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A History Of The World In 6 Glasses By Tom Standage

1717 Words7 Pages

Over the course of human history a few major drinks have helped shape political, social, and economic aspects in countries and cities around the world. These drinks, described in the book A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage, are beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. All six of these drinks provided a safer alternative to water which at some times was not always clean enough for consumption. They sparked cultural changes in the countries that produced and consumed these drinks. Their are two drink in particular that changed the world in numerous ways. These two drink are tea and coffee. The production and consumption of coffee and tea affected the communication of news and ideas in Europe, made Britain an economic super …show more content…

Although the drink did not reach Europe until the early sixteenth century and was available a little earlier than coffee, it was not very popular due to its high cost compared to coffee. Eventually the price of tea dropped drastically and tea consumption started to rise in Europe.Soon after the first tea gardens began to emerge. Tea Gardens were similar to coffeehouses in the fact that they provided a space for social gatherings, but unlike coffeehouses, tea gardens were regarded as places to meet people of the opposite sex instead of places to gossip and spread news. Women also took a large liking to tea houses because only men were allowed in coffeehouses and tea gardens provided a great place for them to socialize. Eventually tea became Britain's drink of choice over coffee, and tea was consumed by everyone rich and poor. The popularity of tea also killed the popularity of the coffeehouse and coffeehouses either turned into private clubs or turned more into pubs than coffeehouses (Standage 194). Overall, tea gardens like coffeehouses provided a place for people to meet and discuss news and socialize, but differed in the fact that they allowed …show more content…

Coffee had a great effect on the political well-being in countries that consumed mostly because of the coffeehouses. Coffeehouses were a place of political debate and news. Coffeehouses had great political influence in Europe. For example, King Charles II gained his throne due to the political discussions at the coffeehouses in London. Supporters of Charles often met in coffeehouses and it was said that if they had not met and spoke about politics King Charles may never have gained his throne (Standage 141). A coffeehouse was also where the French Revolution started to get on its feet. Meetings started to take place in coffeehouses, but France's government feared what was said at the coffeehouses and started to monitor all coffeehouses with spies. Eventually the people found a way around this monitoring and starting communicating important information on hand-written notes. The financial troubles still being felt by the revolutionary war in America caused the king of France's to dismiss his financial minister who was the only politician the revolutionaries trusted. This greatly displeased the revolutionaries and rumor spread that the army was being sent to massacre them . The citizens took up arms and Revolution was under way (Standage 169). Overall, coffeehouses were place of great political influence and debate which affected the governments and officials in the countries that consumed

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