Being British, we have all seized on a report about how drinking tea improves creativity. The researchers – led by Yan Huang, from the Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Department of Peking University – recruited 50 students, who were assigned to two groups and given either tea or water to drink. The students were then given tests, the first being to build an “attractive” design with toy blocks, the second to come up with a “cool and attractive” name for a new ramen noodle restaurant. (“An example of a name that received a low innovativeness score is Ramen Family, and an example of a name that received a high score is No Ramen Here.”)
Those who drank tea performed better in both – and so the humble beverage has been hailed as a means to combat writers’ block by the Telegraph. The researchers don’t go that far – and indeed, the creativity of the participants is called somewhat into question by the detail that the academics had to delete more than 200 suggested restaurant names for containing only the word Ramen, or for including location names. Perhaps it was down to the kind of tea they gave them: it was black, and Lipton (the horror).
But sitting drinking my fourth brew of the day (PG Tips, strongly brewed, quite milky), I was reminded of that quote from CS Lewis, much-loved by Etsy accessorisers: “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” So I asked a handful of writers if tea is, indeed, the answer to stalling creativity. It turns out that yes, for many it is – and they have tips for working it into the writing routine.
Jenn Ashworth, author of The Friday Gospels and A Kind of Intimacy, says she drinks “hundreds of cups of tea, in a special mug that I rarely wash”. “It is warm and comforting and smoothing and the ritual of making it is a break from typing but not from thinking. I usually drink Yorkshire Tea (as a Lancastrian it pains me to admit this) until 4pm, then I switch to chai, because it’s sweet and comforting and I kid myself it has less caffeine,” she says. “Stuck for inspiration? Kettle on. Poke the fire a bit. Sweep a floor or hang the washing out. Some little task, not difficult, that involves movement. If there’s a blockage somewhere, getting up from the desk will shift it. I hear some writers go on walks, but I am too lazy for that and wouldn’t want to be so far from the kettle.”
“You have judge it, so you don’t drink so much tea you spend all your time going to the loo, but I do think it helps,” says bestselling romance novelist Katie Fforde. “Otherwise, fresh air and exercise (could just be a wander round the garden, doesn’t need to be a 10K) or a little trashy TV.”
Award-winning children’s novelist Frances Hardinge also admits to getting through “a lot of tea while I’m writing, but I’d rather assumed that was because I’m a craven caffeine addict”. She explains: “I can well believe that presenting oneself with tea creates a ‘positive mood’, a bit like giving oneself a small, brisk hug. Breaking up an intensive writing session and getting away from one’s desk for a few minutes probably doesn’t hurt either.”
Tracy Chevalier has a different technique. “I drink coffee till noon, tea in the afternoon,” she says. “I doubt there’s anything in a cup of tea that actually helps the writing. Instead it’s the break and move away for a few minutes to boil the kettle that makes the difference. I come back to the page and sometimes the problem is solved without my consciously thinking about it.”
Excuse me while I go and pop the kettle on right now. Let me leave you by pointing to another piece of research highlighted by the Peking University academics: apparently, “it has been found that people believe that those who drink tea have a particular set of personal characteristics such as ‘smart’, ‘innovative’, ‘elegant’, ‘self-confident’ and ‘steady’.” I wholeheartedly concur.
