The United Kingdom loves its tea, but if Oliver Cromwell’s head hadn’t ended up on a spike,
coffee might’ve remained the country’s most prevalent pick-me-up. And while countless
half-completed screenplays have been penned in the world’s 30,000-plus Starbucks locations,
cafe culture might not have spread throughout the globe if Islam permitted its adherents
to imbibe alcohol.
Collectively, coffee and tea have been credited as catalysts for everything from the Enlightenment
to the Opium Wars. Tracing the fascinating history of these caffeinated beverages touches
on brain chemistry, the emergence of global capitalism, and deep-seated cultural beliefs,
both edifying and destructive. But that’s none of my business.
Wait no that actually is my business. It’s what this whole video is about. You know what
let's just get started.
Hi, I’m Justin Dodd. Welcome to Food History.
The origins of both tea and coffee have been mythologized. According to a Chinese legend,
tea was discovered by Emperor Shennong around the year 2732 BCE. As the story goes, the
emperor was boiling water beneath a tree when the wind blew some leaves into his pot. The
plant infused into the liquid, and when he sipped it, he was filled with a pleasant,
energizing sensation.
The tree from the story was Camellia sinensis —a plant
native to the borderlands of north Myanmar and southwest China. All “true teas” come
from this plant, which is why herbal teas like chamomile should technically be referred
to as infusions or tisanes.
Coffee doesn’t come from leaves, and it technically doesn’t come from beans, either.
The source of all things coffee is the fruit that grows on the tropical coffea
plant. These so-called coffee cherries are small and red with a hard, stone-like core.
The “bean” we use to brew the beverage is actually the fruit’s seed—there are
usually two inside each cherry.
Legend attributes the adoption of coffee into human diets to a goat herder named Kaldi around
850 CE. Sometimes the story is said to take place in what is today Ethiopia—other times,
Yemen. The gist of it is that Kaldi’s goats started dancing one day after nibbling berries
from a coffea shrub. Kaldi tried the fruit for himself and experienced the plant’s
stimulating effects.
Thrilled about his discovery, he brought the coffee cherries to a nearby monastery or mosque.
The people there didn’t share his excitement. After calling the fruit the devil’s work,
they tossed the berries into the fire.
As the coffee beans roasted, the skeptics were intoxicated by the scent and regretted
their decision. They crushed the beans by stomping out the flames and added the grounds
to hot water to preserve them, thus brewing the world’s first pot of coffee. After giving
it a try, they decided that the drink’s ability to keep them awake for hours of prayer
canceled out any satanic properties it may have had.
It's a charming story, but no version of it has ever been verified by historians. When
coffee writer Ken Davids performed an unscientific experiment to gauge Yemeni goats’ interest
in coffee cherries, he found they preferred dried grass and the leaves of the local qat
tree. Davids did note that he later saw goats in Ethiopia happily eating coffee tree leaves,
but the lack of contemporary accounts of Kaldi’s exploits casts the story into some serious
doubt.
Still, the myth—if it is a myth—points to a real part of coffee’s history. Coffea
arabica, the most popular species of the plant, probably did originate in the plateaus of
Ethiopia, where it continues to grow in the wild today.
The other most popular species of coffee is Coffea canephora, often called robusta. It’s
cheaper to produce and contains significantly more caffeine than arabica—that high caffeine
level might actually help ward off pests. For many years, the Western coffee world has
considered robusta an inferior product, which is why you’re much more likely to see a
higher-end coffee bag brag about containing 100% arabica beans. Industry opinions may
be evolving, though, as more professionals come to recognize the two species as distinct,
but not necessarily better or worse.
Robusta, for its part, has long been enjoyed in some of the countries in which its grown,
like Indonesia and Vietnam (where its tendency to taste more bitter might’ve helped give
rise to the delicious iced coffee drink sweetened with condensed milk called cà phê sữa da.
Making coffee on a large scale is complicated by the quirks of the coffea plant. It ripens
unevenly and the arabica plant, especially, grows on steep terrains, so harvesting coffee
cherries at peak ripeness often has to be done by hand. That's why it's not unusual
for coffee farmers supplying some of the world's largest corporations to earn less than $3
a day. To stay competitive, these farmers often have to sell their coffee cherries at
a price that doesn’t match the labor required to cultivate them. It’s a bit beyond our
historical lens to fully dive into this topic, but if you’re interested you should definitely
look into how your coffee is sourced and how the farmers are compensated. Because much
of the product’s value has historically been seen as arising later in the production
process, those farmers often don’t have much leverage to negotiate with.
