WEBVTT - Will Coffee Make Me Live Longer? 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.440 I guess what will? What's that mango? So when you 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:07.200 were a kid, were you told that you couldn't drink 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:09.360 coffee because it was bad for kids? I mean, not 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:12.639 specifically about my parents, but I do remember people saying that. 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:15.239 So there was a great piece in the Atlantic a 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.279 few years ago about how this story spread, and it 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:22.000 was all thanks to none other than that cereal tycoon C. W. Post. 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:24.720 It turns out that even before his days of creating 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.520 all those delicious breakfast foods like grape nuts and whatever like, 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:33.120 Post was selling this caffeine free coffee substitute called Post Them, 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.959 and apparently it was Cereal based Post Them. So this 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:40.000 was a serial based coffee substitute that you did you 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:44.279 actually drink it? Uh? That sounds gross, Yeah, I mean 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.800 it sounds disgusting, But it actually found a pretty big audience, 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:50.800 largely because Post marketed the heck out of it. And 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.080 you should see the ads. They are bonkers, like they 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.120 only focus somewhat on how good Postum is and instead 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.279 mainly they try to scare people by talking about how 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:02.480 terrible that of coffee are on kids. So, in one 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:04.880 ad for Posting serial from the nine thirties were told 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.760 that coffee rob's children of their rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:13.080 It lowers their vitality, lessens their resistance to disease, and 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:17.120 hampers proper development and growth. Well, I mean, I guess 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:19.840 it's okay if it lessens their resistance to disease, but 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:22.960 losing their rosy cheeks and their sparkling eyes like that 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.639 is unacceptable, I know. And and even worse, Post sited 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.840 some world famous research institute. Right, there's no mention of 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.839 what this institute is, but it says that they found 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.240 that coffee cause kids to get bad grades in school. 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.280 But I think my favorite part of the marketing plan 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:41.559 by Post was this creation of a comic strip character 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.959 who was named Mr. Coffee Nerves. Okay, at this point, Maga, 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.760 you're just you're making this up, be honest. I mean 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.880 I wish I were. But Mr Coffee Nerves was always 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.120 causing problems and making people all restless and sick, and 0:01:55.200 --> 0:02:00.520 even causing kids to run away from home. But unfortunately 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:02.400 the stories would always end on a happy note, with 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.480 the victims, you know, making the very wise decision to 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.560 switch to post them. Oh thank goodness. But but really, 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:10.360 I mean, you can see how even if all of 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.160 this was a bunch of baloney, how that that idea 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.359 that drinking that much coffee being that unhealthy and all 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:17.760 that kind of stuff, you can see how this might 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:21.360 stick around. Actually, yeah, and we'll discuss all of that today. 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:23.640 I mean, it's far from the only time in history 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:25.560 that people went to great lens to keep people from 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.520 drinking coffee. But of course, you know, we live in 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.280 a coffee obsessed world, so you and I wanted to 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.440 know how this all got started, what countries are the 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.000 biggest drinkers, and what did the studies say about the 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.480 connection between coffee and our health. So that's what we'll 0:02:38.480 --> 0:03:02.480 be looking at today. Let's dive in ye aither podcast listeners, 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.800 Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.680 always I'm joined by my good friend Manes Ticketer and 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:09.960 on the other side of the soundproof glass preparing to 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.799 take his very first sip of Palm Civit coffee, that's 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.960 our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. Now this is a 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:20.120 big day for Tristan because he's been waiting for weeks 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.120 to try this stuff, and of course Palm Civic coffee 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:25.920 can be tough to get your hands on, especially here 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.880 in the States. And in fact, he actually ordered this special, 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.120 ordered these beans all the way from Indonesia, so I'm 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.320 glad they arrived just in time for this episode. Yeah, 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.160 but I feel like you're kind of varying the lead here, like, 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:40.600 don't you think I mean, the real story is that 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:44.280 Tristan is about to drink what is essentially cat poop coffee, 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.560 Like those beans have actually passed through the digestive tract 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.800 