If you are a faithful coffee drinker who has just been ordered to lower your caffeine intake, the idea of drinking only decaf coffee may be one of the unhappiest thoughts you've ever had. But take heart; it is possible to be happy while not being able to drink as much of the caffeinated coffee that you love. Here are three ways to deal with an order to reduce your caffeinated drink load.

Go for the Good Stuff

While much of the decaf world doesn't hold up that well to regular caffeinated coffee, there are some very good brands out there. Now is not the time to grab any decaf bag of beans off the shelf, nor is it the time to simply switch to the decaf served in your favorite cafe. In fact, ordering the decaf version of your favorite coffee may be a very bad idea, as your brain will be expecting it to taste like the coffee you normally get. The Huffington Post notes that one of the reasons decaf has such a bad reputation is that the decaffeination process often removes a lot of what gives coffee its flavor to begin with. So your brain will still be hoping for a similar flavor, but it won't get it.

It's better to try new brands, and splurge on decaf that has good reviews. In the same article on coffee in the Huffington Post, the editors of the article tested several brands of decaf to see if any were even remotely drinkable -- and they were. A couple were OK, and one was actually very good.

Add in Substitutes

If you have to cut down on caffeine but don't have to eliminate as much as possible from your life -- and you just cannot bring yourself to drink decaf coffee -- then you might be able to compromise using coffee substitutes. So if you can still have a little caffeine, maybe reduce the number of cups of regular coffee you drink to a minimum, and then try alternates like kukicha tea, which is a very robust tea made from the twigs of the Camellia sinensis plant. Or try any of the commercially available substitutes made from carob, chicory, and grains. The Kitchn notes that many of these are very good in terms of taste and affordability.

Flavor Favorites

Or, if you're fine with drinking decaf coffee but just want more flavor, there are a lot of flavored versions available that give the coffee a wonderful boost. Decaf is not an island in the coffee world -- you'll find just as many flavors available for decaf as you will for regular.

For more information, contact Monin or a similar company.