Saket Vora

A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage was a gift from my sister. She heard about this author, who is English, while she was in London. Standage has identified six particular drinks that were the definitive ‘drink’ of its era. He writes about the influence and implications of that drink upon society.

This book is a quick read, but it was interesting. The six drinks are:

Fertile Crescent & Dawn of Civilization: Beer
Greek & Roman Civilization: Wine
Beginning of Renaissance & European Colonization: Spirits
Age of Enlightenment: Coffee
British Empire in 19th century: Tea
20th Century American Globalization: Coca-Cola

Beer went hand-in-hand with the agricultural revolution, wine with the rise of the Greek and Roman civilizations with its classism, elitism, and good vineyard climate. Spirits was widely favored by seafarers for its durability and potency, and spirits such as brandy, whiskey, and rum played key roles in the cross-Atlantic slave trade and colonial America. Coffee was the favored drink of Enlightenment thinkers for stimulating the mind and coffee shops became hotspots for open debate, discussion, freedom of speech and expression across Europe; at least as long as the monarchies in charge allowed such freedoms to exist. The importance of tea, embodied by the East India Trading Company, was seen in the sprawling powerful British empire. Insert the requisite Boston Tea Party reference here. Finally, Coco-Cola symbolizes 20th century globalization and American dominance; its the world’s most recognizable brand name.

Standage offers a choice for the next era’s defining drink that comes full circle in the scheme of things — water. With unprecedented wealth, technology, and resources at our generations fingertips, more effort must be devoted for all mankind to have clean drinking water. It’s an amazing disparity when millions of Westerners are fanatical about bottled water — effectively a designer fashion trend — when there are hundreds of millions around the world who must walk more than 10 miles to get clean drinking water (if it is available at all).  An inspired choice, Mr. Standage.