Billions of people worldwide turn to coffee as their pick-me-up of choice in the mornings, and we all know that its caffeine content is responsible for boosting our energy levels. However, what you might not realize is that there are lots of ways to use coffee to enhance your productivity throughout the day; you just need to know some of the secrets of this wonder-drink. With that in mind, here are some useful tips on harnessing coffee’s complex and compelling attributes if you want to be more productive.
Understanding coffee’s appeal
We might think of coffee as a beverage that wakes us up and puts a bit of pep in our step, but it does much more than that.
Studies have shown that coffee can improve your alertness, and also allow you to focus on tasks more thoroughly. It even has fat-burning properties, and can enhance your performance in physical tasks as well as mental ones.
What’s more, with a range of coffee gifts and gadgets that will come in handy if you want to make managing your intake easier, there has never been a better time to become a coffee aficionado.
Time your coffee drinking to perfection
The caffeine in coffee takes a while to be metabolized, and the cup you drink first thing in the morning will hang around well into the afternoon, even if you don’t feel it throughout this time span.
This is why most experts recommend not drinking coffee post-lunch. If you do, you run the risk of disrupting your sleep later in the day, which will lead to its own issues if it keeps happening night after night.
Of course not everyone is affected by caffeine in the same way, and if you find that you can have a coffee at 4pm without risking insomnia, then go ahead. Just be aware that you might have to find this out the hard way.
Get the amount right
If you are looking for the ideal amount of coffee to consume over the course of a morning, the answer will vary depending on your size, and your body’s ability to process caffeine. However, as a rule of thumb, coffees that are equivalent to two or three shots of espresso should deliver a balanced volume of caffeine into your system.
Of course you don’t have to take this in espresso form. Any kind of coffee will do the trick, you just have to know that the volume of other ingredients is irrelevant, as what we’re really interested in from a productivity perspective is the caffeine.
If you are making your own coffee, opting for the freshest beans will be better both from a flavor point of view, and in terms of ensuring that you can control the caffeine content. Likewise a lighter roast variety will have a higher proportion of caffeine than a darker roast, which might seem counterintuitive, but is true!
Make good coffee
Last but not least, you have to ensure that drinking coffee is as enjoyable as possible. This will make you relish the opportunity to sip on a delicious, energy-enhancing cup or two each day, rather than it feeling like a chore.
Grinding your own beans and using a Hario V60 in combination with a paper filter is the low-fuss, high-quality option that plenty of serious coffee-lovers adopt. There’s no need for fancy machines or costly beans.
Just get to know what flavors you like by testing different varieties, and make sure to take a mindful approach to making coffee, savoring every drip and every scent, before getting on with your productive day ahead.
Photo via Pixabay
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