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Drink: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Drink
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. When the human body becomes dehydrated, the hypothalamus triggers an instinctive need to drink, regulating fluid intake through subtle changes in electrolyte levels and blood volume. Complete deprivation of water results in death faster than the removal of any other substance besides oxygen, establishing water as the primary ingredient in all drinks and the carrier of many diseases. The World Health Organization notes that 94% of deaths from diarrhea, the third biggest cause of infectious death worldwide at 1.8 million annually, could be prevented by improving the quality of the victim's environment, particularly safe water. Purification methods such as filtration and chlorination became essential as societies developed, transforming water from a potential vector of illness into the foundation of civilization. In western cultures, water is often drunk cold, while in Chinese culture, it is typically drunk hot, reflecting deep-seated cultural preferences that have persisted for millennia. The earliest archaeological evidence of wine production dates to sites in Georgia and Iran, while beer may have been known in Neolithic Europe as far back as 3000 BCE, brewed mainly on a domestic scale. The invention of beer and bread has been argued to be responsible for humanity's ability to develop technology and build civilization, suggesting that the drive to create drinks was as much about social order as it was about hydration.
Sacred Brews and Forbidden Sips
Drinking has been a large part of socializing throughout the centuries, often serving as a bridge between the mortal and the divine. In ancient Greece, a social gathering for the purpose of drinking was known as a symposium, where watered-down wine would be drunk for purposes ranging from serious discussions to direct indulgence. The earliest archaeological evidence of wine production has been found at sites in Georgia and Iran, with wine reaching the Balkans by 4000 BCE. Many early societies considered alcohol a gift from the gods, leading to the creation of deities such as Dionysus, whose cult and mysteries were carried on by the Romans in their Bacchanalia and served as the origins of western theater. Conversely, other religions forbid, discourage, or restrict the drinking of alcoholic drinks for various reasons. 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. The Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating beer and beer parlours, while The Hymn to Ninkasi, a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, served as both a prayer and a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people. Women have been the chief creators of beer throughout history due to its association with domesticity, and it was brewed in the home for family consumption until men began to dabble in the field in recent history. Red wine was closely associated with blood by the ancient Egyptians, who, according to Plutarch, avoided its free consumption as late as the 7th-century BC Saite dynasty, thinking it to be the blood of those who had once battled against the gods.
Common questions
What is the most consumed drink on Earth and how much of the planet's water is undrinkable?
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.
When did the earliest archaeological evidence of wine production appear in Georgia and Iran?
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.
Where did tea likely originate and during which dynasty was it first used as a medicinal drink?
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.
Why did the Ethiopian Church ban the secular consumption of coffee until the reign of Emperor Menelik II?
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.
What are the four primary ingredients used in brewing beer and what process creates the sugars needed for fermentation?
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.
How much cider does the United Kingdom produce each year and what is its status in the global market?
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.
Fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugar to ethanol, used by humans for the production of drinks since the Neolithic age. In winemaking, grape juice is combined with yeast in an anaerobic environment to allow fermentation, where the amount of sugar in the wine and the length of time given for fermentation determine the alcohol level and the sweetness of the wine. 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. Hops are added for flavoring, then the yeast is added to the mixture, now called wort, to start the fermentation process. Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatility of components in a boiling liquid mixture, used to produce spirits from milder alcoholic drinks. Spirits are distilled beverages that contain no added sugar and have at least 20% alcohol by volume. Popular spirits include borovička, brandy, gin, rum, slivovitz, tequila, vodka, and whisky. Brandy is a spirit created by distilling wine, while vodka may be distilled from any starch- or sugar-rich plant matter, with most vodka today produced from grains such as sorghum, corn, rye, or wheat. The final product of wine may contain tens of thousands of chemical compounds in amounts varying from a few percent to a few parts per billion, resulting from the complex interactions between the biochemical development of the fruit, reactions involved in fermentation, terroir, and human intervention.
