Owen Jones 

Owen Jones

Grade 12

The world in 6 glasses

 

Beer

. Food and Nutrition-

      The author talks beer as a discovery rather than a beverage, and how it was essentially used as a social drink. Back in the days when urban water was polluted , beer was considered to be a safer drink. People even used beer to brush their teeth with it. In conclusion, beer was considered to be more nutritious than boiled water.

. Medicine-

 

      Beer was used as a medicine and  it was commonly recommended. Both  Egyptians and the Mesopotamians used beer medicinally. It is even said that in the town of Nippur that there is a pharmacopoeia based entirely on beer. There were many different recipes and remedies involving beer that supposedly helped cure common ailments. For example, beer mixed with powdered olives was said to cure indigestion, while beer and saffron was supposed to help a woman with labor pains.

 

. Currency-

        

     In those times, people were required to pay taxes ,and taxes were grains. In other words, grains equals beer. While slaves and peasants were building the pyramids, people were paid with beer and grains.

 

. Social Class and Status-

     People who made more grains, they had enough power to have their own company to make bread or flour in order to be in the upper or middle classes. But,common Egyptian peasants, who didn't have the wealth to be buried their own grave or tomb, were buried with loads of grains with their death for the lower classes.

 

.How This Drink Led to Change-

    By discussing global processes such as the increase of agriculture, urban settlement, regional trade patterns, the evolution of writing, and health and nutrition, Standage provides the needed global historical context for the social evolution of beer.

 

Wine

 

. Food and Nutrition-

      During the late roman empire, people consider wine to be a nutritious vitamin to have with meals, it helps to keep a balanced diet and calories.

 

. Medicine-

   

      In ancient Greek, people use wine as a substitute for painkillers, and it also helps to kill tons of bacteria in your body system more than water. In other ways, religion is also  a source where using wine at times for medicinal purposes, in this circumstance, it really ‘’depends’’ on faithful they are on their religious beliefs.

 

. Currency-

 

      Drinking fine wine during a fancy diner during the Roman Empire and ancient Greek, is a way to show society how wealthy and powerful you are. Wine was exotic and scarce, being expensive to transport without breakage. The masses drank beer. Wine conveyed power, prestige, and privilege. Wine was like a treasure to drink.

 

. Social Class and Status-

      Wine  was a luxury, fit  for upper classes and royal families. Wine was the most cultured and civilized beverage in Mesopotamia. Sippin wine at a fancy dinner justifies that the person is superior and wealthy. Wine became fancier than beer, farmers had  combined Greek influence with their own farming background through viticulture, growing grapes for wine instead of grain for beer which they imported from colonies in North Africa. It became a symbol of social differentiation and a form of conspicuous consumption where the brand of the wine mattered.

 

.How This Drink Led to Change-

       With the fall of the Roman Empire, wine was associate with Christianity and the Mediterranean. Global processes highlighted here include the importance of geography, climate and locale, long distance trade, the rise and fall of empires, the movement of nomadic peoples, and the spread of religion.

 

Spirits

 

. Food and Nutrition-

      Rum is made by fermenting and distilling cane sugar. Traditionally made from less refined sugar, it contains aromas of the sugar cane. Originally it was an inadvertent byproduct of making sugar as runoff from the refinery quickly fermented. Like whiskey, some rums are aged, giving them an amber color. Agave liquors, including tequila, mezcal, and sotol, are made from fermented sugars from the agave, a relative of aloes.

 

. Medicine-

      

     Gin, like the others made with grain, starts its life as beer, which is then distilled to a high proof like vodka. Aromatic herbs including juniper berries and often gentian, angelica root, and a host of secret flavorings depending on the brand, are added to the pure spirit.

 

. Currency-

       

     The author argues that rum was the first globalized drink of oppression. Its popularity in the colonies, where there were few other alcoholic beverage choices, led to distilling in New England. This, he argues, began the trade wars which resulted in the molasses act, the sugar act, the boycotts of imports, and a refusal to pay taxes without representations   .