Once coffee cherries are harvested, they get processed and dried to remove excess moisture.
At some point (it varies depending on the processing technique being employed) the fruit
is removed. Then, the beans get roasted. Somewhere around 400 degrees Fahrenheit they start releasing
an oil called caffeol, which is partly responsible for the rich taste and
fragrance we associate with coffee. Coffee also develops its deep brown color during
the roasting process. Roasted beans are ready to be ground, and ground beans are ready to
be brewed into a cup of coffee—or espresso, or a pumpkin spice latte, or whatever your
preferred coffee beverage is.
Green tea, white tea, oolong, and black tea all come from the leaves of the same tea plant,
Camellia sinensis, but the ways those leaves are prepared can
create distinct beverages. The leaves that become black tea are crushed before they’re
dried, which exposes the chemicals in their cells to increased levels of oxygen.
During oxidation, the chlorophyll that makes plants green degrades into pheophytins
and pheophorbides , which gives tea leaves a black or brown appearance. Other compounds
like lipids, amino acids, and carotenoids break down as well, changing the flavor profile
of the plant.
Tea manufacturers know when to stop the oxidation process to achieve the flavor and aroma they
want for their product. To make green tea, they stop oxidation early. Oolong is semi-oxidized,
and black tea is considered fully oxidized, which gives it its bold flavor. White tea
is made from young Camellia sinensis leaves that haven’t fully opened, and they’re
oxidized the least of the four main varieties you’re likely to encounter at the local market.
Given their proximity, it may not have taken long for coffee to get from Ethiopia to Yemen.
Like the monks from the legend, Sufis in Yemen really did use coffee to get through nighttime
prayers and devotions. The beverage quickly spread throughout the Muslim world. It played
a social role as well as a spiritual one when coffeehouses emerged in the Islamic world
during the 16th century. These businesses became community hubs where men from all levels
of society could come together and discuss important topics. In a culture where alcohol
was banned, coffeehouses functioned as community taverns. The drink was even called kahve,
which is sometimes said to be an Arabic word for wine.
Like coffee, tea was seen as something sacred following its discovery in China. Buddhist
monks were drawn to it for the same reasons that Sufi monks drank coffee: It kept the
mind clear and alert for extended meditation sessions. Just the process of pouring water
and brewing tea became a spiritual, meditative act for followers of Buddhism.
Both coffee and tea have caffeine to thank for their popularity with religious types,
and anyone else who’s ever needed a pick-me-up. The natural stimulant is found in both the
coffea plant and Camellia sinensis, and thanks to coffee and tea’s global success, it’s
the most widely consumed drug on Earth.
Though it feels like it wakes you up, it would be more accurate to say that caffeine stops
you from getting sleepy. The chemical is similar in size and shape to an inhibitory neurotransmitter
called adenosine. Throughout the day, adenosine builds up in the brain
and makes you feel tired. When you drink coffee or tea, caffeine settles into the receptors
shaped to fit adenosine, which blocks the neurotransmitter from getting in and bringing
down your energy.
A standard 8-ounce cup of coffee contains around 95 milligrams of caffeine, which is
more than double the 47 milligrams of caffeine in an average cup of black tea. That could
be a mark against coffee if you’re afraid of headaches and jitteriness—or it could
be a plus if your main concern is getting through the first hour of work without falling
asleep at your desk.
The word tea comes from the Chinese word tu, which means “bitter vegetable.” Tu also
gave us the Mandarin word cha, which first appeared in print circa 760 CE when a Chinese
scholar left out a cross stroke when writing out the character for tea. Today, the word
for the drink used in almost every language derives from one of these two terms.
In general, whether a Western country says it drinks tea or cha today depends on whether
it traded with China by sea or land centuries ago. The Dutch East India Company imported
its tea from an area of China where they called it something like tey. From there it traveled
to Western European countries like France, England, and Germany. But not Portugal—they
had their own trading links with China in a region where people said cha. That’s what
the Portuguese call the drink to this day.
Central Asia also picked up cha. According to University of Pennsylvania Professor Victor
H. Mair, it seems that cha got adopted by the Mongol Empire, which used Persian as a
common language. In Persian, cha got an alternate form—chai, which spread throughout much
of Asia.