The Global Tea and Coffee Revolutions
Tea, the second most consumed drink in the world, is produced from infusing dried leaves of the Camellia sinensis shrub in boiling water. 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. Tea is served differently from country to country: in China, Japan, and South Korea, tiny cups are used to serve tea, while in Thailand and the United States, tea is often served cold as iced tea or with a lot of sweetener. Indians boil tea with milk and a blend of spices as masala chai, and tea is brewed with a samovar in Iran, Kashmir, Russia, and Turkey. Coffee cultivation first took place in southern Arabia, and the earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking appears in the middle of the 15th century in the Sufi shrines of Yemen. Coffee plants are cultivated in more than 70 countries, and once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried to yield the seeds inside. The seeds are then roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor, before being ground and brewed to create coffee. Coffee is slightly acidic with a pH of 5.0 to 5.1 and can have a stimulating effect on humans because of its caffeine content. The increasing trades between Europe and North Africa regions made coffee more widely available to Europeans gathering at social locations that served coffee, possibly contributing to the growth of coffeehouses. The first chocolate drink is believed to have been created by the Mayans around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, and a cocoa drink was an essential part of Aztec culture by 1400 AD, by which they referred to it as xocōlātl.
The Science of Safety and Preservation
Throughout history, people have come together in establishments to socialize whilst drinking, including cafés, coffeehouses, and tea houses. In China and Japan, the establishment would be a tea house, where people would socialize while drinking tea, and Chinese scholars have used the teahouse as a place to share ideas. Alcoholic drinks are served in drinking establishments, which have different cultural connotations. Pubs are fundamental to the culture of The United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Canada, New England, Metro Detroit, South Africa, and New Zealand, and in many places, especially in villages, a pub can be the focal point of the community. The writings of Samuel Pepys describe the pub as the heart of England. Many pubs are controlled by breweries, so cask ale or keg beer may be a better value than wines and spirits. In contrast, types of bars range from seedy bars or nightclubs, sometimes termed dive bars, to elegant places of entertainment for the elite. Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons, and some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go dancers, or strippers. Toasting is a method of honoring a person or wishing good will by taking a drink, and another tradition is that of the loving cup, at weddings or other celebrations such as sports victories, a group will share a drink in a large receptacle, shared by everyone until empty. The term bar is derived from the specialized counter on which drinks are served, and patrons may sit or stand at the bar and be served by the bartender, or they may sit at tables and
Social Spaces and Cultural Rituals
be served by cocktail servers.
An important export commodity, coffee was the top agricultural export for twelve countries in 2004, and it was the world's seventh-largest legal agricultural export by value in 2005. Green unroasted coffee is one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world. Some drinks, such as wine, can be used as an alternative investment, achieved by either purchasing and reselling individual bottles or cases of particular wines, or purchasing shares in an investment wine fund that pools investors' capital. 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. Food and drink are often paired together to enhance the taste experience, primarily happening with wine, where weight, flavors, and textures can either be contrasted or complemented. In recent years, food magazines began to suggest particular wines with recipes and restaurants would offer multi-course dinners matched with a specific wine for each course. Different drinks have unique receptacles for their consumption, sometimes purely for presentation purposes, such as for cocktails, and in other situations, the drinkware has practical application, such as coffee cups which are designed for insulation or brandy snifters which are designed to encourage evaporation but trap the aroma within the glass. Many glasses include a stem, which allows the drinker to hold the glass without affecting the temperature of the drink, and in champagne glasses, the bowl is designed to retain champagne's signature
The Economics of Liquid Assets
carbonation by reducing the surface area at the opening of the bowl.
A drink is a liquid intended for human consumption, and in addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies, and soft drinks. Traditionally warm beverages encompass coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, while caffeine has been consumed for centuries. Alcoholic drinks such as wine, beer, and liquor, which contain the psychoactive substance ethanol, have been part of human culture for more than 8,000 years. Non-alcoholic drinks typically refer to beverages that are traditionally alcoholic, such as beer, wine, or cocktails, but are produced with a very low alcohol by volume content. This category includes beverages that have undergone processes to remove or significantly reduce alcohol, such as non-alcoholic beers and de-alcoholized wines. The exact definition of what is non-alcoholic and what is not depends on local laws: in the United Kingdom, alcohol-free beer is under 0.05% ABV, de-alcoholized beer is under 0.5%, while low-alcohol beer can contain no more than 1.2% ABV. The term soft drink specifies the absence of alcohol in contrast to hard drink, and the term drink is theoretically neutral but often is used in a way that suggests alcoholic content. Drinks such as soda pop, sparkling water, iced tea, lemonade, root beer, fruit punch, milk, hot chocolate, tea, coffee, milkshakes, tap water, bottled water, juice, and energy drinks are all soft drinks. Plant milk is a general term for any milk-like product that is derived from a plant source, with the most common varieties internationally being soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk, and oat milk. A nightcap is a drink taken shortly
From Ancient Roots to Modern Mixology
before bedtime to induce sleep, and today, most nightcaps and relaxation drinks are generally non-alcoholic beverages containing calming ingredients.