diff --git a/docs/contributing.md b/docs/contributing.md
index 4d5ce2ee83b..1f1110f0158 100644
--- a/docs/contributing.md
+++ b/docs/contributing.md
@@ -204,6 +204,15 @@ base branch. A maintainer might ask you to ensure the branch is up-to-date prior
 All pull requests, unless otherwise instructed, need to be first accepted into the `main` branch. Maintainers will
 generally decide if any backports to other branches are required, and carry them out as needed.
 
+#### Performance contributions
+
+Performance contributions should result in a significant improvement when running a Poetry command.
+Micro-optimizations that do not meet this criterion are only acceptable if they do not decrease code readability.
+
+When making performance measurements, you can set the `POETRY_FORCE_HTTP_CACHE` environment variable
+to force using the HTTP cache. This helps make performance measurements more consistent by reducing
+variability from network requests.
+
 ### Issue triage
 
 {{% note %}}
diff --git a/src/poetry/utils/authenticator.py b/src/poetry/utils/authenticator.py
index be527cdbcc5..b32af9b479f 100644
--- a/src/poetry/utils/authenticator.py
+++ b/src/poetry/utils/authenticator.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 from typing import Any
+from typing import Literal
 
 import requests
 import requests.adapters
@@ -17,7 +18,9 @@
 import requests.exceptions
 
 from cachecontrol import CacheControlAdapter
+from cachecontrol import CacheController
 from cachecontrol.caches import SeparateBodyFileCache
+from requests import PreparedRequest
 from requests_toolbelt import user_agent
 
 from poetry.__version__ import __version__
@@ -25,6 +28,7 @@
 from poetry.console.exceptions import ConsoleMessage
 from poetry.console.exceptions import PoetryRuntimeError
 from poetry.exceptions import PoetryError
+from poetry.utils.constants import FORCE_HTTP_CACHE
 from poetry.utils.constants import REQUESTS_TIMEOUT
 from poetry.utils.constants import RETRY_AFTER_HEADER
 from poetry.utils.constants import STATUS_FORCELIST
@@ -34,11 +38,29 @@
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from cleo.io.io import IO
+    from urllib3 import HTTPResponse
 
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
+class ForceCacheController(CacheController):
+    """
+    A custom CacheController that forces the use of cached responses
+    if they are available, even if they are stale, and does not attempt
+    to revalidate them with the server.
+
+    This is useful for performance analyses
+    to rule out a source of uncertainty.
+    """
+
+    def cached_request(self, request: PreparedRequest) -> HTTPResponse | Literal[False]:
+        resp = self._load_from_cache(request)
+        if not resp:
+            return False  # genuinely not cached -> nothing we can do
+        return resp
+
+
 @dataclasses.dataclass(frozen=True)
 class RepositoryCertificateConfig:
     cert: Path | None = dataclasses.field(default=None)
@@ -145,6 +167,7 @@ def create_session(self) -> requests.Session:
         adapter = CacheControlAdapter(
             cache=self._cache_control,
             pool_maxsize=self._pool_size,
+            controller_class=ForceCacheController if FORCE_HTTP_CACHE else None,
         )
         session.mount("http://", adapter)
         session.mount("https://", adapter)
diff --git a/src/poetry/utils/constants.py b/src/poetry/utils/constants.py
index f9e5d8248ce..10151f26503 100644
--- a/src/poetry/utils/constants.py
+++ b/src/poetry/utils/constants.py
@@ -13,3 +13,7 @@
 
 # Server response codes to retry requests on.
 STATUS_FORCELIST = [429, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504]
+
+# Force the use of cached http responses even if they are stale.
+# This is useful for performance analyses to rule out a source of uncertainty.
+FORCE_HTTP_CACHE = os.getenv("POETRY_FORCE_HTTP_CACHE", "").lower() in ("true", "1")