(From my life experiences)

Many of us are aware of the above but we believe it when we experience it. As experimental as I am, I had a singing class a couple of years ago and wanted to experience in real what coffee could do while singing. Was it really bad??? To my dismay, I observed that I couldn’t teach that day. I couldn’t belt while I sang nor sing in my head voice. But why? What did I observe? The hypothesis was on.

My voice would choke. Sweet melodies would turn to screeches. I finally inferred that drinks with caffeine as its ingredient would cause your body to flush fluids out of your cells.

If you intake caffeinated beverages, we definitely need to compensate it with additional water. It took me 5 cups of warm water with a few deep breadths to regain strength in my vocal chords. I realised that Caffeine can also cause constriction of blood vessels throughout our body, a real problem for belters.

You may find your voice tighter too if you sing right after having caffeinated drinks. It happened to me too. If so, allow several hours in between a cup of coffee when you sing because coffee or any caffeinated drinks stay in your system for 6 to 8 hours or longer. You definitely do not want to sing in that voice. Coffee may also create excess mucous due to the properties of the coffee bean.

Take care if your voice. It is the greatest gift of God.

~~Jolene Dias