[0:00]1683, Vienna. After two grueling months, the siege of Vienna is over. The Ottoman army is fleeing back to Constantinople, and the victorious coalition is pillaging their abandoned camp. And Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki was key to this victory. A Polish diplomat and spy, he'd managed to slip out of the city to get help. As a reward, he can pick anything from the spoils he wishes. But instead of gold or jewels, he picks several cartloads of coffee beans and starts the first coffee house in Vienna. At least, that's the legend. An Armenian Christian actually opened the first one in 1685, and Kulczycki's own coffee house, The Blue Bottle, followed it shortly after. But while not the first Viennese cafe, the Blue Bottle was definitely the most innovative. Because to combat coffee's bitter taste, Jerzy Kulczycki served his coffee with milk.
[0:58]Thanks so much to Humankind for helping us keep this history brewing. Last episode, we talked about how coffee houses filtered into Europe, how they fostered conversation and the development of business. But we'll let that steep for a minute and discuss the pressing matter that we're sure you're frothing at the mouth to know. What kind of coffee did they serve? Well, if you traveled back in time and walked into the Grecian or Jonathan's and paid a penny for a dish of coffee, what would it taste like? Ga, pretty dang gross, actually. In fact, you might not even recognize it as coffee. First off, the beans would have been stale, having been roasted at their origin, and then transported in non-airtight containers on leaky ships. It was also prepared in Turkish style, with the beans boiled along with the water, which is fine if you like that. But due to European laws that taxed the sale of liquids by the barrel, it had to be pre-brewed, left to sit, and then reheated before serving. The taste, however, wasn't really the point. Coffee was quite literally consumed as a drug, and the first coffee houses in London were well aware of this. In fact, they circulated handbills that described coffee as medicine that cured any number of complaints, while also pointing out that a businessman needing to work late into the night could use it to revive themselves. People, in other words, drank it for the buzz, both of the drug itself and the atmosphere of the coffee house. And not to put too fine a point on it, but that caffeine had an incredible effect. Because before coffee, the primary drink at all times of the day was alcohol. Tavern records from England and France show individuals drinking incredible amounts per day. And English and Dutch sailors were even given a gallon of beer per day, though granted, that beer was only 1% alcohol as a daily ration. Often you'll hear that this mass switch from alcohol to caffeine as Europe's most common drug, a depressant to a stimulant, created the Enlightenment and the Age of Revolution. But that's kind of too simplistic. Habitual heavy drinking continued through the next several centuries. And in fact, a trip to the coffee house was often done to sober up after a long night, in order to overindulge again. But as drunkenness became increasingly frowned upon in the 17th and 18th centuries, coffee became even more favorable as a tool for a more sober, punctual, and industrious society. Caffeine, however, did have an effect on the increasingly addicted population of Europe. English diarist and public servant Samuel Pepys claims he drank 25 cups a day, and French philosopher and novelist Voltaire supposedly drank 50. German composer Johann Sebastian Bach even wrote the Coffee Cantata, a short comedic opera about a father trying to break his daughter's caffeine addiction, in which she sings a love song to the drink, calling it more delicious than a thousand kisses, and crooning that she must have her coffee. Honestly, hard same. So yeah, it's fair to say that people liked getting their fix, and it made them more productive. But the social chemistry of the coffee house also made it indispensable in the developing enlightenment as a public forum for conversation, literature, and politics. In fact, many even began publishing daily or weekly journals to inform about recent events and intellectual arguments in order to keep everyone informed and raise the quality of the conversations. Some of which, like the Tatler and Spectator, even became papers and magazines later on. And coffee houses also broke the church, government, and university monopoly on knowledge, as these conversations moved into the public sphere. And before long, they got nicknamed Penny Universities, due to the ability to pay a penny for a cup of coffee and sit listening to the greatest minds of the age. And as we mentioned in the last episode, revolutionary politics often brewed along with the coffee. For instance, in 1675, King Charles II tried to shut down the coffee houses in London because the patrons were criticizing him. A decision so unpopular, he reversed it immediately. So, while coffee didn't create the enlightenment, it definitely helped it along. But there was an economic problem, supply. See, this new European drug habit had a single supplier, the Yemeni port of Mocha. In fact, all coffee drunk in Europe came via the Middle East or the Ottomans. Meaning there was money to be made for any European country who could establish a new supply. Which admittedly, was hard to come by, because the Sultans, understanding that they'd cornered the market, passed laws saying that beans must be roasted before shipment, meaning they could never be planted. So enterprising merchants looked for a way around. The Dutch East India Company were the first to break the monopoly. When one of their agents managed to smuggle a load of beans out of Yemen, strapped to his body. The climate in Amsterdam wasn't