Today, chai and tea are two words for the same beverage, so when you ask your barista
for a “chai tea” you’re technically repeating yourself. (The spiced drink you’re
looking for actually corresponds pretty closely to a beverage called masala chai in India).
Coffee had some hurdles to overcome before it would be embraced in Europe. Because it
was viewed as a Muslim product, xenophobic Christians branded it as the "bitter invention
of Satan." Catholics called upon Pope Clement VIII to condemn it officially, but he was
said to have had a surprising reaction when he took his first sip. He reportedly called
the devil’s drink delicious, and proposed cheating the devil by baptizing the beverage.
That story is almost certainly a myth, but it reflects real concerns about coffee consumption
at the time in Europe. Still, despite those misgivings, the drink’s popularity skyrocketed.
Unlike beer, which had been the continent’s morning beverage of choice, coffee boosted
energy levels and sharpened the mind. Drinking coffee quickly became a social activity as
well as a way to start the day. The coffeehouses that originated in the Ottoman Empire began
popping up across Europe. By the mid-1600s, there were 300 such establishments in London
alone. Much like today, coffeehouses were places where creative minds went to find inspiration.
Some were known as "penny universities"—establishments where patrons paid a penny for their coffee
and had access to free reading material and intellectual conversation as a bonus.
Some argue that the cross-disciplinary exchange of ideas facilitated by coffeehouses helped
foment the intellectual revolution known as the Enlightenment. In The World of Caffeine,
Bennett Alan Weinberg and Bonnie K. Bealer discuss how a coffee club in Oxford counted
amongst its founding participants Edmund Halley, Isaac Newton, and Hans Sloane, whose personal
collection formed the basis of the British Museum. According to Weinberg and Bealer,
the three men “ … are said to have dissected a dolphin on a table in the coffeehouse before
an amazed audience,” which, for the record, is generally frowned upon in coffee houses
today. Apparently.
Economist Adam Smith worked on The Wealth of Nations in a coffeehouse, meaning the beverage
didn’t just affect the global economy—it arguably contributed to one of the most influential
books in the history of economics itself. Sometimes the buildings themselves even made
history: the original London Stock Exchange started at a coffeehouse.
Vienna also saw the rise of a vibrant coffee culture around this time. Legend has it that
when the Turks tried to take the Austrian capital in the Siege of Vienna in 1683, they
left behind a bag of coffee beans. That bag was the seed that sprouted the city's centuries-long
love affair with the beverage. Today, Viennese coffee houses are thought of as extensions
of people's homes. Guests are encouraged to take their time and drink in the atmosphere
alongside the expertly-made brews. I, personally, have not experienced this rich culture for
myself, but I did see the movie Before Sunrise, so, you know, kind of the same thing…
Today, tea is as British as William Shakespeare or Mr. Bean, but it wasn’t accepted into
the culture immediately. By the time tea arrived in Europe in the 17th century, coffee had
made significant inroads amongst the continent’s caffeine addicts. I mean... connoisseurs.
Portugal was much quicker to embrace tea. The country had a direct trade route to China
via its colony in Macau, and it was viewed as a luxury by the Portuguese upper class,
including Princess Catherine of Braganza. Her future husband, Charles II, was busy restoring
the Stuart Monarchy in England after five years of Oliver Cromwell's rule as Lord Protector
of the Commonwealth. Two years after ascending to the British throne in 1660, Charles married
Catherine in a politically advantageous arrangement. When Catherine came to England, she brought
her fondness for loose leaf tea with her. She didn’t introduce the beverage to the
country, as is sometimes claimed, but the new queen *was* a trendsetter: Drinking tea
quickly became an indicator of luxury and class.
It would be more than a century before tea became the drink of the people. Though royals
and nobles could afford the stuff, high taxes made it prohibitively expensive for the majority
of the population. Soon an illegal smuggling market grew to meet the nationwide demand
for cheap tea. William Pitt the Younger put an end to this when he reduced the tea tax
from 119 percent to 12.5 percent upon becoming prime minister in 1783. Britain's legal tea
market exploded, and tea smuggling was no longer lucrative. In Britain, at least. Hold
that thought for later.
Camellia sinensis wasn’t being grown in England, which meant all the tea consumed
by the country had to be imported from China. The British and Dutch East India companies
were already trading goods with China for silks and spices, so they were able to transport
massive amounts of tea at a profitable rate.
