Coffee 101: Does Decaf Coffee Wake You Up

It is estimated that one thirds of Americans regard certain amounts of coffee intake daily during work as an accompanying essential.  Therefore, staff with heavy tasks can continue on working by virtue of a cup of caffeinated coffee to stay alertness, efficient and wakeful. However, with the multiplicity of decaf coffee brand on the market shelves, you may easily change to choose decaffeinated coffee for a try sometimes.

Then you get the question: does decaf coffee wake you up just similar to what regular coffee works?

The answer is that decaf coffee does wake you up, while it is not directly the decisive element that wakes you up in some other cases. Let me show you specific conditions.

Why decaf coffee can give you a buzz

You have known that even decaffeinated coffee contain small amounts of caffeine, which is equivalent to 5 milligram of caffeine per cup. And that is what people used to think. Actually, stimulant effects execute not from the small amount of caffeine preserved but from a psychological suggestion, which is called placebo effect.

Research in 2011

Subjects taking the test of attention were achieved better performance when told they were drinking caffeinated drinks before they started, while the true condition is that half of them were served decaf coffee. They hold the belief that caffeinated coffee gives them a pick-me-up which in turn affects their action and ability in the test. It turns out that alertness which decaf coffee may cause stems from the placebo effect to some extent.

Other reasons you keep awake

• Source 1: restaurant service

You just finished lunch at the restaurant and would like to order an after-meal decaf coffee here so as to ensure a clear mind for the work needed to do. In fact, you have been cheated by it. It may not be the actual decaf coffee but a cup of full-bodied coffee. And the package of the pot and the label on the carafe are designed to make the “decaf” coffee you have ordered look like as it supposed to be. Therefore, you may as well check the tag in it to get to know if it is decaffeinated as you want.

Still you can’t ignore that decaf coffee, holding the stimulant property as regular coffee, can keep you awake. However, it is not clear whether you will be served to caffeinated coffee.

• Source 2: activities before bed

If you intend to work till night and have a decaf coffee, you are still wakeful when you go to bed. Do not owe your sleeplessness solely to the decaf coffee you have taken, because the anxiety for your work or activities before bed may keep you up for quite a long time.