Six Glasses Paper Caro Rios

Carolina Rios
Professor Peter Austin
CULF 3330.31
23 July 2015
The History of the World In 6 Glasses Analysis
"The need for alcohol is not the same as the need for water, food, or air" (Halpern, 201). This modern scientific founding was clearly not what ancient people ruled their lives by; they believed that alcohol was in fact a drink they need to survive. Tom Standage book The History of the World in Six Glasses narrates and explains how important drinks, other then water, were for the human evolution and socialization process. The book divides into two, the early and the later drink, each with three historically influential drinks. In the next pages an analysis of Tom Standage book, The History of the World in Six Glasses, will give us a more detailed insight of why people used to see alcoholic drinks as a primary drink in their diets and how they evolve from alcohol to caffeine drinks.
In the early drinks era, the last drink are the Spirits normally known as Rum or Whiskey. In AD 1000, in what we now know as Southern Spain, the capital of Andalusia, Cordoba was home of students enhancing their knowledge in math, medicine, philosophy and astronomy coming from the Greeks, Indians, and Persians. From all these new knowledge gained by many different cultures the students in Cordoba improve and promote the distillation technique. Technique used in BCE 4000 in the old Mesopotamia to make perfumes. The Arab world was the ones that started using distillation to make alcoholic drinks; through distillation Arabs made Wine stronger.
Nevertheless, the distillation technique was known only by a few and the production of the Spirits began as an obscure alchemical technique also only just by a few. The new drinks accessible by the distillation process became more popular during The Age of Exploration thanks to its good conservation during long trips across seas. Suddenly the Spirits became economic goods. Their taxation and consumption control became really important for the forms of government and the political world of the time even though that Spirits, due to its alchemical ingredients were still seen as medicine rather than an everyday kind of drink. Due to its reviving and healing merits the Spirits were known as Aqua Vitae.
Aqua Vitae was later seen as a recreational drink more than a medicinal drink; this changed thanks to Johannes Gutenberg invention, the Printing Press. "The role of the press is… that citizens can be better informed…"(Halpern, 145) so during that time the Printing Press invention helped society understand the qualities and effects of Aqua Vitae. The distillation process and Aqua Vitae kept their popularity strong for many years to come. About 40 years later, in 1478, the first book about distillation was published, its author was the Austrian Doctor Michael Puff Von Schrick. By this time Aqua Vitae was known for its power to intoxicate people; it was the drink use to get drunk in a fast way. Whiskey is the modern word of this famous intoxicating drink; it comes from the Gaelic way of saying Aqua Vitae "Uisge Beatha". In Europe Aqua Vitae was known as "Burst Wine", in German "Branntwein" that translates to English as Brandy.
As a result, brandy, whiskey and all of these distilled drinks occurred at the same time as the European Explorers were discovering the new worlds in the 15th, 16th, and early 17th centuries. One important factor that links history with Spirits is slavery. When Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 the slavery trade business intensely expanded. The reason goes all the way back to the ingredients used to make the Spirits; salves worked at sugar plantations due to Spirits big demand. Not only trade slaves in the New World worked in the process of the Spirits but also were a form of paying. Mainly were slave traders who drank Spirits the most.
Later, in 1647 when Ligon arrived in Barbados the intention was to grow Tobacco; history says that it was the worst Tobacco of the entire world, so they started to grow sugar brought from Brazil instead. As a result of this, "Cane Brandy" was born. Then, a really cheap sugar based drink "Kill Devil" was created. "Kill Devil" became a really important drink for Americans; it was fundamental for social control and economy. "Kill Devil" soon to be called Rum quickly gained popularity among sailors. In order to dilute its strong alcoholic capabilities they started to add lemon juice. This lemon juice addition also reduce the risk of scurvy and illness thanks to Vitamin C. "Rum is the first drink that was a result of the convergence of materials, people, and from around the world, and the product of several intersecting historical forces"(Standage, 84). Rum is a really important drink among not only world history, but mainly American history it represents triumph and the repression of the first globalization era.
Among the latest drinks in the book, the first one Tom Standage starts with is Coffee. A currently common drink among students starts with an obscure and turbulent background to become a miraculous drink. Coffee was the preferred drink among scientists, intellectuals and merchants. Served in nice places, coffee gave people more clarity of thought during The Enlightenment Era. When coffee was introduced to Europeans it was a drastic change since people only drank "week beer" and wine even for breakfast because the consumption of these drinks was safer than water because of water's highly contaminated grade. And on the other hand the Spirits were drinks known for not more than just getting drunk. Coffee is the drink that started a new era of modernity and progress. It moved humanity away from the Ancient World.
However, coffee has its roots in the Arab world. In 1470 coffee was used by Safi's to stay awake during their famous long late night religious ceremonies. It soon started to be sold at markets. Muslims believed coffee was an intoxicating drink. As a result the first of many attempts to ban coffee happen in Meca during the year 1511. It was not the physical effect of coffee what kept authorities worried, but the consciousness and encouragement of constructive talks the drink promoted. By the end of the 17th century the Arab drink had captured Europe making Arabs the number one world coffee exporters. Soon the Dutch made its way to steal and successfully grow a coffee plant. The Dutch's were the first one to take coffee to South America at the same time that coffee exports in France began.
These new coffee expansion left behind its obscure origins and crated a new social way of living promoting socialization and conversation between political and intellectual people. Soon, European Coffeehouses began to exists and become the home for information exchange between scientists, businessmen, writers, and politicians. "Coffeehouses started to replace the home as a place of entertainment; strangers could meet and converse, and men of different stations in life could be found sharing the beverage"(Wild, 53). In London during the year 1680 coffeehouses were often used as mailing addresses for requiring coffeehouse clients that wile waiting or picking up their mail they enjoyed a cup of coffee. It is important to mention that during this time London Coffeehouses were strictly for men and even though there was no presence of any women the environment of the Coffeehouses was cozy and inviting.
