I stopped drinking soda, and switched to coffee. Then I found myself putting sweeteners in coffee so I switched to black coffee.
Drinking coffee black is a completely different experience than cream and/or sugar added.
Now coffees that were formerly indistinguishable from each other have become starkly different. light roast, medium roast and dark/french roast are really important to your experience (and some dark roast coffees taste like turpentine to me)
I usually drink one normal coffee in the morning, then afterwards decaf.
To anyone who is still craving sweetness in their coffee, I would humbly suggest brewing your own cold brew coffee (buy a coffee sock and a giant glass mason jar - you could probably upgrade this to a pillow case and a wooden barrel if you drink enough coffee). A pure cold brew process (use frigid water, and then move the brew cask directly into a refrigerator) eliminates the bitterness of a traditional brew, leaving a cleaner, almost sweet taste. For a pure cold brew process I would suggest an 18-24 hour brew. Be careful though, even though it goes down easy it still packs a punch!
Edit: And if you really want to get it proper, rough grind the beans. Don't grind them into a fine grain, make sure you see plenty of half chopped beans in there.
It's just a matter of habit. I'm still addicted to sugar, but I've been drinking tea and coffee without sugar for the past 10 years, and I don't feel they require any at all. The slight bitterness of coffee is the same as the bitterness in beer: part of its taste profile. Would you put sugar in your IPA?
The downside is that you need to buy better quality ingredients. Instant coffee is awful in that it's too acidic without any sugar and milk (I would skip coffee at all if that was my only choice), and as the parent poster said, you can easily taste the difference in any blend now.
Drinking coffee black is a completely different experience than cream and/or sugar added.
Now coffees that were formerly indistinguishable from each other have become starkly different. light roast, medium roast and dark/french roast are really important to your experience (and some dark roast coffees taste like turpentine to me)
I usually drink one normal coffee in the morning, then afterwards decaf.