of a wild animal. That might be true, and I 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:52.880 don't want to be that guy, but I do want 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:56.000 to clarify here that these came from an Asian palm civit, 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:59.360 which isn't technically a cat, but it doesn't make this 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.240 a less gross and honestly, as strange as this all sounds, 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.400 gathering coffee beans from animal droppings has become this whole 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.320 little kind of the subsection of the coffee industry, and 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:11.960 I guess most of this has really developed over the 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:15.400 past decade or so. An assigned from civits you can buy, 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:17.240 you know, those that have passed through the bodies of 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:21.560 everything from monkeys to elephants, And it really isn't just 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.640 for novelty's sake. There there's an idea behind this, and 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:28.200 that's that these beans ferment naturally in an animal stomach, 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:30.960 and so because of that, it results in this smoother 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.599 and less acidic cup of coffee than any other bean 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.600 that's out there. That's pretty funny because I actually read 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.440 a review that described the taste as quote petrified dinosaur 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:45.680 dropping steeped in back to water, which just sounds gross. 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.440 But at least it's not acidic back to water. I 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.000 don't know. I feel like we have to pause for 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.120 just a second and check out Tristan's facial expression, because 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.200 I'm going to say, based on that alone, it's probably 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:01.080 a pretty fair description. But anyway, you today's show isn't 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.960 just about Tristan's quest for this pricey cup of nasty coffee. 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.720 And I will say it's pretty telling that even such 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.160 a niche variety of coffee can attract an audience. And 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.360 that's because coffee in general has become such a ubiquitous drink, 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:16.960 and today it's consumed in one form or another and 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.560 just about every region on the planet. But it hasn't 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:22.000 always been that way, and and in fact, you know, 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.200 when you compare it to the two most popular hot 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.719 beverages in the world. That's, of course, you know, tea 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.760 and hot chocolate. Coffee is the youngest by far, and 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.240 you know, the history is only about a third as 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.760 long as you know these others that we were talking about. 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:37.920 So anyway, with that in mind, we thought we'd take 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.720 a look at just how far coffee has come, and 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.640 of course why people all across the globe can't seem 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.680 to get enough of it. You know, in college, I 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.000 was in someone's car and they breaked really hard and 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.320 I ended up spilling coffee on my nice white shirt. 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.880 So I had this immediate idea for an invention, which 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:58.360 is clear coffee, like if you can make purple catchup 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.320 and crystal PEPSI like, I not a clear coffee that 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.320 doesn't stain your teeth through your shirts. And I really 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:05.920 thought it was in genius. I'm sure I talked to 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.680 your ear off about it. I remember you talking about this, 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.320 and honestly, every single person I I tried to tell 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:15.440 about this was totally underwhelmed, Like especially chemistry majors. They 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:19.200 just were unenthusiastic. It was a little like you're putting 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.320 truck idea where a cement truck would come around like 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.159 an ice cream truck and just dispense putting into kid's hands. 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:26.799 I mean, you have to admit the omago that idea 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.920 is still pretty genius, I know, and so is clear coffee, 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:31.760 and I can't wait to get the series A on 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:35.520 both of those. But back to regular old brown coffee. 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:37.360 So one thing we should get out of the way 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.960 right upfront is who likes coffee the most, or at 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.640 least who drinks the most of it. And while the 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:45.000 US might seem like a safe bet given the size 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.200 of our coffee cups and you know the way, we're 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.719 never more than thirty ft from a Starbucks at any moment. 