The Social Revolution of Caffeine
In the 1660s the changes caused by coffee to European society were very evident, and the writer and historian James Howell wrote that apprentices and clerks had the habit of starting the day with beer or wine, which decreased their work efficiency; Now, however, with coffee, they were awake and ready to get to work.
Long before the advent of coffee, there was the advent of beer. The jobs were mostly physical and not mental, and many were carried out in the open air, on farms, or consisted of carrying or transporting goods from one place to another. Workers didn't have to be mentally fit, nor did they have to keep an eye on their watches (which almost no one owned).
In the mid-eighteenth century, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the nature of work began to change. For the workers who worked on the machines, a mind darkened by alcohol was a safety hazard and a burden on productivity. For office workers and people who worked with numbers, wine and beer in the morning made it very difficult to carry out jobs that required precision. Coffee provided exactly the drug needed for this new era. It facilitated concentration at a time when more and more people were depending on the mind for a living. In the Middle Ages, no one needed a watch. Those who worked in the fields only had to consult the position of the sun to know how many hours of daylight there were available. Those who cultivated their own piece of land freely decided how much they could or wanted to do in those hours of daylight. The day was divided into three great moments: morning, afternoon, evening.
Employees and workers needed a new way of measuring the day. For starters, they had to show up to work on time and stay there until it was time to switch off, and they were paid for the work they did during that time. Employers were required to know how much was produced per hour. For those workers, and their directors, minutes became a necessity. Caffeine was the go-to drug to help everyone focus on the passage of time throughout the day.
Far more revolutionary was how caffeine allowed people to completely ignore the sun, which was ultimately the first watch ever. Our body has evolved to follow its rhythm: we wake up when the sun rises and go to sleep when the sun sets. Before you find out about the effects of caffeine, work shifts
Evenings, not to mention nighttime ones, were an inconceivable idea. The human body wouldn't allow it.
Caffeine, on the other hand, allowed us to ignore our body's natural clock. Thanks to oil lanterns, gas lighting first and then electric lighting, as well as being powered by caffeine, factories could now remain in operation twenty-four hours a day. It may not have exactly been caffeine that lit the fuse of the Industrial Revolution, but it's hard to imagine such a huge change in work and life without its contribution.
Caffeine, by making us detached from our body's natural rhythm, has set us free in many different ways. It has allowed us to live our lives twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with all the joys and stress that this entails. In short, we could enjoy the nightlife, even if we might never get enough sleep again. It quickened our pace to keep up with machinery then and the sleepless Internet today. It allowed us to never switch off.
Is this a good thing? A bad thing' Both? These are questions debated by scholars, philosophers and scientists, and perhaps even by patrons sitting at café tables.
In the 1660s the changes caused by coffee to European society were very evident, and the writer and historian James Howell wrote that apprentices and clerks had the habit of starting the day with beer or wine, which decreased their work efficiency; Now, however, with coffee, they were awake and ready to get to work.
Long before the advent of coffee, there was the advent of beer. The jobs were mostly physical and not mental, and many were carried out in the open air, on farms, or consisted of carrying or transporting goods from one place to another. Workers didn't have to be mentally fit, nor did they have to keep an eye on their watches (which almost no one owned).
In the mid-eighteenth century, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the nature of work began to change. For the workers who worked on the machines, a mind darkened by alcohol was a safety hazard and a burden on productivity. For office workers and people who worked with numbers, wine and beer in the morning made it very difficult to carry out jobs that required precision. Coffee provided exactly the drug needed for this new era. It facilitated concentration at a time when more and more people were depending on the mind for a living. In the Middle Ages, no one needed a watch. Those who worked in the fields only had to consult the position of the sun to know how many hours of daylight there were available. Those who cultivated their own piece of land freely decided how much they could or wanted to do in those hours of daylight. The day was divided into three great moments: morning, afternoon, evening.
Employees and workers needed a new way of measuring the day. For starters, they had to show up to work on time and stay there until it was time to switch off, and they were paid for the work they did during that time. Employers were required to know how much was produced per hour. For those workers, and their directors, minutes became a necessity. Caffeine was the go-to drug to help everyone focus on the passage of time throughout the day.
Far more revolutionary was how caffeine allowed people to completely ignore the sun, which was ultimately the first watch ever. Our body has evolved to follow its rhythm: we wake up when the sun rises and go to sleep when the sun sets. Before you find out about the effects of caffeine, work shifts
Evenings, not to mention nighttime ones, were an inconceivable idea. The human body wouldn't allow it.
Caffeine, on the other hand, allowed us to ignore our body's natural clock. Thanks to oil lanterns, gas lighting first and then electric lighting, as well as being powered by caffeine, factories could now remain in operation twenty-four hours a day. It may not have exactly been caffeine that lit the fuse of the Industrial Revolution, but it's hard to imagine such a huge change in work and life without its contribution.
Caffeine, by making us detached from our body's natural rhythm, has set us free in many different ways. It has allowed us to live our lives twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with all the joys and stress that this entails. In short, we could enjoy the nightlife, even if we might never get enough sleep again. It quickened our pace to keep up with machinery then and the sleepless Internet today. It allowed us to never switch off.
Is this a good thing? A bad thing' Both? These are questions debated by scholars, philosophers and scientists, and perhaps even by patrons sitting at café tables.
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