Coffee - The key to creativity?

Whenever I need to get some work done, I find that a cup of coffee always helps to get the mental juices flowing. 
After reading an article in the Guardian, it's nice to know that I'm in good company! 

Illustration: Lo Cole for the Guardian

In a review of Mason Currey's new book "Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work: How Artists Work", Oliver Burkeman gives a really nice overview of the daily rituals undertaken by some of history's most creative people - TS Eliot, Tchaikovsky, Agatha Christie, and others. 

It emerges that, along the path to greatness, there are 6 key rules to follow: be a morning person, don't give up your day job, take lots of walks, keep to a schedule,.... 

Rule number 5 may be most interesting to you, if you have a sweet spot for your daily cup' o' joe... 
"Practise strategic substance abuse". 

Now, many a chemical aid has been implicated in some of our favourite creative endeavours (Benzedrine, Ritaline, vodka, whiskey, gin). But there is only one that has  been universally championed to fuel greatness.... COFFEE!

Apparently, Beethoven measured out his beans meticulously, while Kierkegaard poured his coffee over a cup of sugar which left him with a brew with the texture of mud! 
It's reported that Balzac drank 50 cups per day - yikes! 

It's often been suggested that caffeine in coffee heightens mental focus, and if these coffee connoisseurs are anything to go by, I would tend to agree. 

One word of caution - it's advised to only drink coffee in moderation. Poor ol' Balzac died of heart failure at 51! 

Click on the link below to read the whole article... 
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/05/daily-rituals-creative-minds-mason-currey