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:53.000 According to the latest stats from the International Coffee Organization, 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.440 the US doesn't even crack the top twenty when it 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:59.040 comes to per capita consumption. And that's actually saying something 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:02.719 because the tooth in fifteen Gallop poll found that sixty 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.479 percent of Americans drink at least one cup of coffee 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:09.360 per day and two point seven cups on average. And 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.400 not only that, we also consume a little over I 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:16.120 believe it's nine pounds per capita every year. Wow, So 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.120 nine pounds per person and we're still not even in 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:21.840 the top twenty. I mean, I feel like these other 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:24.760 countries must just be like mainlining coffee, so how much 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:29.320 could they possibly be drinking? Well, Finland tops the list, 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:31.800 with each person consuming about twenty six and a half 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.600 pounds of it every year, and the other Nordic countries 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.520 aren't too far behind it. In fact, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.520 the Netherlands and Sweden all round out the top six. 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.800 And that's what they're citizens, down in between eighteen and 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:48.800 twenty two pounds per person per year. You know, I 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:50.760 feel like this is the third or the fourth time 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.760 that Scandinavian countries have dominated lists like this, you know, 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.120 thinking back to some of our previous episodes, they have 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.920 the happiest citizens, they eat the most chocolate. I think 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.920 they have the best prisons, and and now they drink 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:05.840 the most coffee. Like what's going on here? Well, I 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.920 mean we are talking about some pretty chilly countries here, 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.080 so they probably just need all the help they can 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.400 getting through those long, dark winters. Wow. Well, you know, 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.160 I feel like at least were number one in something, 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:19.880 and that has to be the number of Starbucks, because 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.400 I can't imagine any other country has this beat on that, 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.920 at least on a per capita basis. So I hate 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.240 to break your heart here because I actually thought the 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:30.840 same thing. I thought we had Starbucks domination as well, 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.000 but Monico edged us out a few years ago. Monaco 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.520 they currently have a fifty two star Wucks branches for 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.880 one million citizens compared to our forty one. So I mean, 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.840 I guess we're number two in Starbucks. But now that 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.160 we've established how much everyone loves the stuff, well, why 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:49.280 don't we talk about where coffee comes from and how 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.120 we wound up drinking it in the first place. Well, 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:54.760 I mean, it's a nice idea, but it's it's kind 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.760 of easier said than done. You know, as we were 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.320 starting to do our research on this, I just googled 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.560 origins of coffee and of course got something like twenty 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:06.000 million results, and even just clicking around through a handful 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.840 of these, I do get this feeling that there's not 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.679 a lot of consensus on the history of coffee. And 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:13.920 we've run into this before, whether we were looking at 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.640 the origins of chocolate or cheese. It it really is 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.600 tough to pin down where and when a staple food 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:22.360 like this got it's you know, got its start. Yeah, 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.400 I mean, that's definitely true, and the specifics are pretty hazy, 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:29.280 but thankfully there's some broad points that most historians agree about. 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.120 For instance, we know the coffee plant originated on the 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.800 plateau of Ethiopia, and that's actually because it tends to 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:39.520 spontaneously grow there like no place on Earth. And in fact, 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.520 the region in question is even called Kafa. You know, 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:44.480 we're not sure if coffee took its name from the 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.959 region or the other way around, but it's definitely linked somehow. 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:50.680 You know, it was fun and reading about some of 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:53.640 these origins, and you know, you see these stories that 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.720 go back to this old Ethiopian legend and I think 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:58.680 we may have talked about this one before, but it's 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.040 this story about this goat chew bird name called e 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.320 or a k A that you know, the happiest hurd 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.680 and happy Arabia, And the reason for his happiness was 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.000 that one day Caldy noticed his goats had started dancing 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.800 and jumping all over the place, and he noticed that 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.680 they've been eating the fruits and leaves of this certain bush, 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:18.880 so naturally called. He gets curious, and he goes over 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:21.439 and decides to try some of the fruit for himself, 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:24.040 and of course he feels this big burst of energy 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.480 and immediately started sharing these magic beans with his friends 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.640 and family. And this is something that supposedly happened around 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.360 eight fifty, but again, nobody really can say for sure. 