I do both. Coffee ritual because it’s nice time spent. But caffeine pills for the actual alertness.
I’ve asked my partner the same question a few times. They will drink 3-4 espresso over the course of an hour in the morning, so they could surely take a 200 mg pill and just have 1 cuppa. They just don’t want to. And also will not try, so they will never know if they like it.