Late last year I woke up in the morning (as I’m rather partial to doing) and felt like making a cup of black tea instead of my normal coffee. I was going to be getting brunch with Clara at our favourite local cafe in a few hours anyway, where I’m sure I’d be ordering my usual espresso or small long black.

I’m the first to admit that I have a caffeine addiction. My caffeine withdrawal headaches are mild contrasted with what other people report, and especially with the migraines I get sometimes. But I don’t think anyone other than a masochist would wish to have a headache regardless of its strength or duration; not that I’m kink shaming or anything. Wait, what?

I expected my taste for tea that morning would result in a headache. I was almost bracing for it. Curiously though… it didn’t happen. Nor did I feel mentally foggy or lethargic. When I left the apartment with Clara to get brunch later that morning, I felt completely fine. Maybe there was just enough caffeine in the tea to bootstrap my mental rc.d scripts in the morning.

So I started a bit of an experiment. For the last week or so I’ve been waking up to a cup of strong black English Breakfast, no sugar or milk, then having a coffee later in the morning. I’ve since realised my taste in the morning is for something hot, light, and tasty, with a bit of a process involved in making it. Instead of grinding coffee beans and moistening filter paper, I’m measuring out leaves into a strainer. But the other steps like boiling water, measuring steep time, and having a few spare moments alone in the kitchen as I wake up feel the same.

The result was something I wasn’t expecting, but is probably obvious with hindsight. The coffee I have later in the morning tastes amazing and feels like it does more, because it’s my first of the day, and I’m starting from a higher baseline of cognitive alertness. Meanwhile, some of that early morning anxiety I’ve felt every day of my life has been lessened somewhat. Drinking tea has made me feel alert but calmer right at the time where I most need it. It’s been quite lovely.

I doubt there’s much scientific or medical basis for this, and everyone’s physiology is different. But I think I might be a tea-at-breakfast and coffee-at-lunch guy. Who’d have thunk it?