To spoil the surprise, the six beverages are (as borrowed from "Liquid Assets" by Steven Shapin (New Yorker, Aug. 1, 2005)) ...
- Beer (Mesopotamia/Egypt)
- Wine (Greek and Roman)
- Distilled spirits (distillation being a medieval Arab discovery, and rum about the American battle for independence)
- Coffee (and the rise of the coffeehouse)
- Tea (British imperialism)
- Coke (globalization, Americanism and consumerism)
Not bad, eh? Covers lots of the big eras with just six drinks. Without reading the book (and, therefore, unencumbered by the thought process), I'd like to see a couple more eras added.
- Water (Historic discovery of wells, founding of cities there upon)
- Wine (Start of state supported religion/monotheism and the drink of choice there of)
- Water again (present day as a representation for bringing the basic necessities to the world's poor)
You could add a lot more on there, but I don't think that'd be as crisp. The only reason I mentioned the above is there appears to be some fairly major gaps in the timeline. Anyhow, just noting that this is something I'd like to read.
