3-PAGE SUMMARY: A HISTORY OF THE
WORLD IN 6 GLASSES
A History of the World
in 6 Glasses
By Thomas Standage
Overview
In the book, Thomas
Standage walks us through
the history of mankind over
the last fifty thousand
years, taking the reader
through the development of six of mankind’s most
popular drinks: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and
Coca-Cola.
He portrays the transition from one beverage to the
next as a symbol of transition from one epoch to the
next.
Key Ideas Chapter-by-Chapter
Beer in Mesopotamia and Egypt
Chapter 1 – A Stone Age Brew
- It is not clear whether beer was invented from a
series of experiments with plants or stumbled upon by
accident. Even the exact time period is not known, and
guesses span a wide range, from between 10,000 to
4,000 BCE.
- For many of the first agriculture-based societies,
such as the Egyptians and Sumerians, beer drinking
was a significant ritual. It became a practiced social
behavior as beer was something that could be shared
in equity, meaning that everyone who took it drank the
same quality of beer. In ancient societies, the best cuts
of meat were given to the most important members of
the group, but beer was beer no matter who you were.
Chapter 2 – Civilized Beer
- The Agricultural Revolution converted humanity to
settled farmers. Humans were now comprised of
entire societies that built their habitat around them.
These new urban areas started as small villages, but
became big cities with fortifications and
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embattlements to defend against invading enemies,
and because people did not need all day to make food,
they could use the extra time to work on political and
especially administrative tasks.
- Humans were also able to spend time to drink
together from a community standpoint and enjoy the
beer that they made. It is possible that they met and
discussed about poetry, philosophy, and art, which
they could now set more time aside for.
Wine in Greece and Rome
Chapter 3 – The Delight of Wine
- The author admits that it is not exactly known
when and how wine was invented. It seems to have
happened almost concurrently with the invention of
pottery, around 6,000 BCE. Pottery allowed the
manufacture of vessels that were possibly used to
transport wine. The earliest evidence of wine came
from one of these vessels, found in the Zagros
Mountains, the largest mountain range around Iraq,
Iran, and southeastern Turkey.
- Wine’s place among the elite was perpetuated by
Greek intellectual gatherings. While everyone in the
wine-infused symposia were “equal”, entrée to the
meetings were only open to male landowners and
were closed to the poor, women, and slaves. This was a
representation of Greek society at the time, when only
wealthy males could vote. Even then as it is today,
wine was considered a drink for the elite and
sophisticated. It is used to toast weddings today,
served in business meetings, as well as formal dinners.
There is a sharp contrast between wine and beer even
today. Beer, for the masses; wine, for the elite.
Chapter 4 – The Imperial Vine
- Even during the decline of the Roman Empire, wine
culture remained as strong as ever in Rome. The rise in
Christianity helped preserve wine’s place in Roman
circles. In the Bible, Jesus Christ’s first miracle was to
transform water into wine in a wedding at Cana. Wine
continued to be a staple of European cultures into the
Middle Ages, firmly entrenched by religion and culture.

- The rise of Islam, around 6 BCE, appeared to
threaten the influence of wine on culture. Its founder,
Muhammad, ordered his followers to disavow
alcoholic drinks in any form, considering it an
abomination. With Roman Catholicism’s affinity to
wine, and Islam’s official disdain for alcohol, religion
and beverage was fast becoming intertwined. Wine,
despite its rejection of Islam, continues to thrive today,
as it has over the past several centuries.
Spirits in the Colonial Period
Chapter 5 – High Spirits, High Seas
- As with beer and alcohol, its enthusiasts celebrated
spirits for their curative properties, and they were
generally correct. Today, spirits are not exactly the first
thing that comes to mind when “healthy” is
mentioned; but a thousand years ago, spirits were
safer to drink than water, which potentially was a
disease carrier.
- Like beer, the discovery of rum symbolized a new
resource: sugarcane, which was made available to a
new group of people, the settlers from Europe.
Manufacturing rum was all about the application of the
thousand-year technology, fermentation, which was
used to make beer and wine. Rum, however,
represented uncivil behavior, which emphasized the
negative culture that the Greek sophisticates had
feared was a product of beer and wine.
Chapter 6 – The Drinks That Built America
- The infamous Molasses Act of 1733 and the Sugar
Act of 1734 made rum prohibitively expensive because
of taxation, resulting in a huge black market for both
rum and molasses. Officials were also bribed by
smugglers to allow them to sneak sugar into the North
American colonies, an unintended but expected
consequence of higher taxation. The oppressive duties
imposed would lead to the American Revolutionary
War just a few years down the road.
- Because the sugar supply from the West Indies was
disrupted due to the American Revolution, rum
production fell, and whiskey replaced rum as the main
drink in America after the war. Whiskey could be
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3-PAGE SUMMARY: A HISTORY OF THE
WORLD IN 6 GLASSES
produced with the same old fermentation methods,
but instead of sugar, widely available cereal grains
were used. Whiskey, like rum, was used as currency
and even clergymen accepted it as payment for their
services.
