What They Drank - “Once In A While Sum Caffe”
If you reenact the Revolutionary War period, and have enjoyed a cup of coffee in camp, you may have had a visitor ask: "Did they drink coffee back then?" . The answer can always be "It depends" , but in many cases the answer is "yes" . Some time ago I suggested the acronym "SALT" as an assessment tool for determining who ate what during the Revolutionary War period. Each of the letters, "S" for status, "A" for activity, "L" for location and "T" for time of year, is a factor to consider for understanding what "they" ate or drank based on who they were, what they were doing, and when they were doing it. Taken together, it is also a good reminder that much of the meat eaten in an age before refrigeration and canning was preserved by being salted. [1] This approach is helpful when answering the coffee question. Ads for coffee appear regularly in Revolutionary War era newspapers. The exam...