Coffee vs. beer: which drink makes you more creative?

Obligatory: "Why not both?"

Many of my most productive hours that stand out in my memory were during binges of "four loko" back when it still had the caffeine (really the only upside of that beverage. Really horrifying stuff otherwise.) Somehow vodka/redbulls never really get me to the same place.

My friend and I have 'Tuesdays'. School used to suck, so we went to the bar every Tuesday to get away from it. We've been doing this for about two years now. It's an open time to talk about whatever comes up. We've built some nice mental structures over the years.

Ideas are so fragile, interruptions often shatter them. The idea 'zen' is off when there's distractions. You can't really get in the zone. So we go to the bar alone (where no one can say "I don't know what you guys are talking about"), get tanked, and talk.

Alcohol absolutely helps with creativity. It makes bad ideas sound better. It lets you see the world differently (if you're still capable of thinking while drinking). It lets you gain perspective, although a muddy one. I think it helps significantly with seeing better pictures in your head. I can sometimes place where a thought came from (I thought of this, saw this picture, thought of this, played with this picture), but when I'm drinking, I get the final picture "HERE, TAKE THIS!". I don't see any of the intermediate steps (they've gone subconscious or something). It's a pretty fun way to think of ideas.

The title might as well be "COBOL vs. FORTRAN: which programming language makes you more productive?", if you catch my drift. Why limit yourself to 2nd circuit depressants or 3rd circuit stimulants?

I have heard of the Ballmer Peak, but for me even a single pint of beer totally kills my ability to write code. My creative peak seems to be the first few hours after a really good night's sleep.

I used to think that coffee made me more productive, then I realized that coffee just makes me too hyper to concentrate. Now, when I want to focus, I either drink ice water or decaf chai tea.

And alcohol? Forget, I can't focus on anything code related after even one drink. I have no Ballmer's peak.

   Always in moderation
   If you decide to drink coffee or beer while you’re working, 
   stick to no more than 2 drinks per sitting and try not to 
   do this more than once or twice per week to prevent 
   dependency.

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

There is a great theory that the enlightenment started because Europeans started drinking coffee for breakfast, instead of beer.

> So while you may feel that coffee is giving you more energy, it’s simply telling your body that your energy reserves are good to go even after they’re long gone.

I'm not an expert by any means, but this isn't quite what I learned in my undergraduate course on metabolic biochemistry. Caffeine simply encourages you to burn more energy by the mechanisms outlined by the author. However, you cannot burn energy reserves after they are gone. Where would the energy come from? You have carbohydrate reserves and you have fat reserves. Carbohydrates will go first, and once depleted caffeine will cause you to burn more fat than you normally would. The effect is somewhere around 10% for average consumption levels. When you have burned all of the usable carbohydrates and fat in your body, you start burning protein. That is called ketogenesis. It results in muscle breakdown, and the ketones produced are one of the reasons crack addicts smell kind of funny. Caffeine will not induce ketogenesis unless you are drinking way too much and not eating nearly enough. Note that there aren't super sharp transitions from carbs to fat and from fat to protein.

Probably beer.

Because when i write code, i always want to extend code to cover all case scenario's... in the best architecture (DDD-design). I want it to be perfect and bla bla bla, ...

I think i can extend to infinity trying to cover all possible situations...

When i'm coding on beer, i just don't care and code and ship it...

So beer makes me more productive...

There's the quote "Write drunk, edit sober" that writers are fond of using. I wrote about this myself not two weeks ago, believing them to be related: https://medium.com/editors-picks/f79b411687b9. Sometimes we have to relax ourselves to let creativity flow, whether that be writing or coding.

I've had some creative sessions w/ moderate Yerba mate consumption and haven't experienced the health issues some say it has.

Coffee definitely! esp the first few minutes after consuming it when the altered state (caffeine high) kicks in. My belief is that your mind needs a state change to create a moment of insight/s. Like Einstein said, “We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them”.

Not sure if I would classify a “eureka moment” as creativity. Eureka moments are bursts of solving/finding answers to something. I agree that they happen during relaxed states (non beta waves). Creativity is something that feels like it is more associated to a state of flow achieved when one is in the moment.

The best “eureka moments” I've had were always in an isolation tank when floating like a cork all relaxed in 1/3 epsom salt. Such a powerful yet under used tool!

Question. How cat focus help in creativity? If you want to make new connections in brain -> creativity -> isn't that opposite of focusing? Hmmm,

Sorry on bad english, 4 beers + not primary language :-)

Looks like the Ballmer peak was about 2x too high. https://xkcd.com/323/ Unless... the Microsoft programmers already had a tolerance to alcohol? :)

What about us water-only folk? Do we miss out on the super powers?

As an espresso drinker, I found the "little 14-ounce mug" funny. That said, I don't really feel their effects, even if I take an extra shot. Sleeping definitively works, though.

LSD for creativity mixed amphetamine salts for productivity

TFA has coffee as being bad for creative thought and good for doing stupid things fast. I would bet that the various effects are bi- or n-modal. For me, it's GREAT for creative thought and pretty bad when it comes time to get things done, since I don't focus as well. It took me at least a decade to realize I was being less productive because I was enjoying the amped-up feeling from the caffeine.

For sprints, either. For marathons, neither.

Knowing which is which is half the battle.

Sipping away on rum + energy drink as we speak. Alcahol + caffeine + sugar all in one small glass for sipping. For me it's a kind of magic combination that really helps me focus although that's not necessarily the same thing as creativity I suppose.

Surely a coffee-infused stout can provide the best of both worlds?

That said, unless it's a side project that isn't in real use I don't tend to work after drinking alcohol, but it's a rare day that I don't work "under the influence" of espresso.

The author should credit The Oatmeal for that awesome caffeine picture.

I would like to see an article of this nature written about Kava Kava

Green gunpowder FTW!

It wants me to log in with Twitter. Why?

wait

this bacterial issue in the water can't be fixed by boiling your water before you make coffee???

coffee.