By Tim Wong-See, ABC
Improved mental health, better sleep and an extra $3600 in the bank.
These are some of the benefits Jesse Downes hopes to enjoy from breaking a decades-long coffee addiction.
Three months in and the 48-year-old from Eudlo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast said he was noticing some early health improvements.
Six coffees a day
From working gruelling shifts on oil rigs off the coast of Western Australia to doing long hours in hospitality, Downes had for years regarded coffee as an essential.
He would even prepare a double shot before going to bed at night, ready to go for the morning.
"I would wake up, skol that before I walked into work," Downes said.
From there, he could easily have six coffees by the end of the day.
But he has since swapped the long hours for a quieter lifestyle in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
It has also given him time to look after his health.
"The initial thought process was all about regulating anxiety levels, increasing the quality of my sleep and just some gut health stuff," he said.
Jesse Downes will save about $3,600 in a year by giving up coffee. Photo: 123rf
More money, more alert
He said he would find himself spending at least $70 a week on coffee, totalling a minimum of $3,640 a year.
"That's big dollars," he said.
"The level of interest rates increasing, cost of living, price of fuel … there's always [a thought] in the back of my mind when I do buy a coffee."
Dr Hester Wilson, who specalises in addiction with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said caffeine's effect could take up to 20 minutes to start and last for up to five hours.
"It basically turns on the adenosine receptors and what they do is stimulate," Wilson said.
"They turn things on."
Wilson recommended that coffee drinkers have no more than four cups per day.
"I think that really reflects that it's really not that dangerous to the other things you can do," she said.
For those considering a coffee-free lifestyle, an initial adjustment period of two weeks should be expected, according to Dr Llew Mills, a University of Sydney Medical School researcher specialising in drug and alcohol treatment.
"It [coffee] reduces blood flow in your brain and when you quit, the blood flow increases and that causes headaches," Mills said.
"They probably would last between seven to 14 days."
Coffee reduces the blood flow in your brain. Photo: Public domain
Mills said that after the initial transition period, improved alertness was the main ongoing benefit of quitting caffeine.
"You would be less tired in the morning for one thing," he said.
"People who are drinking as little as one cup a day would feel some benefits."
Shifting trends
Three months into his coffee-free life, Downes is noticing some changes.
"The anxiety levels generally seem to be more managed, or reduced, if you like, and I would have to say there's a sustained energy level," he said.
Sunshine Coast barista Ryan Swanson said he had noticed an increase in decaf orders over the past couple of years.
"It's a good option for after midday," Swanson said.
He said decaf orders made up about 10 percent of the cafe's orders, and he was going to start roasting decaf beans in-house in response.
This story was originally published by ABC News.