after taking one or two cups of coffee a day. And the symptoms can be much severe than coffee aversion, like having skin rashes or hives, or even respiratory issues.
Even though coffee aversion and allergies can be treated, most doctors advise avoiding caffeine if anyone has coffee allergies.
When is Coffee Aversion Most Likely to Occur?
It’s relatively unfamiliar for a person to feel a sudden loss of taste for coffee. But coffee aversion is quite common during pregnancy.
During the first trimester of pregnancy, many women feel a sudden aversion to coffee. And this may continue the whole time during pregnancy.
Pregnancy increases the chance of entering caffeine into the fetus. A pregnant women’s body is more likely to trigger an aversion to caffeine, as the fetus is very sensitive to caffeine. Also, the change in hormones can cause this aversion too.
Some Facts about Consumption of Coffee in Pregnancy
Consumption of coffee for a pregnant woman is permissible at 200mg per day, but this safety measure can still cause fatal damage if she is allergic to coffee. Here are some facts on caffeine intake pregnant women should know;
- Consuming coffee more than the prescribed amount can increase the risk of miscarriage.
- Even consuming caffeine for 200 to 300mg can increase the chance of miscarriage, even in the first trimester.
- Consuming about 150-200 mg of caffeine in a day can increase the risk of miscarriage than those who drink no caffeine.
These studies are enough to state that consuming caffeine can be dangerous if someone is expecting.
Still, anyone with a craving for caffeine can go for Decaf coffee. As it has a lower caffeine rate, consuming one or two cups can be an acceptable limit.
Alternative Options for coffee
While looking for something to deal with an aversion to coffee and decrease my caffeine dependency, I started looking for some alternatives. Here are some alternatives which you can enjoy if you’d like to try to experiment with other drinks.
Matcha Tea
It can be an excellent alternative for those who want to get relief from acidity and enjoy something healthy instead. As it has L-theanine, it can offer relief from drowsiness without having extra caffeine.
How many glasses you can drink is still debated, but it is advisable to consume no more than 2-3 cups.
Yerba Mate
This beverage is made from the yerba mate tree and has energy like coffee. It’s loaded with riboflavin, theobromine, phosphorus, iron, calcium, and vitamin E, giving you a smoother energy boost without the jittery feeling of caffeine.
Golden Milk
A non-caffeinated drink includes invigorating substances like ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper, honey, and vanilla. Due to the particles’ chemical curcumin, golden milk has anti-inflammatory substances that can help you improve your mental health, bone density, and increases fat absorption power.
Conclusion
So, here are the basics of sudden aversion to coffee. We tried to cover all the aspects of this topic and some actionable tips to avoid coffee aversion. Hopefully, you found the reason for your aversion and some tips to deal with it. Have you been able to overcome a sudden coffee aversion? If so please let us know in the comment section below!
Stay caffeinated (or in this case, healthy), friends!