PROJECT OVERVIEW:

A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 6 GLASSES by Tom Standage (2005) The book you have
been assigned to read provides an excellent look at world history. This reading will help you
recognize how everything . . . from what we drink to the clothes we wear, from the technology
we use to the religion we practice. has an interrelated history.
PROJECT ASSIGNMENT:
Please take your time, answer the questions thoughtfully, and prepare all work for this project
professionally (BE NEAT and COMPLETE).
You are going to make a SCRAPBOOK that visually reflects the author's main points. Using
images and whatever recyclables you can find create a page(s) for each of the six beverages.
Include for each beverage:
1. Visuals for each beverage
2. 1/2 to 1 page summary of the author's main points that includes the answers to the questions
below as well as indicates why that beverage became important, and what effect it had on world
history, giving specific examples of how the beverage impacted world history. Your visual
representations will reflect the summary information.
3. For the "where" you should include a map indicating the regions where each beverage was
created/discovered at that time period. You can have 1 map at the end or beginning of the
scrapbook with all of the beverages on that map!
4. A timeline that includes at least 3 dates for each beverage for a total of 15 dates

DUE DATES:
** Please note that this project and the corresponding written work is to be completed on time
and there will often be due dates that occur at the same time as other work in this history class.
You are given this entire packet in advance so that you can get started and pace yourself as need
be. If you want to get ahead, do so! I understand that many of you participate in extra-curricular
activities and time is at a premium. At the beginning of your high school career, it is vital that
you learn how to stay on top of work.
Due September 17th or 18th: Answer the questions to the following:

BEER
1. How is the discovery of beer linked to the growth of the first civilizations?
2. What does this history of beer in the ancient world tell us about the early civilizations?
3. What sources does the author use to gather his information on the use of beer?
4. What were some of the uses of beer by ancient cultures? Nourishment? Ritual? Religious?
5. How did beer civilize man, according to Standage?
6. What is the relationship between beer and writing, commerce, and health?
WINE
1. How did the use of wine differ from that of beer in ancient Greece and Rome?
2. How was wine used by the Greeks?
3. How and why did wine develop into a form of a status symbol in Greece?
4. How was wine consumed? What does this tell us about the ancient Greek culture?
5. How did the use of wine in Roman culture differ from that of ancient Greece?
6. What is the relationship between wine and empire, medicine, and religion.
SPIRITS
1. What is the origin of distilled spirits?
2. What is the connection between spirits and colonization?
3. How was the production of spirits connected to slavery?
4. What role did spirits play on the high seas?
5. In the 18th century, how did spirits help Britain have a more superior navy than France?
6. Why were spirits an important staple in Colonial America?
7. How did rum play a role in the American Revolution?
8. What were the negative effects/uses of spirits? (Use entire chapter to answer this)

 Due October 1st and 2nd: Answers to these questions:

COFFEE
1. Who did Europeans get coffee from and how did it spread to Europe?
2. Why was it so important to Europes development that many peoples beverage of choice switched from alcohol
to coffee?
3. Describe coffees effect on the global balance of power (in terms of commerce).
4. How did coffee play a pivotal role in the scientific revolution? (give lots of detail) 5. How did coffee play a
pivotal role in the financial revolution?
6. How did coffee play a pivotal role in the French Revolution? (give detail & discuss the Enlightenment)
TEA
1. When did tea first become a mainstream drink in Asia? In Europe?
2. How did the consumption of tea in Europe differ from how it was consumed in China or Japan?
3. If tea arrived in Europe around the same time as when coffee did, why did it not find the immediate success that
coffee had?
4. How did tea transform English society? Who were its main consumers and what were some of the new rituals that
surrounded tea?
5. How was tea an integral part of the Industrial Revolution?
6. What was the connection between tea and politics?
7. How was tea connected to the opium trade and the Opium War of 1839-1842?
8. What role did the tea trade and production play in the British rule over India?
COCA-COLA
1. What was the origin of coke?
2. How was this beverage used medicinally and what were the additives?
3. What was the relationship of coke and World War II?
4. How was coke thought of by the communist during the Cold War?
5. What is meant by globalization in a bottle?
6. How did Coco-Cola become basically seen as an American value? How did this help and hurt Coca-Cola (and, in
some ways, America itself?)
Epilogue~ Water
1. Describe how the scientific advancements of the 19th cent. brought the history of beverages full circle.
2. Which waters quality is more tightly controlled-tap or bottled?
3. How many people have no access to safe water today?
4. How has access to water affected international relations?

