Non-Alcoholic Beverages

Most of the non-alcoholic beverages that we drink today are of relatively recent origin (the additions of syrups to carbonate water did not become popular until the late 1700’s).

Carbonated Water

• Naturally occurring carbonated water springs have been around forever and have been claimed to have a variety of healing properties.

Coffee

• Possibly originating in Ethiopia, coffee made it's way to the Middle East by the mid 1400's.

Sekanjabin

• Sekanjabin, also known as Persian Mint Drink, is the medieval ancestor to Gatorade.
• It has been popular in the middle east since the Middle Ages.
• The Crusaders may have brought it back to Europe, but I have not found any proof that this happened.

Tea

• Tea is thought to have been discovered around 2740 BC in China.
• By the 800's, tea was being traded westward along the Persian caravan routes.
• Tea reached Venice, a destination of many of the Persian traders, by the middle of the 16^th century.
• Tea was such an important trade good that tea dust was pressed into approximately nine-inch tall bricks to use as 'tea money' for trading with the far-flung tribes of Mongolia and Tibet. These tea bricks were even scored so they could be broken for change.

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