Coffee in the Age of Reason
Chapter 7 – The Great Soberer
- With coffee, beverage history moves back closer to
where the first iconic beverage beer, is said to have
originated. Coffee may have originated in Northern
Africa, most probably in the region that is current day
Yemen. Legend says that a goatherd had noticed that
his herd of goats had become more active and
vigorous after consuming a brown bean. He took the
mysterious bean to the local holy man, who taught him
to turn the beans into a powerful, dark beverage.
- Historical titans, such as Francis Bacon and Galileo,
were challenging institutions and long-held beliefs
about science, religion, and philosophy. They stressed
that careful observation, experimentation, and
empiricism were the key to human progress, rather
than blind acceptance of established truths. The
dawning of the Age of Enlightenment, and the period,
seemed to have a beverage to accompany it – coffee.
Unlike wine, which dulled the brain’s capacity because
of intoxication, coffee increased awareness,
concentration, and focus.
Chapter 8 – The Coffeehouse Internet
- Coffeehouses had become the centers of
intellectual, political, and business dialogue by the end
of the 17th century. Deals were negotiated and
finalized there, and historians wrote that the wealthy
and powerful were identified not by where they lived,
but by which coffeehouses they went to.
- Tradesmen and other gentlemen who were not
quite up the social ladder could freely discuss their
views on matters without too much fear of rebuke or
ridicule in the coffeehouses. The wealthy and the
powerful were not given as much influence and weight
in these gatherings, and there was a sense of equal
opportunity not found elsewhere in society. Because

of this relative democracy and freedom of expression,
coffeehouses could be considered the “internet” of the
Age of Enlightenment.
Tea and the British Empire
Chapter 9 – Empires of Tea
- Britain was the most powerful nation by the end of
the 18th century, even after the American Revolution
temporarily divested them of their former American
colonies. Their empire covered a huge swathe of the
world and stretched as far south as New Zealand and
Australia, the north in Canada, and in the case of India,
deep in the middle of Asia. A new beverage linked
these colonies together: tea.
- As in most of the other beverages in civilization, tea
would be used as currency in China. The Tang dynasty,
which ruled China for 300 years, beginning around 600
CE, saw its popularity as a means to raise revenue, and
tea was heavily taxed. Despite the levy, tea continued
to remain popular all the way in the succeeding Sung
Dynasty, which ruled China until around 1200 CE.
Chapter 10 – Tea Power
- The Industrial Revolution opened the world to the
era of machines and automation, spurring the creation
of a huge ceramics industry. As tea rose in status in
England, other industries concurrently flourished. With
growing supplies of coal, a strong work ethic, and a
proud scientific tradition, England was quickly
becoming the top world power from technological,
cultural, and military standpoints.
- However, before the end of the 19th century, most
of Britain’s tea was coming from India, not China. The
impact of tea on India is felt until this day. It is the
world’s largest producer and consumer of the
beverage, with China coming in second. Britain, who
started the tea industry to prosper in India, ironically
now consumes only about six percent of total world
consumption. The biggest tea consumers in the world,
however, are former British colonies.
Coca-Cola and the Rise of America
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3-PAGE SUMMARY: A HISTORY OF THE
WORLD IN 6 GLASSES
Chapter 11 – From Soda to Cola
- The development of Coca Cola was a product of
research by the British chemist Joseph Priestly, who
was experimenting on the relationship between
carbon dioxide and oxygen. He created the first batch
of sparkling water before the end of the 19th century,
and suggested that it could be used as medicine
against scurvy, tiredness, and nausea. The most
rudimentary form of sparkling waters contained
sodium bicarbonate, shortened to “soda”, which
eventually defined all fizzy water beverages.
- During the Great Depression, Coca-Cola thrived as
it was marketed as the ultimate family drink – not only
acceptable but welcomed in all social functions.
Despite the economic downturn, Coca-Cola was a
bright spot in America. It also survived competition
from Pepsi Cola, selling a product that looked like, and
tasted like Coca-Cola. The battle eventually ended, and
both companies are now billion-dollar multinationals
selling a variety of products and services.
Chapter 12 – Globalization in a Bottle
- Coca-Cola was a true global product after World
War II. The war stamped the United States as a true
global power. Before World War II, the United States
was essentially an isolationist country, with the bad
taste of World War I still in its mouth. When soldiers
were deployed in other countries, they were each
supplied a bottle of Coca-Cola.
- The drink was such an integral part of the soldiers’
experience in other countries that the government
helped the Coca-Cola Company build bottling facilities
in military bases in other countries. The Coca-Cola
Company had a lot of free advertising as many of the
United States popular military leaders were known to
be fans of the beverage.