 Due October 16th and 19th:

1. Final Project (Scrapbook)
2. Socratic Seminar: You will share your scrapbook in small groups and then discuss the
following questions . Be prepared to be involved in the discussion! Participation will be part of
the grade.
What global processes are revealed in this book?
What do these beverages have in common according to the narrative that Standage tells?
Can you think of any other commonalities?
What can one learn about religion and social structure in studying beverages and/or food?
Does the structure of the book work as a way of thinking about the history of the world?
How is the idea of "civilized" used in the book?
If you knew nothing about world history, could you read this book and get a global
picture of world history through time?
Do you think that this book has a universal point of view (could apply to every society)
or is it culturally specific?
Discuss a favorite quote.
How does the story of each drink open up your understanding on trade and the impact of
trade on world history?
How did the beverages hurt or help producers and consumers?
What did you learn about class, social structure, and religion in reading this book?
What is Standage's overall thesis for this book? Do you agree or disagree with it? Why?

Worksheet to find evidence in History of the World in 6 Glasses

Names _______________________________________

Block ______

Directions: While reading pages 24-34 in the book, decide if each statement is TRUE or FALSE.
Then, provide a quote or paraphrase information from the reading that helps support your
answer. You MUST include the page number where you found your answer. See example.
1. In early Mesopotamian civilization people avoided living in urban areas.

2. The word "civilization" refers to technical advancements

Evidence: _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

3. Mesopotamian culture endured almost unchanged for nearly 3,000 years.

Evidence: _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

4. Grains and beer could be used as money

Evidence: _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

5. Writing was originally used to record accounting information

Evidence: _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

6. The collection of grains as a tax helped advance civilization

Evidence: _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

7. Mesopotamian civilization together recognized one all powerful god

Evidence: _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

8. Ancient Mesopotamians wrote on papyrus

Evidence: _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

9. Beer had actual nutritional value to ancient Mesopotamians

Evidence: _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

10. Cuneiform Writing is the ancestor to modern writing

Evidence: _____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

Evidence: People likely lived in cities to be near religious temples, trade centers,
and for security (Standage, p. 25)______________________________________

Standage, Tom. A History of the World in 6 Glasses. (New York: Walker and Co), 2005.

Teacher Resources:
Answers to questions:
Things to look for in project:
Beer
Stone age, evolved with the domestication of cereal grains, farming
Discovered not invented
Social drink, rituals, hospitality (shared vessel)
Sumer, Egypt
Gift from godsreligious offering
Nutritional benefits (water hazards)
Urban revolution-> Egypt and Mesopotamia liquid and solid grain (edible money)
Gilgamesh
Beer=civilized
Beverage from cradle to grave
Evidence in writing
Use as medicine
Global Processes:
Increase of agriculture, settlement
Regional Trade
Evolution of writing
Health and nutrition concerns
Wine
Wine= power, prestige, and privilege
Initially exotic and scarce, expensive to transport
Initially associated with class: Masses drank beer
Then in Greece became classless. Grain had to be imported because wine was 20X more valuable as a trade product.
Symposium (drinking parties mixed wine and water)
Clean woundsmedicinal, safety of drinking wine vs. water
Wine embodied Greek culture
Rome: farmers reconciled Greek influence with their own farming background-> viticulture
Imported grain from colonies in N. Africa
Symbol of social differentiation, form of conspicuous consumption (wine type mattered)
Used as medicine
With fall of empire: wine continued to be associated with Christianity and the Mediterranean (beer vs wine geography)
Global Processes:
HEI- importance of geography, locale
Long distance trade
Rise and fall of empires
Movement of nomadic peoples
Spread of Religion
Spirits
Cordoba- process of distillation from Arabs, medicine, travels better
Distilled wine- Miracle drink
Ideas spread via printing press (Gutenberg, China)
Whiskey, brandy
Spirits, slaves and sugar connection-> rum, currency, slave payment
Sailors, grog-> scurvy
1st globalized drink (oppression)
Popularity of rum in the colonies (no other options)

