Tag: drink clean water

Beverages from scratch…

• Wine

Wine is as old as civilization itself and it has a significant place in many ancient cultures. Many experts agree that wine probably dates to 6000 B.C., to Mesopotamia where wild vines grew in abundance. The popularity of wine eventually spread to Egypt, along the Nile Delta. Wine came to Europe with the spread of the Greek civilization around 1600 B.C. It was an important article of Greek commerce and Greek doctors including Hippocrates, were the among the first to prescribe it. The Greeks also learned to add herbs and spices to mask spoilage.

Starting about 1,000 B.C., the Romans made major contributions in classifying grape varieties and colours, observing and charting ripening characteristics, and popularizing the growing of vines and manufacturing of wines. As time progressed, the wealthy enjoyed the fruits of the vine. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe’s wine industry was saved by the church as monks planted vines to provide wine for Mass. Before long, France emerged as a leader, with some of the world’s finest wines.

Did you know that an ancient Persian fable credits a lady of the court with the discovery of wine? This princess lost favour with the king and attempted to poison herself by eating some table grapes that had ‘spoiled’ in a jar. She became intoxicated and fell asleep. When she awoke, she found that she felt much more relaxed and stress free and wine was discovered!

• Coffee

According to legend, an Arabian shepherd named Kaldi found his goats dancing joyously around a dark green leafed shrub with bright red cherries in the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Kaldi soon determined that it was the cherries on the shrub that were making them act this way. After trying the cherries himself, he learned of their powerful effect. These were coffee berries and monks at a local monastery started using a drink made of these berries to stay awake during extended hours of prayer. And so, coffee was born.

The ancient Ethiopians made balls of crushed coffee beans and fat to give them energy during long journeys. The coffee we are familiar with originated in Arabia, where roasted beans were first brewed around A.D. 1,000. Later, coffee was brought to the rest of Asia from where it was taken to Europe by a merchant from Venice.

Did you know that the name coffee is derived from the Arabic term ‘gahwa’ which means ‘that which prevents sleep’?

• Tea

Did you know that tea is 5000 years old? According to legend, it was discovered in 2737 B.C., by a Chinese emperor when some tea leaves accidently blew into a pot of boiling water. The emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, found it very refreshing, and tea was created!

Tea consumption spread throughout Chinese society reaching into every strata. In time, drinking tea became part of the social and cultural life in the far East and India. Tea was introduced to India by the silk caravans travelling from the Orient to Europe. It was a Buddhist priest who brought the first tea seeds from China to Japan. In Japan, tea received almost instant imperial sponsorship, and spread rapidly from the royal court and monasteries to the other sections of Japanese society. Dutch traders and Portuguese missionaries brought tea into Europe and tea became an extremely fashionable drink in the court of Charles II of England. Tea has played a very important role in the history of England for it brought fortune to the British empire and at the same time, it was a tax levied on tea that led to the loss of her colonies in the New World.

Today, tea is grown on tea estates, and 70% of the tea we drink is grown in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Argentina and China. Amazing, we drink virtually the same tea today that the Chinese emperor drank the day he discovered it!

• Carbonated soft drinks

Do you love fizzy soft drinks? Well, even the ancient Romans loved to drink the bubbling waters of mineral springs and they believed that this water was very good for health as well. Later, scientists discovered that it was the carbon dioxide in the water that caused these bubbles and tried to find a way to introduce this gas into plain water to give the same effect. Thanks to the efforts of such scientists as Joseph Riestley and John Nooth, this feat was accomplished and carbonated water was available for sale by the end of the 1700.

The next step was to flavour this sparkling water. In 1784, citric acid was developed from lemon juice and by 1833, carbonated lemonade was on sale in England. Soon, other flavours were introduced and in 1886, Coca Cola entered the market and created soft drink history.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice day!🌼

“Desalination 97% of Water Reserves-Solution To Water Crises?”

Humans and animals have been travelling since ages in search of food and water. Fresh water and Food are required for any person not to be healthy and fit enough to carry his daily day to day routine. We have been able to find various fresh sources of these waters and their origin, and through advancement in technology we have brought them to land directly to our house. We now need not to travel distances in search of water related just turn on the taps and thus we get it anytime anywhere. This truly has transformed human life and has led cities to develop. The source of freshwater is mainly the groundwater which is assumed to be fresh and not contaminated with dust and adulterants. There are possibilities of hard water in some areas due to the geography of particular areas, but still it is drinkable and people can just boil it or just purify it through the RO or Reverse Osmosis process. 

But as we see and acknowledge these water reserves and resources, these are wasted a lot in various processes including technology and manufacturing. Due to which we are facing a lack of water in various parts of the world and has become a worldwide crisis. It is expected that around 5-6 billion people will be living in areas which will lack water resources by 2050. So it’s high time to be involved in the activities to save this essential resource and thus save humanity. 

But the big question which comes into the mind is that we have 3% of drinkable water, what about the rest 97%. “Why Can’t we use it? And What if we make that water clean and salt free, thus 100% drinkable.So what would be the results if we do remove all the salt water or no salt was ever dissolved in these oceans, how would our lives get affected ?” 

First of all what we need to know is how these water resources got salt into them ? It is assumed that since the existence of earth which was about 4.5 billion years ago,  earth was very hot and it took a few years to cool down. Then Around 3.8 billion years ago, the surface of earth got cooler and the vapours in the surrounding or atmosphere turned into liquid state and were fresh enough to drink directly. But sooner it became saltier due to various natural phenomenon especially like rain. Rain brought the carbon content in the air with it and dissolved in the freshwater. This makes the water a bit acidic, thus eroding the rocks. This water then goes into the rivers and streams residing nearby and thus dissolving those salts of rocks in it. Also there were emissions from Volcanoes which dissolved in these rivers and then into oceans. This process continues for another billion years and hence most of the water we do see around is saltier. 

Technologies and research have been followed up with the steps to remove salts from water and thus make it drinkable. So would it be beneficial for us or rather harmful ? 

  1. It is assumed that cleaning up most of these ocean waters by desalination would affect the life inside the sea and oceans. The marine life creatures have evolved to drink and remain hydrated through the salt water present in the surrounding. Cleaning this water will surely lead to death of most of this aqua life. These have evolved as per their surrounding and remove out the extra salt which helps them to survive. 
  2. The underwater algae which is assumed to be spread all around the world, is responsible for absorbing the carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen, which humans require to survive. Thus cleaning of water would affect these plants and would affect our atmosphere, filling it more with the carbon content and less pure and fresh air to breath. 
  3. Increase climate change making some parts of the world extremely hot to live in. Phenomenon like hurricanes and cyclones would get common as the temperature increased and this would help these tropical storms to build up. This surely looks no good for humans as per their survival would surely be at stake. 

“So it can be an option to shift towards these ocean water, make it clean and drink it, but still we should prohibit it from doing it as it can have a devastating effect on the survival of all living beings. We could rather save the resources which are present around us rather than interfering with nature. As we know everything is balanced in nature and if any interference could lead to a phase humans would never want to enter. So we all need to understand the importance of water, save it as much as we can, so as to be safe from future affects and thus remain safe.”