Pathologically reinforced caffeine use induces dependence, but not an addiction.[13] For a drug to induce an addiction from repeated use at sufficiently high doses, it must activate the brain’s reward circuitry, particularly the mesolimbic pathway.[13]
Caffeine: am I a joke to you?
Apparentely it’s only considered a dependence and not an addiction, even though there are a lot of discussions about it.
Caffeine dependence: