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10,000 BCE
The Discovery of Beer
The discovery of beer was inevitable because the gathering of wild grains became popular after the the last ice age came to an end. The gathering of grain was popular in an area known as the Fertile Crescent. The ability to gather grains was not only a reliable source for the making of beer, it provided an excellent food source which was easier to attain than hunting. This led to the Neolithic Revolution, when many of the hunter-gatherers began to settle down into villages with their extra food. -
9000 BCE
The Beginning of Farming
As soon as humans began to cultivate and grow their own wheat and barley, a food surplus emerged. The more food, the less humans were needed to farm and in return, some people began to make beer while others farmed. This began to set humanity on the path toward the modern world when humans began to break off into groups specializing in their own categories. -
6000 BCE
The Emergence of Pottery
The second pottery was discovered, it was used to hold beer, grains and other food in storage. Without pottery, humans wouldn't have been able to store excess food very well and for long periods of time. Pottery enabled the hunter-gatherers to store food, which they would be reluctant to leave, causing them to stay with their food. This would also aid in The Neolithic Revolution. -
3400 BCE
The First Records of Beer
The Epic of Gilgamesh, was the earliest known literary work, and held the first know record of beer. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the main character Gilgamesh has many adventures with his friend
Enkidu. Enkidu starts off as a hunter-gatherer, and is then introduced into civilization. The epic poem describes not only The Neolithic Revolution, but the civilized way to drink and attain beer. -
3150 BCE
An Elitists Drink
One of Egypt's first rulers, King Scorpion I, was buried in his tomb with 700 jars of wine that were imported at a great cost from the southern part of Levant. As soon as the pharoas developed the taste for wine, they began to grow their own wine in vineyards in the Nile Delta. By 3000 BCE/BC, domestic production was underway. The amount of wine that was produced was limited, so wine was restricted to the Elite. Wine helped prove your status, and it stayed like that for some time. -
2100 BCE
Beer as a Cure
As beer became more prominent, it was used in many medical recipes. Most of the recipes were based off of beer, and are also recognized in an Egyptian medical text "The Ebers Papyrus". The book contains many treatments and cures including a treatment for constipation, indigestion and even a prescription for labor pains. These cures and treatments were the foundation of some modern day medical treatments. -
870 BCE
The Dawn of Wine in Assyria
Wine first became noticed on a greater scale at the great feast of King Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria. The feast went on for 10 days, over 69,000 people came and there was a gracious amount of food. Not only did the king serve beer as a drink, but he served wine as well. Wine was extremely hard to get and very expensive. The reign of Ashurnasirpal marked a turning point, and wine started to become very fashionable and well sought after in the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. -
146 BCE
The Italians Produce Wine
Once Carthage and Corinth fell, Rome began to be the leading power within the Mediterranean region. The Romans began to use the Greek style of wine-making and even had vines transplanted from the Greek islands. Leading winemakers began to head from Greece to Italy. In turn, Italy became the new center of trade in Europe. -
87 BCE
Wine as a Killer
A Roman politician named Marcus Antonius' fate was determined by wine. Marcus found himself on the wrong side of a power struggle. A man named Gaius Marius had taken power and was hunting down the supporters of his rival. Marcus decided to take refuge in a house belonging to someone of a far lower status. His host wouldn't have dared serve him a lowborn's wine and sent a servant to get different wine and that is what gave him away. Wine then was a symbol of wealth and class. -
170
Wine and Medicine
He was the personal physician to Marcus Aurelius and his name was Galen. The doctor was on a mission to find the best wine in the world. Galen did end up finding the best wine and used it in an antidote pioneered by Mithradates. Eventually the king was overthrown and tried to poison himself, but it didn't work because he was eating the antidote and drinking the world's best wine right along with it. Marcus Aurelius eventually died from illness, but wine could now be seen as a way of medicine. -
970
The Beginning of Spirits
The spirits that we are familiar with today began in Córdoba. The city refined and popularized the technique of distillation that we still use today. Along with distilled drinks, this city also produced many things that we use still today in the modern world including: Algebra, the Astrolabe, the modern numeral system, Trigonometry and much more. -
1400
The Book of Tea
Tea first started out as a medical and religious beverage, but soon became a domestic drink. In the book Working Rules of Servants, it was described that tea had become so popular that it was necessary that tea be cultivated rather than just harvesting it from the leaves. As tea spread it became the national beverage in China, paving the way for modern tea in Britain and all over the world. -
1430
Recreational Spirits
Over the 15th century, aqua vitae became not just a medical drink but a recreational drink as well. The process of it becoming a recreational drink was helped by the printing press which was invented by Johannes Gutenberg. That was all the drink needed and soon enough, the first book about distillation was produced and continued to spread. -
1510
The Beginning of Coffee
By the time coffee had reached Mecca and Cairo, it had transferred from becoming a religious drink to being a social drink. Many Muslims saw coffee as an alternative to alcohol. As coffee gained popularity within the Muslim world, many religious leaders tried to ban coffee believing that coffee was intoxicating. This led to a local governor named Kha'ir Beg to ban coffee but eventually a power higher than Kha'ir Beg revoked the ban and coffee was free to spread throughout the world once again. -
Tea as a British Novelty
Before tea was officially shipped to Europe as a commercial consignment, there was almost no tea in Europe. Once the first shipment came in, tea was regarded as a novelty because there was very little of it and it got expensive. Within time, it was spreading across Europe to other countries and taking Great Britain by storm leading to the Opium Wars. -
Coffee as the Center of Debate
