Food - Drink
The Unexpected Breakfast Drink That Was Common Before Coffee
By NATASHA BAILEY
Did you know that in the ninth century, a goat herder in Ethiopia's southwest discovered the coffee bean? The consumption of coffee then spread throughout the world, but what were people consuming prior to the discovery and exportation of coffee?
Europeans were drinking wine and beer for breakfast. Alcohol was so embedded in European culture that during the Middle Ages (500 to 1400–1500 CE), people often drank beer or wine in the mornings and throughout the day.
According to Lancaster Brewery, the reason beer was so popular for breakfast was because of its caloric content. Beer gave laborers an energy boost throughout the European Middle Ages, when physical labor like farming or masonry was prevalent and required a lot of energy.