Short answers, pulled from the story.
Water is the most consumed drink on Earth, yet 97% of the planet's water is undrinkable salt water. Less than 1% of fresh water is accessible through cost-effective surface or underground sources, making the quest for safe hydration a defining struggle of human history.
The earliest archaeological evidence of wine production dates to sites in Georgia and Iran, while wine reached the Balkans by 4000 BCE. Beer may have been known in Neolithic Europe as far back as 3000 BCE, brewed mainly on a domestic scale.
Tea likely originated in Yunnan, China, during the Shang dynasty between 1500 BCE and 1046 BCE as a medicinal drink. Chinese yellow and green tea are steamed, roasted, and dried, while Oolong tea is semi-oxidized and appears green-black, and black teas are fully oxidized.
In East Africa and Yemen, coffee was used in native religious ceremonies, but as these ceremonies conflicted with the beliefs of the Christian church, the Ethiopian Church banned the secular consumption of coffee until the reign of Emperor Menelik II. The drink was also banned in Ottoman Turkey during the 17th century for political reasons and was associated with rebellious political activities in Europe.
When brewing beer, there are four primary ingredients: water, grain, yeast, and hops. The grain is encouraged to germinate by soaking and drying in heat, a process known as malting, then milled before soaking again to create the sugars needed for fermentation, a process known as mashing.
The United Kingdom has the highest per capita consumption of cider, as well as the largest cider-producing companies in the world, producing 600 million liters of cider each year, which is 130 million imperial gallons. The brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries.