The medieval influencer who convinced people to drink tea

How tea gets made

Tea is one of the most consumed beverages in the world, and this video walks us through the process of supplying it from farms to our mugs. Workers handpick leaves, ferment them, and dry them as part of this involved operation. Follow along for a scientific understanding of the many steps it takes to produce tea and appreciate the detail and effort to create its flavor, aroma, and color.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

In the 1600s, coffee had religious significance

In the 1600s, coffee was important in multiple religious traditions. In Yemen, it was the drink of choice for Sufi mystics to improve their focus and fuel their grueling meditations. Pope Clement VIII's approval spread coffee’s popularity from the Muslim to the Christian world, paving the way for the cappuccino.

Protesters in Boston tossed chests of a type of Chinese black tea called Bohea

There were hundreds of chests of loose tea dumped into Boston Harbor on Dec. 16, 1773, in protest. The tea was not bagged (tea bags were not invented for another 150 years), and they were not bricks, either, a common way to pack tea elsewhere in the world. The tea was mostly Bohea tea, a common Chinese blend of black teas originating from southeastern China.

A medievalist explains how romantic love emerged as a cultural concept

Many long-form stories written in English were originally considered "romances," a term derived from the Old French word for "the speech of the people." But changes in medieval culture, triggered by a number of 12th-century church reforms, led to a new interest in what we now consider romantic love, including a new view of marriage as a pursuit of love rather than a transaction. Those new perspectives were then reflected in the period's popular stories, including stories in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."

The health benefits of matcha tea

Matcha tea has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. Very likely due to its bright green color, which is conducive to social media post aesthetics. The tea is a powdered form of green tea, and its benefits are touted everywhere. This article examines the evidence for such health claims, finding the tea's key nutrients of theanine, chlorophyll, and caffeine did have small observable effects on study participants. Learn more here.

Dive into the history of beer via comic book

Why was the covered beer stein invented, and what led to the creation of the Vienna Lager beer style? Find out in this article about a 173-page comic book outlining the history of beer. According to creator Mike Smith, the history of beer is a...

'Deinfluencing' explained

You’ve probably heard of influencers, but have you heard of “de-influencers?” Basically, the de-influencing trend started when creators began making videos about products you shouldn’t buy, rather than sponsored content promoting things you should purchase. Comedian Taylor Tomlinson recently cracked some jokes about the trend, and its companion “under consumption-core.”

Ice cream can be traced back to the 7th century

Documents from ancient China refer to a frozen milk dish, a predecessor of the treat we now know. That evolved into a blend of buffalo milk, flour, and fragrant camphor oil that more closely resembled our ice cream.

Your DNA may determine whether you like coffee or tea

Whether people prefer coffee or tea may boil down to a matter of taste genetics. People with a version of a gene that increases sensitivity to the bitter flavor of caffeine tend to be coffee drinkers, according to a report. Read on for more.

'Dirty soda' took off in Utah before exploding on TikTok

The concoction is a combination of Diet Coke, coffee creamer, and citrus. This Eater article delves into the history behind the sugary drink, pinpointing its start as a Mormon-friendly alternative to alcohol and caffeine. The explainer also explores why the drink became so popular on social media and offers helpful hints for crafting your own recipe.

'Foodie' culture arose in the early 2000s

Food writer Jaya Saxena attributes the mainstreaming of the term to early-aughts TV shows, including “Top Chef” and “No Reservations,” as well as the dawn of social apps like Yelp, which turned everyday diners into critics.

Wood that changed the color of water was the earliest recorded example of fluorescence

Lignum nephriticum, a tea used to treat kidney and urinary illnesses, was described in the 16th century as derived from white wood that turned water a bluish hue. However, in the 17th century, accounts described the wood as reddish and creating a kaleidoscope of colors in water. In 1915, the sources were identified as two different woods, which absorb UV radiation and emit visible light.