Distilled in New England

Trade wars (molasses act, sugar act , trade/ tax, boycotts of imports and refusal to pay taxes without representation) (was it
rum not tea that started the revolution?)
Whiskey rebellion (grain distilling- -Scottish ancestry, Penn.) -> bourbon
French fur traders (brandy) and British movements (rum) Spanish (pulque)
Association with slavery, exploitation, subjugation of indigenous peoples, estab. of new nations
Global Processes:
Spread of technology
Exploration (use of Arab technology)
Spread of disease
Slavery
Trade
Revolution
Subjugation of indigenous peoples
Coffee
Rational enquiry
New and safe alternative to alcoholic drinks and water
Arab origins- controversy
Coffeehouses -> spread to Europe and London (cosmo, trade, Puritan)
Medicinal qualities
Womens complaints: The whole race is in danger of extinction.
Freedom of speech in coffeehouses
Empires of coffee: Arab monopoly on beans, Dutch middlepersons, Dutch coffee plantations in Java and then Suriname,
French in west indies (and onto Haiti, Cuba, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and then Brazil)
Coffeehouses: news gathering and sharing places, specialized in particular topics, coffee powered network, domestic feel
(no women in England), social differences left at door,
Exchange of scientific and commercial ideas
French versus English coffeehouses
Revolutionary ferment
Global Processes:
Enlightenment
Revolution
Trade
Colonialism
Scientific revolution
Tea
British empire
Chinese tradition: 2737-2697 BCE but more likely 7th c. BCE
Medicinal purposes: rub on wounds, gruel
Silk routesspread of Buddhism also spread tea
Popular in 4th c CE tea became national drink by Tang
Prosperity of Tang
Medicinal qualities (kill bacteria that cause cholera, typhoid, dysentery)
Quick easy prep, water purification
Visible economic impact (paper money, tea in form of bricks as currency,
Tea tax 780
Fell from favor during Mongol rule (Marco Polo no mention)
Drinking fountain p. 182
Tea ceremony Japanp. 184 sign of great culture
Intro of tea to Europe before coffee but more expensiveinitially luxury and medicinal drink.
European additions to tea of milk and sugar
18th c. Britain won over by end (fashionable in English court with marriage and role of British East India Trading co.
Tea shops for women, Tea parties, afternoon tea, tea gardens
Role in factory production- tea breaks
Role in reducing waterborne diseasesincreased infant mortality, increasing labor pool for industrial revolution.

Marketing of tea and tea paraphernalia foundations of consumerism

Political power of British East India co.: sugar and tea connections
Tea act 1773
Opium and tea connection-> war and opening of market
Tea cultivation in IndiaAssam company
Tea drinking of the empire today
Global Processes:
Silk Routes
Spread of religion (Buddhism and Taoism)
Industrial revolution
Disease
Rise of West argument (p. 202)
New technologies: railroads and steamships reduced costs
Imperialism
Coke
Soda water-> London
Initially medical beverages
1820 soda fountain in apothecaries adding of syrups
Patent medicines- coca plant-- Incas (John Pemberton in Atlanta Georgia in 1886)
French wine coca and then added kola extract too (cocaine, stimulant) but needed a non alcohol version due to temperance
movement. Coca-Cola
Advertising and marketing now stepped in-testimonials, distinctive logo, medicinal, free samples, profitable---syrup.
1895national drink
Let go of medicinal advertising and left it at delicious and refreshing.
Bottling rights
Wiley put Coca Cola on trial in 1911(p.244) legitmated sale of caffeine to kids
Further challenges: end of Prohib, Depression, Pepsi..
With WWII, America ended isolationism and sent out 16 m. servicemen with Coke in their ends(p.251) morale, publicity,
patriotism, exempt from sugar ration.. shipping of syrup and opening of bottling plants. And then stayed there
Attacks of Coca-colonization (By French communists, Cold war)
Response by company: coca cola was the essence of capitalismsymbnol of freedom since Pepsi had managed to get
behind the iron curtain
Israel (Coca Cola due to threatened Jewish boycott in US) and Arab world Pepsi.
New battleground is China
Global Processes:
Industrialization
Mass transportation
Class free ? society
Mass consumerism
Global capitalism
Conflict
Cold war
Ideological battles
Globalization
Epilogue
Water: the next drink? Developing vs developed world, conflict causer, bottled water habit.