right, however, and in 1696, the East India Company decided to try planting a crop in a warmer place, their new colony on the island of Java. The crop took off, and by the beginning of the 1700s, Java coffee was supplying most of Europe, knocking the Arabica coffee from Yemen out of the European market. Others took note. In 1714, a French naval officer took a plant from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Paris, a diplomatic gift from the Netherlands, and took it to Martinique. According to his likely exaggerated account, the plant survived a storm, a pirate attack, and even a Dutch spy trying to kidnap it. From Martinique, the plant went all over the French Caribbean, until the Portuguese then stole it from the French when one of their agents supposedly flirted with a French colonial governor's wife, until she gave him a bouquet with the beans hidden in the bottom, starting the Brazilian coffee industry. But if you're starting to sense a dark side behind these myths, you're not wrong. Europe's caffeine addiction not only drove the establishment of coffee plantations around the world, it also required massive use of African slave labor to produce. In fact, the exploitation of coffee production helped lead to the Haitian Revolution, and contributed to Brazil deforesting its coast and keeping slavery until 1888. Sadly, this is the legacy that in some ways continues to this day, where coffee growers and laborers often face poverty and exploitation, leading to the fair trade and single origin movements. And the world only got thirstier for the bean-based rocket fuel. Because while Britain, previously the world's largest coffee-drinking nation, switched to tea, which was cheaper and easier to drink in the home, a new addict had entered the fray. The United States. The American coffee habit began with the revolution, when disputes over taxes on tea made switching to coffee a patriotic gesture. And despite its name, the Green Dragon Tavern, headquarters of the Sons of Liberty, was actually a combination pub-coffee house. But it was the Civil War that really kick-started America's addiction. The Union Army considered coffee a staple good and issued soldiers a daily ration. And many drank the equivalent of 10 cups a day, often brewing it out of water so dirty, even the horses wouldn't drink from it. The Confederates, by contrast, had their caffeine supply pinched off by the Union blockade, and had to make do with unappetizing substitutes brewed from roots, leaves, and ground peanuts. And funny thing, if you get hundreds of thousands of soldiers addicted to coffee, it turns out that the demand explodes once the government isn't giving them their daily grind. After the war, and during westward expansion, coffee quickly became part of American life. So much so that a whole industry developed to supply the need. These branded coffee companies, like Folgers, would roast huge quantities of beans in the East and ship them West in airtight sealed cans, pre-ground and ready for consumption in the home. Meaning, it finally tasted fresh and good. Then, Italian coffee culture made the next great leap after World War II, introducing the espresso, which I mispronounce espresso all the time. A small concentrated cup, made under pressure, meant to be drunk fast while standing at a counter. And by mixing it with foamed or heated milk, they found you could make a massive range of drinks. Drinks that, ironically, became much more popular in the rest of the world, while most Italians still prefer their espresso black. And that's pretty much how we got here. From a mysterious plant that made goats dance, to a worldwide industry. But what's most amazing about coffee is in some ways, how little it's changed. Though the method of drinking it has evolved over time, we still use it to stay up late or get up early. You'll still see coffee houses cluttered around universities, and can walk into one anywhere in the world and find creative or business minds at work on laptops or in meetings. Heck, that's how Rob wrote these episodes, a flat white in hand, sipping history. Cheers to that. But of course, coffee's not the only thing that shaped our past. All of history is a web of cultures influencing each other in countless different ways, which is precisely the type of microcosm that humankind, a new 4X strategy game, is excited to explore. In Humankind, you get to shape this web for yourself, as you rewrite the entire narrative of human history and combine cultures to create civilizations as unique as you are. For instance, from your humble origins as a Neolithic tribe, you might transition to the ancient era as the Babylonians, then become the classical era Mayans, until you take a detour to the medieval Umayyads, before doubling down on T as the early modern era British, and so on. But the really neat part is, over the ages, each culture you add maintains its own special gameplay layer, leading to nearly endless outcomes. Plus you'll face historical events, make impactful moral decisions, and facilitate scientific breakthroughs. Discover the natural wonders of the world or build the most remarkable creations humankind has ever seen. Each element of the game is historically authentic, but you combine them to build your own vision of the world. So if that sounds up your alley, Humankind is available to purchase now on Steam and Epic Games Store. Just click on the link in the description below and use the code extra credits to purchase the Digital Deluxe Edition of Humankind. Not only will you be getting a great game, but you'll be directly helping produce episodes like the one you just watched. Thanks for that. That's right, Zoe. Ahmad Ziad Turk, Alicia Bramble, Casey Muscia, Dominic Valenciana, Joseph Blame, Kyle Murgatroyd, and Oreals1 are fantastic legendary patrons.
