Coffee in the stories

[Penfeather]

Otherwise, poorer people used citrus peel in hot water, or cloves in hot water, or warm apple cider to warm them up on a cold day. Sometimes homemade wines would be drunk, and beer, of course, because the water was so bad it was the only way to drink it without dying of cholera the way Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband did, and her eldest son Albert nearly did as well.

I remember reading that in China, long ago, people who could not afford tea would serve their guests plain hot water, calling it "white tea". Not sure if it's true, but it makes a picturesque, if sad anecdote.