Caffeine minimalists rewrite routines to battle coffee jitters

When Jeremy Clark entered his 40s, he started to feel anxious in the mornings. Deciding caffeine was the likely culprit, he began weaning himself off his usual multiple cups of coffee by going down to a single cup.

He then moved to black tea, then green tea.

Now most mornings he makes a chicory root latte, or occasionally orders a latte made from hojicha, a roasted Japanese green tea with low caffeine. The anxiety has declined “almost to negligible levels, so I think it was worth it”, says Clark, an engineering professor in Montreal.

While plenty of Americans are emphatically unready to give up caffeine, many are experimenting with a new range of options beyond the traditional cup of hot java, paying heed to caffeine’s impact on their sleep, mood and energy level.

Consumers are becoming more cognisant of “energy management” in their beverage choices, says Daniel Jhung, president of