Do you know what is in water?

My random thoughts for the day. Did you ever wonder why, up till a fairly short period of time ago, almost everyone drank coffee, tea or some sort of alcoholic beverage? Look at old style movies, television shows and even listen to old style radio programs and you will see men and women sipped tea, drinking coffee or drinking wine. Pictures painted during these times show the same thing as well as early photographs. Rarely if ever did you see anyone enjoying a long glass of water.

Now the reason for this is the same reason why drinks like coffee and tea have become so deeply ingrained in the very psyche of men and woman all over the world. Up until a very short time ago, drinking water was physically hazardous. Water from rivers and streams had untold amounts of feces and parasites in it. Water from wells could easily carry toxic lead or other poisonous elements. The only way to safely ensure that the water you drank was fairly safe was to boil it. Hmm, boiling water...what does that suggest?

As an aside, alcoholic beverages were safe because they either were distilled or brewed and either process would easily destroy anything harmful in any of the water used. This is why you never saw a cowboy walk up to a bar and say, "Gimmee a tall glass of ice water in a clean glass!"

Okay aside over with. The brewing of tea and tea like beverages has been going on for a very long time. Besides the hundreds of benefits of drinking tea, the boiling of the water to make it would purify it. People could enjoy a hot drink and not get sick. Of course, I doubt the early brewers of these drinks ever realized this, but I am certain that, subconsciously at least, they equated the improved health with the tea drinking.

Coffee, of course, is much newer and doesn't have the same length of history as tea, but the same principle applies. As long as the waters weren't completely fouled, cooks could dip a coffee pot into any old stream or pond, dump coffee grounds in and let it boil till the treat was ready. Again, you got a jolt of caffeine without the danger of the runs.

These days, most of us don't have to worry about things like that. I personally have three seperate sources of filtered water available in my home and drink water with a head abandon that would horrify and puzzle my ancestors. However, I still brew many pots of coffee every day and enjoy every drop of it. Doesn't hurt to play it safe right?