I love coffee but I never noticed it getting me more wakey or energetic or anything. If I overdo it - I mean beyond a few cups - I get some jitters (while still being sleepy) so I know not to overdose. But I drink it for pleasure and missing on the effects.
I wonder how much it has to do with sleep. Could it be that people who drinks coffee a lot do that often because they are sleep-deprived?<p>Also if you drink more than 3 cups of coffee more often than not some of those cups are going to be consumed in the afternoon, which has a much bigger impact on your quality of sleep.<p>When I was drinking 4 cups of coffee a day I also didn't sleep nearly enough to function through 8 hours of workdays, especially in the afternoon. I have since taken quality of sleep more seriously and the need for coffee falls to about two cups (usually just a double espresso in the morning). It is of course just anecdotal though.
I'm 39 and I've never drank coffee in my life. As a kid I didn't like what it did to adults ("I cannot work until I have my morning coffee") and from the smell I kinda extrapolated how it tastes like so I didn't need to try it. For me, coffee is like any other drug, it create addictions and should be illegal with all other drugs like alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, opioids etc.