I would like to here from anyone who has successfully eliminated caffeine from their diet. Especially I would like to hear of the benefits that quitting the bean has produced.
To keep this on topic, did it help your whistle playing? 
Well Iāve been caffiene free for the past 3 weeks. I was a pretty hard drinker too, maybe like 4 or so Pepsis a day. It wasnāt that tough really but I donāt know cause I donāt drink or smoke so I donāt know if that would be harder. I had a 20 year hangover for the first week with really bad headaches in the evenings. Outside of the headaches there really wasnāt any side effects but I might have been in an even worst mode than usual. I donāt really no why I quit, I just felt like it but I guess itās good cause that stuff rots your gut and is pretty nasty when you think about it.
And whether or not it effected my playing? I had a headache for a week so listening to whistles or playing whistles was a no no so I played flute 
So I guess my whistle playing got a small amount worse but my flute playing got better.
I gave up all caffeine about last march. I didnāt notice any withdrawal type symptoms. My only source of caffeine was from diet coke. I switched to caffeine free diet coke and didnāt have much trouble. I drank a lot of diet coke. I had three before lunchtime. Actually I still have some because I have half a chocolate bar about twice a week.
Ron
I forgot to mention how much I drink of the stuff, appx 32oz of strong coffee per day. Totally overkill .
I hope someone posts a reply that says something like, āI became much smarter after quitting caffeine.ā or āI memorize tunes much quicker now, and I smile all day at my job, even when the boss gives me extra work.ā
I havenāt quit caffeine, but I have started tyring not to drink it right before a lesson or session. It makes my fingers twitchy (in a bad way).
Iāve also cut back on caffeine intake in the mornings. I have to have a little (8oz. coffee) or Iām groggy till about 9AM, but I used to have 16oz. with a shot of expresso thrown in for good measure.
-Brett
Mary
You can always drink green tea, which has some caffeine but not as much as coffee. Or you can make your coffee āhalf cafā and mix regular coffee in with decaf. Itās a nice pick me up, but not so jarring.
Iām against the idea of giving up coffee or caffeine. And if you saw the line up at the dunkin donuts, more than half of America would agree with me. Oh, yea, weāre all drug addicts, but by george, we get to work . . . well, maybe not on time, but we get there! and weāve got coffee to thank for that. Oh, and crullers, they help too.
I eliminated caffeine two years ago. But I wasnāt a whistle player then.
Anyway, I gave it up cold turkey for Lent. The withdraw lasted about 2-3 weeks and mostly involved headaches. But after that, I was fine without caffeine. And I was more focused, alert, I slept better, and my heartburn problem was significantly improved.
After Lent was over I tried to start again, but I found that caffeine no longer agreed with me. It made me tense, nervous, and stupid. It aggravated my stomach, and I could go on and on.
So I now quite easily avoid caffeine.
I havenāt given up caffeine but Iām reasonably free to take it or leave it without serious withdrawal symptoms and this is a good position to be in.
Some years ago I decided to cut back to one strongish cup of coffee a day. I have that after my evening meal but some might prefer to have it after lunch. I think it is important not to have it to kick start the day. Other than that I allow myself to drink several cups of fairly weak tea per day. These contain caffeine but not much. I might have only one or two; I might have four or five. I donāt suffer at all on light days.
I can go almost all day before I begin to feel as though I would really like some caffeine. I can get through most or all of the working day without any caffeine and without sufering withdrawal symptoms.
A year or two ago, I noticed after several weeks that Iād been drinking decaf for my one āstrongā cup of coffee a day for several weeks without even noticing.
If you plan to give up completely, Iād suggest that you donāt go cold turkey but cut down first by using tea as I do and by allowing yourself one cofee late in the day for a while. I think that, if I were to give up completely, Iād suffer mild withdrawal symptoms for a few days that could be easily relieved through physical exercise and then no problem at all. The advantage of cutting right back, but no out, is that I get just as big a stimulus from a cup of weak tea as I used to get from strong cofee but Iām not a slave to caffeine in any respect.
Iād rather give up breathingā¦
I gave up caffeine without knowing it. Root Beer is my best friend. I miss coffee sometimes though.
