@goatsarah Oh yes! I do that too. When you need your brain to go up a few floors from "sludge" to "tired".
The only thing with caffeine for me, I think, is keeping the differential there, separating the land from the water etc, and not letting my just general consumption rise to the point of tolerance.
Most advice out there on *when* / *which* activities need it is total nonsense as I'm guessing you've found.