Beard was influenced by his godfather, a Chinese-born cook

Beard made no secret of the impact that Jue-Let, his godfather, had on his own love of food and cooking. Beard wrote about Let, though he has still been relegated to the annals of American cooking, something historians say is unfortunately common for minorities.

How fecal transplants work

1,700 years ago, Chinese alchemist Ge Hong was renowned for his soup that could cure diarrhea-stricken patients. It had a surprising secret ingredient: feces. While it might seem unwise to consume feces, exciting new research suggests that taking...

The strange endurance of consuming blood for health

Blood's importance to humanity is best summarized this way: without it, we die. This importance naturally begets assumptions about its medicinal properties, many of which appear accessible through drinking or eating the fluid connective tissue. This article details the history of blood drinking, from ancient Roman gladiators to modern-day sanguinarians.

The ‘three-martini lunch’ was popularized on Madison Avenue

Advertising executives working on Madison Avenue in the 1960s and ’70s popularized the so-called “three-martini lunch” between businesspeople during the work week. Admen of the time supposedly believed alcohol brought more creativity to the second half of their workday. This article explains why three-martini lunches are no longer commonplace.

Eduard Baltzer encouraged 'natural eating' in the 1860s

Historian Corinna Treitel credits the Protestant minister with inventing the concept of “natural eating” in Nordhausen, Germany, in the 19th century. Baltzer believed that people were consuming excessive amounts of schnapps, sugar, and meat, and that this behavior was having a detrimental impact on their lives. He encouraged a diet mostly of fruits and vegetables, though he was not opposed to food grown with artificial fertilizers.

How cigarettes took over China

In 2022, China had a fifth of the world's population and bought nearly half of the world's cigarettes. This investigation explores how China became plagued by tobacco consumption, something epidemiologists say will strain the country's health system...

Listen to a podcast episode from 1440's editor in chief that explains how a credit card transaction works behind the scenes.

When you buy even something as small as a $5 latte, a global relay between banks and networks like Visa and Mastercard is triggered. It all started with a 1958 campaign from Bank of America that jump-started the credit card revolution.

A medieval Italian visits Constantinople

In the tenth century, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I sent Liudprand of Cremona, an Italian bishop, to Constantinople on a diplomatic mission. He was not successful. But the very undiplomatic report he sent back to the emperor about his experiences provides a unique – and often very entertaining – look at life and ceremony in the Byzantine capital, dramatically different from anything in Liudprand’s Italy.

Thomas Cook invented modern tourism

In the mid-1800s, Cook took wealthy Britons on tours of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the US, often packaging together transportation, lodging, and food, effectively creating the modern travel agent. He also pioneered travel writing, with “Travellers Handbooks” offering tourists tips for visiting various countries.

How the placebo effect became mainstream

Contemporary patients and medical students take the placebo effect for granted, as its a standard element in most drug trials. But the concept was only first debated and standardized in the 1950s after a ground-breaking 1955 paper by medical...

Swords from around the world: an encyclopedia

Swords may have fallen out of favor as the go-to method of warfare, but they once were a common choice worldwide. Scroll through this online encyclopedia to learn about and see swords from ancient to modern times. The ubiquity of swords and their...

Table tennis originated as a leisure activity for the upper class

The sport's origin story can be traced back to 19th-century England, where it was known as "whiff-whaff." Players initially used a dinner table to play. After decades of evolution, ping-pong reached its "Golden Age" of popularity in the 1950s and 1960s.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

In Japan, elders lead toasts

Older family members and colleagues, or senpai, are expected to take the lead at formal gatherings, pouring drinks and offering toasts. Younger people should accept pours by holding their glasses with both hands and waiting to drink until their older adults have done so. Finally, before drinking, participants should say “kampai!”

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

Poison ivy was sent to Europe in the 1600s as an exotic, ornamental oddity, where it was purposefully grown in the English royal gardens at Kew, the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, and a few other locations.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.