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A Time In History

A Time In History; is a post on historical events. 

Sit back and relax with great historical moment.

Where are the coffee lovers? Come over here please, this article is on you.

THE COFFEE EXPERIMENT.

King Gustav III of Sweden ordered a coffee experiment, conducted in the second half of the 18th century. 

You want to know why? Read more. 

The study was to determine health effects of coffee.

Coffee first arrived in Sweden around 1674 and became mostly used by the 18th century when it became fashionable among the upper class, wealthy folks. 

In 1746, a royal edict was issued against coffee and tea due to "the misuse and excesses of tea and coffee drinking". 

Heavy taxes were levied on consumption, and failure to pay the tax on the substance resulted in fines and confiscation of cups and dishes. 

Later, coffee was banned completely; despite the ban, consumption continued.

King Gustav III, who viewed coffee consumption as a threat to the public health and was determined to prove its negative health effects, ordered a scientific experiment to be carried out.

The king ordered the experiment to be conducted using two identical twins. 

Both of the twins had been tried for the crimes they had committed and condemned to death. 

Their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment on the condition that one of the twins drink three pots of coffee, and the other twin, drink the same amount of tea, every day for the rest of their lives.

Two physicians were appointed to supervise the experiment and report its finding to the king.

Unfortunately, both doctors died, presumably of natural causes, before the experiment was completed.

Gustav III, who was assassinated in 1792, also died before seeing the final results.

Let's get back to the twins being used for the experiment. The twins lived to their 80s.

The tea drinker was the first to die, at age 83; it is unknown when the coffee drinker died.

In 1794, the government once again tried to impose a ban on coffee. The ban, which was renewed multiple times until the 1820s, was never successful in stamping out coffee-drinking.

Once the ban was lifted, coffee became a dominant beverage in Sweden, which since has been one of the countries with the highest coffee consumption per capita in the world.

The experiment failed to prove that coffee was a dangerous beverage.

"This story is 'indeed,' captured in history books. The authenticity of the event (as always) has been questioned by some. Nonetheless, we did enjoy reading, 'A Time In History.' Don't we?"

Reference: Wikepadia, Pictures credit: Foodlocate, Unsplash.



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