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.120 So I honestly love how many discoveries are goat based. 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:40.679 Like there's a legend about a blind goat walking through 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.080 a thorn and carrying his cataracts, and that's how we 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.000 started cataract operations. I want to say, there's like a 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:48.079 goat hurd who went to look for his missing goat, 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.800 and that's how we discovered the Dead Sea scrolls. Like 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.760 we owe a lot to goats, and about all the 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:58.640 productivity that comes from like coffee, from balls, act Beethoven, 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:02.800 to the Velvet Revolution, to musicians, to politicians staying up late, 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.439 to craft laws, academics meeting deadlines. Like I mean, we 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.560 kind of owe a lot to goats. Yeah, I mean 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:11.520 that that may be true, and that is pretty funny, 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:13.760 But I feel like we were talking about coffee, have 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:17.440 we have we shifted to an episode on goats in 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.200 a total goat direction here, but so so that so 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.640 the man on the other side of the soundproof glass 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:25.520 now ramming his cataracts into a bunch of bushes. That's 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:27.880 our friend and producer Tristan Mingo. Right, so we're going 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:30.960 in a different direction. Maybe we should get back to coffee. 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.079 So well, one thing we do know about coffee is 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:37.120 that in its earliest days it was chewed rather than sipped, 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:39.360 just like the goats did it. And you know, to 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:41.079 make sense of that, it helps to know that coffee 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.200 beans aren't actually beans at all. There are seeds which 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.240 are found in the pits of the cherry like fruits 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.160 that grow on coffee plants. And while we coffee drinkers 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.439 are much more interested in the seeds than the fruit, 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:55.880 it was just the opposite for early Ethiopian tribes. For example, 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.040 the Gala tribe would soften these coffee fruits and liquid 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.600 and then they blend them with this animal fat to 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:06.920 make kind of like a chewable energy ball. It's amazing, huh. Well, 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:09.840 whatever the true origin, it definitely seems like the earliest 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.320 folks to imbibe coffee, we're really doing it for the 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:14.320 same reason we do today, and that's of course, for 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:16.959 that caffeine kick. I mean, there's always the chance that 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.600 some desperate nomad was the first to eat a coffee 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.920 cherry just to stay alive. But coffee's energizing effect is 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.199 definitely why people kept coming back for more, and even 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:28.719 the prophet Mohammed is said to have enjoyed the stimulation. 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.280 There's this one account where um Mohammed was feeling under 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:35.160 the weather until he was visited by the archangel Gabriel, 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:38.400 who gifted him this hot drink that was quote dark 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.600 as the holy black stone of Mecca. So does that 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:42.400 mean that Mohammed is supposed to have been the first 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.200 person to actually drink coffee rather than eat it. I 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:49.000 mean possibly, but if not, there's this other contender, this 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:51.880 Persian doctor and philosopher who lived around the same time 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.720 that Collide danced with his goats. His name was Rozzie 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.400 and he was the first person known to write about coffee. 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.080 In his writings, he talked about this medicinal bever it 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.720 she'd made from the bun fruit, which is the Ethiopian 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:05.640 word for the coffee cherry. And there are also early 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:07.680 writings that point to Yemen is the first place where 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.240 coffee was cultivated, roasted, ground and brewed as a liquid. 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:15.520 And this would have been around the early fifteenth century. Alright, 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.240 So I know coffee plants aren't native to Yemen, so 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:20.920 it's safe to assume they were imported from Ethiopia. Once 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.000 word of their discovery, it's spread. But but do we 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:24.959 know the story from there? Like how did it get 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.720 from Africa and this Arabian peninsula all the way to 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:31.600 Europe and North America and I guess just about everywhere. Well, 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:33.640 A big part of coffee spread is thanks to those 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.520 early adopters in Yemen. Many of them were Sufis who 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:38.920 used the plant's roasted seeds and leaves to prepare a 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.439 beverage that helped them stay awake through long nights of prayer. 