I tried Pedro Almodovar's recipe for creative energy
In Mason Curry's Substack, he talked about a recent interview with fashion designer Colm Tóibín. In the interview, Tóibín talks about a secret recipe for endless creative energy recommended to him by filmmaker Pedro Almodovar:
"Yeah, he told me that this thing really worked. I think he was talking about actors. That if you gave it to an actress and then turned on the camera—I think that’s what happened. So just after I saw him that time, I was going to teach at the New School. It was a three-hour seminar. And I would do it right before. A double espresso, and—you let it cool. You put sugar into it, let it cool. And then you throw in a full bubbly Coca-Cola and drink it all down like medicine.
And you were—it took about an hour—but by the end, I mean, on fire. I became this sort of teacher who couldn’t stop. It’s really true that there was a complaint by the porters because they were closing up the school at ten. I would still be in full flight at ten. I would tell them, just go away for a while and then come back. The poor students had to listen to this. [...] No, it’s really great.
Obviously, after reading it I knew I had to try it myself. I researched it and, apparently, some people like to call it a "Texas Americano," which seems like the appropriate name for it. So, a few weeks ago, I went to the store and bought some tiny cans of Coke and some instant espresso powder (since I didn't own a Moka Pot or anything).
When I made it, I only did one shot of espresso instead of two. I had already had a cup of coffee that day and two shots of espresso just felt like overkill. I let it cool, per the instructions, and then poured a can of Coke in it. It tasted...okay. I probably could have finessed it with a splash of milk and added ice cubes and poured it into a cute mason jar, which would've really heightened the experience, but the instructions said to "down it like medicine," so I surmised I wasn't supposed to treat this like a "cute" experience, so downed it I did.
In the interview, Tóibín says the energy kicks in after an hour, but for me, it kicked in after 30 minutes. It wasn't a crazy amount of energy, but I did feel buzzy and awake, similar to the feeling you'd get drinking a Red Bull.
Unfortunately, just like Red Bull, after an hour the buzzy feeling wore off and I felt more tired than ever. After another hour, I could barely keep my eyes open. Altogether, I had about a good 30 minutes of energy before crashing, which was hardly worth the hassle of making the drink. (Perhaps I should've used two shots of espresso after all. And I was also supposed to add sugar to it, which I didn't do.)
Honestly, the best drink I've ever had that gave me endless energy without the inevitable crash was coca tea. It's unfortunately illegal in North America cause it's used to produce cocaine, but coca tea is just brewed natural coca leaves and only has small traces of alkaloids in it (compared to actual cocaine).
If you ever check into a hotel in Peru, they practically force the drink into your hand as soon as you arrive since it's a natural cure for altitude sickness. A hotel in Cusco I stayed in had a basket of coca leaves in all the rooms. During that trip, I drank coca tea more than coffee. You could easily drink five cups of that stuff without any of the side effects you'd get from caffeine overload.
Although I have no desire to live in Peru, my husband and I both agreed that we would permanently move there just for the coca tea. We even seriously considered illegally shipping some here to the US but ultimately decided it wasn't worth the risk.
Actually, you know what? This is about cocaine, isn't it? In the Tóibín interview, he compared his Coke/espresso drink to a safe, "legal" version of cocaine. Is this the true secret of creatives? We're all just secretly wishing for cocaine? And since we can't have it, we come up with these Temu knockoff versions instead? Weird.
But anyway, my final verdict on the crack juice? I think I'll stick to coffee.