But while China had plenty of goods that Britain wanted, the British didn't have much to offer
in return. To rectify this, British merchants began smuggling opium into China to make illegal
trades. The tactic worked—for a while, at least. By 1839, opium was funding all of Britain's
tea. The drug was so popular in China that millions became addicted to it, which predictably
angered the country's leaders. This led to the Opium Wars, which were fought between
1839 and 1842 and again between 1856 and 1860.
Britain and her allies were victorious in both conflicts, which led to international
trading practices that were favorable for Western countries. And the opium wars were
hardly the only time the tea trade had massive ramifications for geopolitics. May I direct
your attention to Boston Harbor, 1773.
Six years earlier, Britain had passed the Townshend Acts, which taxed colonists for
essential goods like tea, paper, and glass. Most of those taxes were repealed soon after,
but the Tea Tax remained intact. In 1773, the Tea Act gave a tax break to the East India
Company on tea sent to America. This was meant to help the fortunes of the struggling company,
and it would’ve brought the price of tea down for colonists. So where’s the problem?
Well, much of the tea being consumed in the colonies at the time was actually being smuggled
in. Some of the founding fathers, including John Hancock, were allegedly merchants-slash-smugglers
bringing Dutch tea into the colonies. The Tea Act would’ve undercut this illegal activity
*and*, perhaps, habituated Americans into accepting British taxation. As historian Benjamin
Carp laid out the argument, “You’re going to seduce Americans into being ‘obedient
colonists’ by making the price lower.”
A political group called the Sons of Liberty took action. They boarded ships dressed as
American Indians and dumped 340 chests of tea into the Harbor. The destroyed goods were
worth £9659, or roughly $1.7 million today. This marked the colonies’ most overt act
of defiance yet; in response, England passed the so-called Intolerable Acts, which eventually
helped escalate tensions with the colonies into full-on war.
You might read that the Revolution irrevocably turned America away from tea and towards coffee.
It’s not that simple, but there is an element of truth there. For a number of years, tea
was seen as unpatriotic in the colonies. John Adams noted in a 1774 letter to his wife Abigail
that he was now drinking coffee. As he said, “Tea must be universally renounced. I must
be weaned, and the sooner, the better.”
But America got over its aversion to tea pretty quickly after achieving Independence. Adams
himself started drinking it again, and America began trading tea with China, producing great
wealth for many traders.
In fact, it took a number of factors to convert Americans from leaves to beans. According
to most food historians, the War of 1812 led to a rise in tea prices in the States. Around
the same time, Brazil—located not so far from North America—was becoming a coffee
powerhouse.
Brazil built a massive industry, largely on the backs of enslaved Africans. In 1800, the
country reportedly exported 1,720 pounds of coffee. By 1820, that figure was nearly 13
million pounds, and by 1830, it was 64 million.
Increased immigration to the U.S. from coffee drinking countries, as opposed to tea-loving
England, may have also helped shift national tastes. But the primary factor in our caffeinated
conversion was probably the cost advantage of Brazilian coffee. By the mid-19th century,
coffee’s popularity eclipsed tea here in the States.
Of course, there are many Americans today who love tea, and an increasing number of
Brits enjoy coffee, but those old inclinations have proven surprisingly durable. And the
cultural implications of the two drinks can go beyond the simple coffee/tea dichotomy.
In Britain, the way one takes their cuppa is said to correlate with social status. Historically,
commoners drank the strongest brews while the aristocrats enjoyed weaker (but better-tasting)
tea. The so-called "builder's tea" of the British working class was so bitter that it
was often sweetened with sugar. That’s why, as anthropologist Kate Fox said, “Taking
sugar in your tea is regarded by many as an infallible lower-class indicator.” The weak
tea poured in upper-crust tea rooms was perfectly palatable on its own, which is how unsweetened
tea gained its fancy reputation.
It’s roughly analogous to the difference between a single-source cup of black arabica
and a “regular” coffee here in New York City, which is generally made with deli-quality
java and a healthy dose of milk and sugar.
Tea and coffee have been pitted against each other throughout history, but their similarities
may be greater than their differences. And no matter what you drink at home, your loyalties
may go out the window when you’re jet-lagged in a foreign country, craving a hit of the
world’s most popular drug.
If you have a question related to the history of food, drop it in the comments below. I’ll
answer one of them in our next episode, assuming I’ve had enough caffeine and have the energy.
Thanks for watching!