The word beverage refers to a liquid which is normally meant for drinking. Beverages thus include everything which one normally drinks. However among these, water is not considered as a beverage. Similarly, while talking about beverages one usually means alcoholic beverages, hot beverages like tea, coffee, etc. or cold beverages like soft drinks, soda, sherbets and the likes.

History :

The history of beverages is very vast as it encompasses various types of drinks. Thus, we have to take a look at the individual pasts of these drinks. When talking about hot beverages the first thing which come to our mind is tea or coffee. Both of these beverages have a lengthy history.

Tea is considered as the most popular beverage in the world. It is rumored that tea was first discovered by Emperor Shennong of China in around 2737 B.C. However, the first mentions of tea aren't as late as AD 350 in some Chinese literature.

After that tea drinking spread to Japan. In the early 1600's the first shipments of tea arrived in Europe via Dutch merchants. After the first imports the popularity of tea increased at a very fast rate within Europe and most of the European traders indulged in the trade of tea.

One of the famous incidents involving tea was the Boston Tea Party of 1773 when the American colonists threw hundreds of crates of tea into the sea to protest against the tax which was levied by Britain on tea during that time.

India is the leading tea producing nation of the world. Coffee too has a vivid history. It is said that coffee was first discovered by Ethiopian goatherds who noticed that their flock would stay awake throughout the night after consuming coffee leaves and berries. Coffee arrived in Arabia in the 13th century.

Before being used as a beverage coffee was used as wine and medicine. After colonization of Africa started in the 17th century, coffee became hugely popular among the colonial powers. Thousands of coffee houses sprang up throughout Europe in the 1600's. Coffee growing started in South America during the 1700's.

Today, Brazil is the largest coffee producing nation. Compared to tea and coffee the history of alcoholic beverages is very old. Wine is probably the mot ancient alcoholic beverage. Production of wine started in Europe around 5000 years ago.

The origin of beer too is believed to have been around the same time i.e. 3000 - 3500 B.C. Brandy is said to be the oldest distilled beverage with traces of it being found as early as AD 100. During the 1400's whisky was distilled in Ireland and Scotland.

Gin was made by a Flemish doctor in the 1600's. Vodka came up around the mid 1700's. Soft drinks and sodas are relatively new in the field of beverages. Soda water was first sold in USA around 1835.

Towards the end of the 19th century John Pemberton invented the now world famous 'Coca-Cola'. In 1898,'Pepsi-Cola' was invented by Caleb Bradham. Since then soft drinks have dominated the market of beverages consumed by teenagers.

Types :

As has been mentioned at the start there are three main types of beverages:

• Alcoholic Beverages
• Hot Beverages
• Cold Beverages