Theobromine, an analogue of caffeine not found in white chocolate, is definitely psycho-active, though I think it’s unclear if it’s addictive. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got similar results with other drugs. I’ve certainly heard anecdotes of people switching to decaf by accident and experiencing the morning coffee as the usual “hit” but then feeling withdrawal later in the day or in later days. It’s probably just that directly experienced “cravings” are high-level effects not highly tied to the chemical effects of addiction.
And yes, I drink decaf sometimes for exactly that reason. Interestingly, being conscious of it doesn’t seem to reduce the strength of the “ah, I needed that coffee” feeling by much.
Theobromine, an analogue of caffeine not found in white chocolate, is definitely psycho-active, though I think it’s unclear if it’s addictive. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got similar results with other drugs. I’ve certainly heard anecdotes of people switching to decaf by accident and experiencing the morning coffee as the usual “hit” but then feeling withdrawal later in the day or in later days. It’s probably just that directly experienced “cravings” are high-level effects not highly tied to the chemical effects of addiction.
I tend to think of it as placebo addiction.
And yes, I drink decaf sometimes for exactly that reason. Interestingly, being conscious of it doesn’t seem to reduce the strength of the “ah, I needed that coffee” feeling by much.