COFFEE AND CAFFEINE

COFFEE, TEA OR MEAN SODA
Rather than coffee, isn't it the fabled habit of drinking tea that the British always promote as their drink of choice seemingly since the beginning of time?

Actually, they hadn't even heard of tea until 1610, which is when they are introduced to it by the Dutch.

Then in the early 1840s, French drug use advocate Henri Murger, while still a teenager, spearheads the Bohemian movement of "alcohol and coffee cults," which soon spreads to Britain.

THE OFFICIAL DRINK OF THE GAY NINETIES
In 1884, liquid carbon dioxide becomes commercially available. This gives the business of selling carbonated soft drinks (with caffeine) a whole new dimension - the "soda pop" dimension.

In 1886, Dr. J.C. Pemberton of Atlanta, Georgia formulates a green-colored "nerve tonic," which is laced with cocaine and caffeine. He calls it Coca-Cola. Two years later Asa Candler takes it over from Pemberton and then incorporates the Coca-Cola company in 1892.

However, in 1895, the Coca-Cola folks hadn't counted on pharmacist Caleb Bradham of New Bern, North Carolina - he develops a soda called Brad's Drink, and, in 1901 this mixture is named Pepsi-Cola.

Just two years later, the government (with encouragement, no doubt, from new competitor Pepsi-Cola) pressures the Coca-Cola company to take the cocaine out of it's drink, letting it keep in the caffeine, just as Pepsi-Cola has.

Meanwhile, for 17 years (1886-1903) many very loyal "Coke" customers had been legally drinking real cocaine!

The two companies greedily remain bitter enemies ever since then, despite the fact that they both go on to make billions over the years.

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