Myth or fact

Coffee cancels out creatine

Short answerSort of

By GyroscopeUpdated November 14, 20265 sources

Sort of, and only in one narrow case. In two of six studies, big daily doses of caffeine taken during a creatine loading week blunted creatine’s benefit. Three found no clash and one found a boost. A coffee before training, once your stores are already full, didn’t get in the way, and in three of five studies it added to creatine’s effect.

Why people believe it

Because some studies did find exactly that, and the finding traveled without its fine print. Caffeine and creatine also seem to have opposite effects on how fast muscles relax after a contraction, so the idea that they cancel out sounds like physiology. Both can upset your stomach at big doses, too.

The real finding is much narrower than the claim.

It’s like two songs played at once

Each song sounds fine on its own. Play both quietly and you can still enjoy one. Turn both up loud at the same time and they clash. In the studies, the clash between caffeine and creatine only showed up when both were turned up, big daily caffeine doses during a week of big creatine doses.

What the studies found

Two reviews pulled together the research, each looking at 10 studies.

Daily caffeine during loading. A 2022 review found six studies where people took caffeine every day along with creatine. In two, caffeine blunted creatine’s benefit. In three, there was no interaction. In one, the two worked better together. The reviewers concluded that daily caffeine “during CRE loading could interfere”, where CRE means creatine. A 2023 review found that daily caffeine during loading added nothing beyond creatine alone in four of five studies.

Caffeine before training, after loading. This is the way most people actually use them, stores already full and a coffee or pre-workout before the session. The 2022 review found three studies where loading creatine didn’t interfere with caffeine’s boost. The 2023 review found that caffeine taken about an hour before a test, after a loading week, added to creatine’s effect in three of five studies.

How much caffeine were they using?

A lot. The studies that gave caffeine before exercise mostly used 5 to 7 mg per kg of body weight. For a 176 lb (80 kg) person, that’s 400 to 560 mg in one go. caffeine.guide shows how much caffeine is in a cup of coffee and in a pre-workout, so you can see how your own habit compares.

Why loading is where the clash shows up

The reviewers suggest two reasons the combination might clash. Caffeine and creatine seem to have opposite effects on how fast muscles relax, and both can upset the stomach when taken in big doses. A loading week is the time you’re taking the most creatine, so it’s when both effects would pile up.

On 3 to 5 g a day, there’s no loading week. Your muscles fill over about four weeks, ending at the same 20% rise as loading, according to the 1996 trial that compared them.

Can you mix creatine into coffee?

Yes. The first creatine trials gave it dissolved in hot tea, because creatine dissolves much better warm, and that doesn’t change how much your muscles take up. Drink it soon after mixing, though. Creatine slowly turns into creatinine in liquid, faster when it’s warm or acidic, and coffee is both.

The fair summary

If you load and also drink a lot of coffee, you might blunt some of what creatine does that week. Two of six studies found that, so it’s possible, though far from certain. If you take 3 to 5 g a day and have your usual coffee, nothing in these studies says you’re losing anything, and a coffee before training may even help.