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.160 And then these holy men took their beans and all 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.240 this brewing, know how, all across the Islamic world through 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.240 the fifteenth century. And then you get to the sixteenth century, 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:54.280 like coffee begins its global journey. The Ottoman Empire rises 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.320 to power, and Muslims they've got this religious ban on 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.559 alcohol that starts to take hold, and soon coffee replaces 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.880 wine throughout the region. And by the fifteen fifties, the 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:08.120 first known coffee house opens in Constantinople. But here's the thing, right, Like, 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:10.760 the Ottomans knew they had stumbled into something special during 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:13.280 their conquest, which is why they tried to keep coffee 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:17.240 this exclusive product of Yemen. And to do this they 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.680 really had to do something clever. They only allowed coffee 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:23.400 beans to be exported if they'd been sterilized first. So 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.600 while like Europeans started developing a taste for coffee during 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.200 the sixteenth century, they really couldn't use the seeds to 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.480 grow their own. But of course the Ottoman Empire couldn't 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.680 keep an eye on every single bean, so pretty soon 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:39.440 Muslim pilgrims as well as like Dutch and Venetian merchants, 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.920 they were all smuggling these precious beans off the Arabian peninsula. 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:44.960 All right, So you know, we're looking at the early 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:48.200 seventeenth century, and so obviously coffee had made its way 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.560 into Europe, both legally and illegally, but you know, not 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:53.920 everybody took to it from the start. It was interesting 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:55.920 reading about this and seeing that, you know, like even 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:59.280 the Catholic Church was strongly opposed the coffee because of 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.400 those stimul lighting effects that we were talking about. Apparently 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:04.840 Pope Clement the eighth was urged by his councilman to 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:07.160 speak out against this drink, and they referred to it 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:11.120 as the bitter invention of Satan, which might have been 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:13.760 a slight overreaction on their part, But what happened, Like 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:16.280 did the Pope actually take their advice? Well, he was 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.320 never one to follow the crowd, so Pope Clement insisted 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.080 on tasting the coffee for himself before he made a 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.640 decision on what to do about it. And you know, 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.320 thankfully he turned out to be a big fan. In fact, 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.440 here's what he told his counsel. He said, the devil's 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.200 drink is so delicious, we should cheat the devil by 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.920 baptizing it. And so it was with that endorsement that 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.360 Christian Europe decided to really indulge and it quickly became 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.640 the world's favorite pick me up. So I love that, 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.600 And also, like, can you just baptize anything you have 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:47.640 reservations about? Like led Zeppelin might have sold their soul 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.040 to the Devil's to make led Zeppelin one through four, 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:53.000 but I'm gonna baptize it, Like it's just such a 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:57.360 convenient solution. But of course it wasn't just the Catholic clergy, 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.359 who had all these qualms with coffees growing roan socide. 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:03.760 Various rulers of the Ottoman Empire also tried outlining coffee 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.800 and coffee houses over the years, but you know, the 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.880 band's never really stuck for long. The worst of these 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:14.880 crackdowns came during the rule of Murad the fourth between sixty. 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:19.680 Murad had already outlawed tobacco, and he was so committed 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:21.920 to this band, like sometimes he wore a disguise in 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.400 public just so he could catch illegal smokers in the act. 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.600 And whenever the emperor did catch someone like sparking a cigarette, 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:31.600 he'd reveal himself and then he'd wail on the culprit 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.680 with his royal mace floor. So was he doing the 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.240 same kind of thing with coffee as well? Yeah, I 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:40.040 mean it was horrible, and Murad was pretty angry when 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:41.960 he realized that many of his subjects had been meeting 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:45.040 at coffee houses to discuss I guess what a buzz 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:47.200 kill of a ruler he was. So, of course, the 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.520 response was to outrighte band coffee throughout the Ottoman Empire, 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:52.800 and while getting caught with a cup of coffee carried 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.880 the same punishment as tobacco as a first offense. The 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:59.400 repeat offenders got much worse than a beating. Anyone caught 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.440 drinking be a second time was actually sewn into a 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.520 sack and chucked into a local waterway. Man, it just 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:09.679 sounds like such a fun guy, what a party, you know. 