As coffeehouses began to pop up, they became the center of debate and politics. After Oliver Cromwell died, coffeehouses became the center of discussions about the next king, Charles II. Most of Charles' supporters would meet in coffeehouses and he might not have gotten the throne had it not been for these discussions and debates. Also around this time London was beginning to emerge as the hub of a thriving commercial empire. -
Science, Math and Coffee
As scientists began to develop their theories and write books, lectures and even demonstrations began in coffeehouses. The lectures served in commercial and scientific interests. Scientists could show that their findings had value and entrepreneurs and scientists teamed up and eventually formed companies that would exploit findings. This would help to pave the road for The Industrial Revolution. -
Spirits and Slaves
Throughout the 17th century brandy and spirits "oiled the slave trade". African slavers began to gather the taste for these strong liquors that the Europeans were providing. Rum and Brandy were used frequently throughout the slave trade period as a form of currency. It even became customary for the European traders to present the African traders with large quantities of alcohol before beginning negotiations. -
Tea for Women
As tea began to take the world by storm, another invention popped up. Thomas Twining, a man who owned a coffeehouse opened a shop to sell tea specifically to women. As women were able to buy tea, that would mean knowledge of tea at home. This opened up the tradition of tea parties. Tea had not just become a drink, it was becoming a way of life. -
Spirits and Revolution
As rum became more popular, it had more of a demand. It was hard for the British Isles to produce even close to enough Molasses to suffuse the New England distillers, so in turn the New England distillers turned to the French for Molasses. Because the British were mad about the colonies using the French Molasses, they passed the Molasses act. Instead of buying the French Molasses in the open now, they smuggled it in. This led to the Colonists start of rebellion along the way to freedom. -
The First Bubbly Drinks
The direct ancestor of Coca-Cola was produced in a brewery in Leeds. Joseph Priestley was a scientist and began experiments with a gas that we now know as carbon dioxide. Priestley discovered carbonated water, but did not publish his findings. Instead, a man named Thomas Henry was the first person to offer carbonated water, and then the first to sell an artificially sweetened fizzy drink. Carbonated water eventually developed into soda, both which we still drink today. -
Stocks and Coffee
Coffeehouses began to function as stock exchanges as stocks began to become exchanged along with regular goods. As trade grew, a group of men broke away from a coffeehouse known as Jonathan's and established a building know as New Jonathan's. The name didn't stick for long. New Jonathan's eventually became the Stock Exchange during a period known as the Financial Revolution. London's coffeehouses were the center of scientific and financial revolutions that had begun to shape the world. -
The Tea Act
The terms of the Act included a 1.4 million pound loan to the company and the ability to ship tea directly to America. The American Colonists didn't like this because they relied heavily on being able to arrange their own trade. When the act came into force, the colonists stopped the British from unloading the tea and eventually tipped all 342 chests of tea into the Boston harbor. This also happened in many other ports and led the British to add force eventually causing the American Revolution. -
Coffee and Revolution
Crowds had begun to gather in the gardens of Palais Royal. Tensions had promoted the king to sack his finance minister Jacques Necker, who was the only man in office that was trusted by the government. Outside Café de Foy, a young lawyer named Camille Desmoulins lept onto a table holding a pistol and calling Paris to arms. The Bastille was stormed two days later. So the French Revolution literary began at a coffeehouse. -
Violence over Whiskey
Congress had just voted to put tax on Whiskey. In Philadelphia, riots broke out and a shot was fired. Then, over two days, a group known as the "whiskey boys" swelled and fights broke out between them and the federal marshals. Amid all the riots, the rebels succeeded in what they wanted. The liquor excise was repelled. This was defining moment is US history because it forcefully illustrated that federal law was not to be ignored. -
Tea and Opium
As the East India Company's political influence began to diminish on the market, many other rivals rose. The company still had a firm hand on the trade of tea and opium. Opium is highly addictive, and had become such a problem that China had outlawed it, but opium was highly valued by merchants who were dealing it. Smuggling began to triumph. The government didn't want to have to endorse the opium trade, and so defending the right to free trade, China declared war and the Opium Wars began. -
Cocaine from Coca
As Coca-Cola had just been invented by many experiments, something else was found in the leaves used to make it. The leaves of the coca plant had long been known for their affect on the mind and appetite.Cocaine had begun to become isolated from the leaves. Doctors began to study the Cocaine and believed it could be a treatment for opium addicts. They didn't know how addictive Cocaine really was and introduced a drug into the public that would set the motion of the drug dealing into action. -
Coca-Cola in the War
Coca-Cola was being sold in many foreign countries by the time WWII had come to dominate the globe. America had a strict policy isolationism, but as soon as Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the policy fell away. As Americans went overseas to the front lines Coca-Cola went with them. As Coca-Cola was being shipped out to every solider, it created a sense of national unity. Once the war was done, the drink helped with the acceptance and started to make the world feel normal again. -
Cola and Cold War
With the end of WWII, came the Cold War and Coca-Cola was right there. After the postwar peace dissolved, the Soviet Union challenged the United States by building the Berlin wall and the US countered it by airlifting supplies until the wall was taken down. Once NATO was established, it set the grounds for the Cold War. During this conflict, Coca-Cola became a symbol for freedom, democracy and free-market capitalism. As America grew, so did Coca-Cola. -
Boycott on Coca-Cola
Problems began in The Middle East when an Israelite business man accused Coca-Cola of staying out of the soft-drink market in Israel to protect business in the Arab market. Coca-Cola was accused of anti-Semitism and many Jewish organizations began their boycott. Coca-Cola responded by saying it would open a franchise in Tel Aviv, but this provoked more boycotting, this time from the Arab League. It wasn't until 1980 that the boycott crumbled, but it had left Coca-Cola desperately behind.
