As I recall my atkins book, the caffeine can cause people to have an insulin spike and that spike might lead to cravings. The caffeine itself isn't a cheat, it's the possible results of the spike that might cause cheats.

When I started I went with decaf coffee and tea. (Which is of course LOW caffein, not NO caffein). We buy the beans and grind our own decaf, which is quite good and satisify's my coffee cravings in the morning. I've had the occasional tea or coffee since then and did not suffer cravings. I guess that means I could have my coffee again, but since I don't really miss it that much I'm not going to start back into daily doses.

Regards,
Dan