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.119 But what's weird is like this isn't even the most 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.679 bizarre opposition coffee faced in its early years. And I 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:17.840 feel like we need to talk about these extremes, and 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.399 especially those that some of the European officials went to 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.760 while trying to stamp out coffee altogether. But before we 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:39.520 get to that, let's take a quick break. You're listening 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.280 to part time Genius and we're giving you the full 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:44.159 scoop on the history of coffee. All right, mango, So 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:47.879 banning coffee and coffee shops is pretty bad, but actually 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:49.560 this was funny to read about. Did you know that 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.320 in Sweden they actually went even further and at one 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:56.840 point actually outlawed cups and saucers to what So this 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.440 was the mid eighteenth century. It was during the rule 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:03.119 of eight Frederick, and the king believed that coffee stimulated 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.639 radical thinking and let his citizens to behave badly, so 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.840 he imposes this heavy tax on coffee imports and even consumption, 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:13.639 and he punished those who refused to pay the tax 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:17.960 by confiscating their cups and saucers, and even that happened 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:19.959 to fail, so they had to try to find another 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.479 way to stop the coffee drinkers. So the king decided 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:25.800 to ban coffee altogether. I mean, it's pretty great that 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:27.879 he thought taking away cops with solve the problem. But 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.000 obviously the Sweedes are some of the biggest coffee drinkers 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.240 in the world today. So I'm guessing the band died 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.800 with King Frederick. Well not quite. I mean, his son 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.200 tried to keep this going. His son was goosed off 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.359 the third It just sounds like somebody who would want 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:46.080 to ban coffee, right, and so he that's right. I mean, 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:49.040 he shared his father's distaste for coffee and became convinced 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:52.000 that it was incredibly unhealthy. In fact, the guy was 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:54.959 so convinced that coffee was harmful that he conducted this 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.480 long running experiment to prove to his subjects that coffee 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:00.440 was bad for him. So this is what he did. 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:04.000 He found two convicted murders and they've been sentenced to death, 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:06.600 and he offered them this chance to live. And so 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.359 he said, here's this experiment, and if you participate in 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:12.199 this will give you life sentences instead. And so the 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:14.960 men agreed. And what happens next is they were given 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.159 their marching orders. So one of them was required to 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:20.600 drink three pots of coffee every day. The other one 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.600 was asked to drink an equal amount of tea. Wait, 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:25.359 that's it. Like all they had to do is drink 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.560 a bunch of tea and coffee and they got to live. Yep. 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:31.840 I feel like this is like the luckiest convicted murderers 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:35.000 in history. Oh definitely. I mean, Gustaf was convinced that 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.760 the coffee drinker would be dead in no time, and 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:40.920 this is how dangerous he thought coffee was. But of 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:43.520 course Gustav was wrong. In fact, not only did both 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:46.919 prisoners outlive the king, they even outlived the doctors that 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.520 have been charged with overseeing them. The tea drinker lived 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:52.560 to be I think it was like eighty three years old, 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:55.720 and the coffee drinker actually survived even longer than that. 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:58.400 So that's amazing, and it actually reminds me of something 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.360 similar that happened in Prussia around the same time. Apparently 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.480 the Prussian King Frederick was also convinced that coffee was 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.440 a dangerous influence on these people. So not only did 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.280 he ban coffee drinking, he even made it illegal to 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.639 roast it. I was just pretty ridiculous, and I can 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.120 to enforce something like that. I mean, that's the funny part, 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:18.679 Like he actually sent royal sniffers into the streets to 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:21.920 track down criminals just by the smell of the illicit brew. 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:24.760 But again, all of this was ultimately in vain, and 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:28.520 coffee culture continued to thrive across Europe, you know, and 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:30.719