Caffeine may not give a jolt to health - Los Angeles Times

If you are drinking coffee just for the health benefits, this suggests that it might be better to just take decaf or even possibly not drink coffee at all.

In any case, it’s best not to drink too much caffeine.

You could probably also try drinking tea (which has less caffeine) or decaffeinated tea.

From the article:

The vaunted benefits of coffee and tea may be in spite of the stimulant rather than because of it.

…[H]abitual and large doses of caffeine can also stress the heart and interfere with insulin’s ability to process sugar. And many of the benefits ascribed to caffeine may be due, in fact, to other chemicals that outweigh caffeine’s negative effects.

…What we find is that if you take caffeine away from caffeine drinkers, they perform worse than when they get caffeine and they perform worse than people who don’t normally get caffeine….When people who are normally caffeine-free get caffeine, however, some studies show only a much smaller mental boost, while others show no boost at all…It may be withdrawal that makes people falter… not caffeine that makes them sharper. If they’re not already coffee drinkers, taking up the habit won’t make help.