 

.Social Class and Status-

Rum was a very popular drink for sailors and armies which helped to alleviate scurvy.

 

.How This Drink Led to Change-  

          The French fur traders’ used of brandy, the British use of rum, and the Spanish use of pulque all point to how spirits were used to conquer territory in the Americas.

Spirits became associated not only with slavery, but also with the exploitation and subjugation of natives on five continents as colonies and mercantilist economic theory was pursued.

      

   Coffee

 

. Food and Nutrition-

   Muslims around the world stated that the initial controversy that coffee  generated in both locations. Arab people also stated out that coffee is extremely toxic and it’s not safe to drink it.

 

. Medicine-

   

      Coffee was considered a very stimulative drug that stunts your growth, gives you energy, and lack of sleep. But, it essentially gave a positive symbolic drug to the Enlightenment.

 

. Currency-

 

  The stockhouses and the shipping offices were all in one coffeehouse. Coffeehouse was considered to be a trade center where buyers and sellers would come and meet up and trade or sell.   The Arabs had a company of coffe beans  beans, while the Dutch were middlemen in the trade and then set up coffee plantations in Java and Suriname. The French began the plantations in the West Indies and Haiti.

 

.Social Class and Status-  

          The french coffee houses only welcomes upper and middle classes, but they didn’t welcome any impoverish people or women.

 

  

.How This Drink Led to Change-  

                Some establishments of coffeehouses specialized in particular topics such as commercial ideas. Governments tried to suppress these institutions, since coffeehouses promoted freedom of speech and an open atmosphere for discussion amongst different classes of people–something many governments considered that they were been threatened.

 

Tea

      

. Food and Nutrition-

        Tea was considered to be a healthy drink and it was specifically for workers to give them the energy and give them good vibes.

 

. Medicine-

 

       The author discusses the historic importance of tea in China as initially a medicinal good and then as a trade item along the Silk Routes with the spread of  the religion, Buddhism. In conclusion, tea is easy to prepare, its medicinal qualities were known to kill bacteria that cause cholera, typhoid, and dysentery.

.Currency-

       Tea was considered a popular currency during the Tang dynasty. It was popular enough that literally anyone think that tea leaves were treasure to the people. People would literally accept them as money.

 

  .Social Class and Status-  

        Marriages, tea shops for women, tea parties, afternoon tea, and tea gardens all evolved as part of high culture. Also, tea appears the working classes and played a role in factory production through the introduction of tea breaks.

 

.How This Drink Led to Change-  

       The business of tea provided additional evidence of the emergence of consumerism in England.  Tea helped explain the processes of trade through the Silk road and via later technologies such as railroads and steamships. Standage also highlights the role of tea in disease prevention, the Industrial revolution, the Rise of the West, and imperialism.

 

       

      Coke

. Food and Nutrition-

          Coke contains the nutritions for the cocoa plant which stimulates your body’s nerve system.

 

. Medicine-

  

        Legal controversy initially forced to let go of medicinal claims and left it as “delicious and refreshing. But scientist discovered that this fizzy drink can easily cure headaches more than water.

 

.Currency-

      After World War II, America ended isolationism and sent out 16 million servicemen with Coke in their hands. To cut down on shipping costs, only the syrup for the coke was shipped, and bottling plants were set up wherever American servicemen went. Quickly, Coke became synonymous with patriotism.

 

.Social Class and Status-  

         When we were talking about beer and other alcohol beverages, champagne were for the upper and middle classes, but the beer were for the lower classes. When it comes to coke, there are for both, because it’s cheap and it makes people happy.

 

.How This Drink Led to Change-  

             Coca Cola represents the historical trend of the past century towards increased globalization, and its history raises reader awareness of global processes of industrialization, mass transportation, mass consumerism, global capitalism, conflict, the Cold war, and ideological battles.