Eight Drinks That Shaped History — and the Cultures Behind Them

Tea's origins trace back to ancient China, where legend credits its discovery to Emperor Shen Nong around 2737 BCE — though the beverage became a documented part of Chinese culture by the Han Dynasty. From China, tea spread along the Silk Road into Central Asia, and later into Japan, where it became central to the spiritual practice of chado, the Way of Tea.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Britain's appetite for tea reshaped global trade and geopolitics. The British East India Company's monopoly on the trade contributed directly to the American colonists' Boston Tea Party of 1773, a protest that became a flashpoint for the American Revolution. Later, Britain cultivated tea plantations in India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to break China's monopoly — transforming the landscapes and labour systems of entire regions.

Coffee is believed to have originated in the Ethiopian highlands, where communities observed goats becoming energetic after eating certain berries. By the 15th century, coffee was being cultivated and traded across the Arabian Peninsula, with Yemen's port city of Mocha becoming a crucial hub.

When coffeehouses spread through the Ottoman Empire and then Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, they became informal centres of intellectual exchange — so much so that they earned the nickname penny universities in England, where for the price of a cup, anyone could listen to debate and discussion. Major institutions including Lloyd's of London (insurance) and the London Stock Exchange grew out of coffeehouse meetings. For a balanced look at what habitual coffee drinking may mean for health, see the case for and against daily coffee.

Long before hot chocolate became a comforting winter drink, cacao held a sacred and economic role among the Maya and Aztec civilisations of Mesoamerica. Cacao beans were used as currency, given as tribute, and consumed in ceremonial drinks — typically bitter, spiced, and frothy, with little resemblance to the sweetened cocoa we know today.

When Spanish conquistadors brought cacao back to Europe in the 16th century, it was sweetened, mixed with milk, and transformed into a luxury drink favoured by royalty. The word chocolate derives from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec people — a linguistic trace of the drink's true origins that persists in every modern language.

Archaeological evidence suggests that beer was being brewed in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt as far back as 5,000 BCE, making it one of the oldest prepared beverages on record. In ancient Egypt, beer was a dietary staple consumed by workers, soldiers, and children alike — safer than water of uncertain quality and a source of calories.

The Sumerians even had a goddess of beer, Ninkasi, and preserved what is thought to be the world's oldest known recipe in the form of a hymn to her. Beer's role as communal sustenance helped cement its position as one of humanity's first shared social experiences.

Wine has been produced in the South Caucasus region (present-day Georgia and Armenia) for at least 8,000 years, based on archaeological finds of wine residue in ancient clay vessels. As viticulture spread westward through Greece and Rome, wine became embedded in religious ceremony, political ritual, and daily life across the Mediterranean world.

In ancient Greece, wine was always diluted with water — drinking it undiluted was considered barbaric. The Romans carried viticulture across their empire, establishing vineyards in what are now France, Spain, and Germany. Christianity further cemented wine's symbolic power through the Eucharist, ensuring its continued cultivation in monastic communities throughout the medieval period.

Yerba mate, made from the dried leaves of Ilex paraguariensis, has been consumed by Indigenous Guaraní communities in South America for centuries before European contact. The drink is traditionally prepared in a hollowed-out gourd and sipped through a metal straw called a bombilla, which filters the plant material.

What makes mate culturally distinctive is its social function: a single gourd is typically passed around a circle, with one person — the cebador — responsible for refilling and distributing it. Sharing mate is a gesture of friendship and trust; refusing the gourd is considered impolite in many communities. Today, mate is the national drink of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, with rituals largely intact.

Kvass is a lightly fermented beverage made from stale rye bread, water, and yeast, with origins stretching back over a thousand years in Eastern Europe and Russia. Historically, it was a low-alcohol, nutritious drink consumed daily by peasants and nobility alike — a practical way to extend the life of old bread while producing something refreshing and mildly probiotic.

Kvass vendors (known as kvasniki) were a fixture of Russian city streets well into the 19th century, selling the drink from barrel-wheeled carts. Although industrialisation pushed kvass into decline, it has seen a cultural revival as interest in traditional fermented foods has grown. Learn more about kvass alongside kefir and kombucha in a broader survey of fermented drinks.

Pulque is a milky, slightly viscous alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey plant (a type of agave), and it has been produced in central Mexico for at least 2,000 years. For the Aztec people, pulque was a sacred substance associated with deities and used in religious ceremonies. Its consumption was tightly regulated — ordinary citizens were generally permitted to drink it only during designated festivals or in old age.

After the Spanish conquest, pulque's cultural significance diminished as European-style alcohol was introduced. However, pulque remained central to rural and Indigenous communities for centuries and is currently experiencing a modest revival among those interested in preserving pre-colonial Mexican food traditions. Its distinctive tangy flavour and deep cultural roots make it unlike any other fermented drink in the world.