In Western Europe the first coffeehouse was established in the university of Oxford, event that was at first alarming and controversial since authorities believed coffee would distract students from their duties. Yet, coffee was doing the complete opposite by maintaining students concentrated and focus on their studies. Soon Coffeehouses "were often called 'Penny Universities' because the price of entry was a penny, but the knowledge that could be gleaned there was invaluable"(Wild, 85). Coffeehouses kept evolving to the point that they became to function as stock markets. In France, a difference than in London women were permitted in them making Coffeehouses the center of the Enlightenment thought. Coffee transformed the world and gave humanity the opportunity of a new way of thinking, it enhance and promoted new ideas and conversations. The drinking of Coffee started a new world era of modernity and progress turning it to be the ideal drink for The Age of Reason.
As a result of these drinks consumption humanity evolve and was transformed. When Rum and whiskey was introduced people, especially Americans experience a tremendous change in their liberty. They started as English dependent colonies and after the Spirits they experienced a sense of rebellion that lead to the America Independence from the English. On the other hand when we talk about coffees changes in society we mainly talk about how it changed the way people was educated. Coffee completely transformed the way people communicate and somehow created the first social media ever, Coffeehouses. Encouraging intellectual people to talk and grow with each other's knowledge, coffee started an intellectual revolution. Before coffee was introduced, all people drank was alcohol, making business vulnerable to weak decisions. After coffee, businessmen were making the best decisions ever thanks to the sense of clarity and awareness it produced on the body.
When Rum and Whiskey were introduced, the world was experiencing a historical growth. The Spirits where introduced during the 1450s and 1650s, when The Age of Exploration and The Renaissance were taking place; meaning that along with that along with the sailors and explorers the favorite drinks were traveling the world as well. Many historical events influenced the way Spirits were seen, especially the invention of the printing press. The printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg helped societies to keep informed and educated; in this case the printing press helped people understand what the spirits and the process used to make these drinks consisted of. After some historically known success explorations, like the discover of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the distillation process was introduced in New England creating with it a new way of economy and according to some historians a good reason for having and enhancing slavery trade.
Consequently, people claim that the creation of Rum, Brandy, and Whiskey in the United States would have never been possible without the existence of slavery since slaves were the ones that worked the sugar plantations. In other words the geographical opportunity the Spirits experienced was really wide. Due to the Age of Exploration that gave these drinks the possibility of being imported and exported more easily and not just that but that the techniques were teach and followed in every new places discovered. This was worldwide innovation, as well as it happen with the introduction of coffee. Coffee began in the Arab world making them the main coffee exporters for many years. The Arabs also made of this an international innovation, not as huge as with the spirits since having discovered new lands is obviously a unique experience. The geographical growth coffee experienced was not as wide as the one of the Spirits, yet still was a wide and international geographical opportunity for exporters. Coffee's tremendous evolution from a "toxic" drink to the drink of the intellectuals made it possible to slowly start becoming what we now know a fundamental drink for college students and working people. Even Isaac Newton was influenced by the conversations witnessed by the Coffeehouses. According to some historians Newton's Gravitational Laws were influences by a question made by Sir Edmund Halley who is now known for living on Isaac Newton's shadow. "The presence of caffeine, and the surrounding in which the coffee was served, would appear to have been more important than its taste"(Standage, 201) Coffee was also a really important influence during the Enlightenment; it promoted socialization and creation of informative and educational social circles
Although both, Spirits and Coffee, differ in many ways they have many shared qualities. They both completely changed the way lives were lived during the time they were produced and consumed. Spirits characterized their time in history mainly because of the political and economic influence they had. The excessive taxation of sugar created an era of rebellion and American awakening that accelerated the American independence from Europe. Slavery was a fundamental part of the times while distillated drinks emerged making of these times selfish eras. There is no doubt that these were money and power oriented times, the complete opposite of the Coffee era.
What coffee brought to humanity was a new beginning. It was a modern era that promoted freedom of speech and a more equal way of living. Now knowledge was desired by the people and learning a common idea among societies. All these knew ideas brought a strong social growth and empowerment. By leaving behind alcohol as a daily drink drank in the mornings and business meetings coffee made people make and smarter decisions that as a whole created a better society. Even though Spirits and Coffee opened up very different historical events in the world, they both share the quality of being able of influence the world history in such a tremendous way. Both of these drinks served as a substitution drink, spirits substituted wine and coffee substituted alcohol. Not to mention they both have its origins in the Arabic world.
Eventually, drinks are as important in our history as any other matter, especially alcoholic drinks. The effects alcohol and caffeine drinks have in the human body influence on how we act, talk and present ourselves so there is no doubt of why coffee made a huge transitional change in history. These drinks transformed the way people were living and somehow helped the world to become a better and more modern place. These important drinks are still part of our lives and we still drink and enjoy them, as they once did they still are creating and influencing the human history.













Works Cited
Halpern, Diane F. and Alexander E. Voiskounsky. States of Mind American and Post-Soviet Perspectives on Contemporary Issues in Psychology. New Edition ed. New York: Oxford UP, USA, 1997. 448. Print.
Standage, Tom. A history of the World in 6 Glasses. First ed. New York: Walker, 2006. 213. Print.
Wild, Antony. Coffee: A Dark History. 1st American ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. 309. Print.





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