I Tried a Buzzy New Supplement Instead of Coffee for a Week—Here's What Happened

Once in a blue moon, a self-sabotaging alien takes over my body and decides I should try to ditch my coffee habit—a daring move, indeed. You see, when it comes to my relationship with the drink, I live in a sort of purgatory not dissimilar to the Upside Down in Stranger Things. On the one hand, I'm highly sensitive to the stuff (FYI, some people can biologically handle high levels of caffeine better than others), and on the other, I have an obsession with my daily morning fix that gives me the hypothetical street cred of a third Gilmore Girl. So, you see my conundrum.

For the most part, and if I don't want to feel bonkers by mid-afternoon, I'm pretty good at limiting my intake to one cup per day. That, and I pretty much make sure to give my sipping a hard curfew of noon (ahem, Mondays) and a soft curfew of around 10 a.m. (any other day of the week). However, no matter how well I abide by my disciplined practice, there always comes a point—every few months, I would say—when my system just completely taps out, and my body calls uncle. Symptom-wise, I'll feel shaky, anxious to the point where I'm barely able to function, fatigued (regardless of my sleep and coffee consumption), and riddled with body aches and random back spasms. It's a problem, and recently, after a weird couple weeks in which I simultaneously was sick, was dealing with a non-breakup breakup, got in a car accident, and consumed an unholy number of Americanos, I knew my body needed a coffee detox.

The problem? Since my day-to-day consists of deadlines, story quotas, meetings, and events that pretty much consume 110% of my energy, going caffeine-free cold-turkey almost feels biologically impossible, if not certifiably insane. I have no choice but to be incredibly productive, attentive, cheery, and on-the-ball at work, so I knew I'd need a padded and very comforting support system. Luckily, I had some worthy contenders: an assortment of focus-sharpening, energy-enhancing, coffee-less supplemental alternatives collecting dust in the northwest corner of my desk. (If you've ever seen a beauty editor's desk, you know it basically requires a metal detector, safety goggles, and a magic compass to navigate your way home, or to any particular product you're looking for.)

So in a moment of boldness, I swept all of the powders, oils, gummies, and shots (yes, really) into the depths of my purse and vowed to use one per day in lieu of my normal cup of coffee. That was last week, and considering I'm alive, well, and composing this current piece of literature, I clearly survived. I definitely missed my coffee, and I'd be lying if I said there weren't moments in which I had some serious misgivings and resentment regarding my coffee strike, but all in all, my collection of alternative supplements served me well. In fact, even though I'm now back on the coffee train (I'm weak), I've still continued to find ways to strategically incorporate the majority of my new finds into my daily routine. Ahead, the seven supplement alternatives to coffee I tried and now gratefully approve of. Keep scrolling for my experience and thoughts on each!

Disclaimer

This article is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to be used in the place of advice of your physician or other medical professionals. You should always consult with your doctor or healthcare provider first with any health-related questions.

Beauty Director

Erin has been writing a mix of beauty and wellness content forBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing for over four years. Prior to that, she spent two and half years writing for Byrdie. She now calls Santa Monica home but grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and studied writing, rhetoric, and communication at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She studied abroad in Galway, Ireland, and spent a summer in L.A. interning with the Byrdie andBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing family. After graduating from UW, she spent one year in San Francisco, where she worked as a writer for Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen before moving down to L.A. to begin her career as a beauty editor. She considers her day-to-day beauty aesthetic very low-maintenance and relies on staples like clear brow serum (from Kimiko!), Lawless's Lip Plumping Mask in Cherry Vanilla, and an eyelash curler. For special occasions or days when she's taking more meetings or has an event, she'll wear anything and everything from Charlotte Tilbury (the foundations are game-changing), some shimmer on her lids (Stila and Róen do it best), and a few coats of the best mascara-type product on earth, Surratt's Noir Lash Tint.