Coffee addict here. Like any addiction, the ritual is the scaffolding on which the whole thing is built. Sure, I'd get a headache or be groggy without it at first, but having an excuse to sit and sip a warm beverage for 15-30 minutes has become a peace-creating space for myself to think and prepare. When I go on vacation, it's much less important or pressing, because that ritual is broken. There are seldom adverse effects in those situations when avoiding coffee.

There's nothing about this that requires coffee, but habits require primers and repetition, and starting coffee is that primer, and the socially accepted aspect of it maintains those boundaries so it can be repeated. When we go on vacation, it all goes away.

I used to smoke cigarettes as a young kid, and 90% of the reinforcement of that was the ritualistic work smoke break where you sat and bullshitted with coworkers or friends outside for 15 minutes. Without that, the habit broke easily because smoking didn't actually reinforce or be reinforced by anything joyful.

It is easy to look down ones nose at coffee drinking, but the core tie is rarely some crippling physical addiction so much as a ritual that is itself enjoyable, and we all have those. Any guidance on breaking addiction usually centers on the rituals you've created around your substance.