Ok, Iām going to cut back first. 2cups a day max for a few days. then 1 cup, late in the day (thanks Wombat) then NO cups. The idea is to stop coompletely antstastegood did it , and appearantly liked the results.
Hey, I knew somebody would come up with a supportive answer!
I stopped smoking about two years ago. Some weeks after my last cigarette, my taste buds came back to life and I couldnāt stand the taste of coffee any more, so I stopped drinking that as well. I didnāt get headaches or something, I just stopped.
Wonāt help you when you donāt smoke in the first place 
Sonja
I seem to recall youāre in law enforcement. Isnāt it pretty universal that squad cars run on gasoline and coffee?
Best wishes,
Jerry
I used to drink two to three pots (full size āMr. Coffeeā style) of coffee a day. I would often drink a cup of coffee before bed. When the doctor told me I needed to cut back on caffeine I said āokay,ā and switched to decaff. That night about 2AM I got lifted straight up out of bed by the worst headache Iāve ever had. Five extra strength Tylenol didnāt touch it. I tottered out to the kitchen, head pounding with every step, and made a really, really, strong cup of instant coffee ā the headache faded by the time I was 2/3 finished with the coffee. (Thereās a reason so many āmigraineā OTC medications include caffeine!)
After that I gradually cut back until I was āonlyā drinking 2 to 3 cups a day. Then, I had a heart-attack.
Since then (5+ years) I have been completely off caffeine and cigarettes. I can count on one hand the number of times Iāve gotten a headache severe enough to need Tylenol in that five years (I used to go through a full bottle of Tylenol about every four or five weeks). I fall asleep much more easily (surprise, surprise) and tend not to wake with a headache in the morning (before, if I slept more than five or six hours a caffeine headache would wake me up).
On the extremely rare occasions when I drink part of a regular cola, less than 1/4 of a can is enough to wire me up and keep me awake, even if I drank the cola in the early afternoon.
Caffeine is bad stuffā¦ 
John
I drink about two Mr Coffee size pots of coffee a day.
iāve been this way for more than twenty years, so Iām not sure what would happen if I quit, and what benefits it might have. I sleep like a baby even when my world is falling appart, with the only exception the time last month when I had pneumonia and had to sleep sitting up to breathe. My blood pressure is on the low side and Iām a very laid back personā¦coffee is my crutch to make me rise to a standing position, walk, prepare to teach my class and generally live the day.
If I quit coffe, Iām afraid that I would turn into gumby or some other gelatinous creature. 
Caffeene! My drug of choice since the age of 8!
I have enjoyed coffee for 54 years and I will only quit it when I am unable to get someone to lift a cup to my lips after I am unable to do so.
Mmmm.. coffee
I think Iāll go make my 4th cup this morning. I am almost awake.
Not likely. Caffeine is about as close to an intelligence drug as any of the artificial ones mad scientists have tried to cook up. In addition to generally making synapses fire faster, it does have some memory-enhancement effects.
When I was in college, people thought I didnāt work that hard. Then someone studied with me for an afternoon, with Morning Thunder and everything. We got done in four hours what it would have taken him eight to do normally (his words).
I canāt handle coffee. I found awhile back that I was crashing in the afternoon after a few cups. I pretty much stick to tea except for maybe every other weekend. I probably do 4-6 16 oz. cups a day. I try to cut back periodically, but truth is, I really love it. As someone pointed out, you might try green tea; even regular black tea has half the caffeine of coffee. Tea is also easier on the gut, it (especially green) has other health benefits, and itās a lot cheaper.
I gave it up for awhile when I was pregnant several years ago. I had horrible headaches for days. We Southerners love our iced tea, so thatās what made me go back on it. Yes, I know thereās caffeine-free tea, but not in restaurants. I now have to not have any caffeine after about 11:00 a.m. or Iāll have trouble sleeping. But I need some Diet Coke to wake me up.
From what Iāve read, the juryās still out on whether caffeine is terribly bad for youāplenty of friends and family members drink coffee and/or cokes into their 80s and 90s with seeminly no ill effects. But everyoneās different, and you have to decide if itās harming you or notāI certainly am not qualified to give any medical opinions on it. I gave up smoking, which they KNOW is harmful, so I figure Iām doing good as far as personal vice damage control goes!