Other drinks

The curiously modern history of oat milk (via cavemen, Hippocrates, Oliver Twist, Scottish cuisine and Swedish ingenuity)

First oat milk

Surely Oatly - a barista's best friend - wasn't the first oat milk in the world? Turns out we've been extracting 'milk' from one of our favourite cereal crops for 1000s of years...

Jun 299 min read

First drinks ‘toast’

Where did the ritual of the drinks toast come from? And why is it named after a burnt bit of bread?

Sep 28, 202510 min read

First Angostura bitters

Who knew the bottle of Angostura aromatic bitters, with its oversized label, had such a dramatic and tempestuous history?

Nov 18, 20249 min read

First coupe glass

One of the most headline-grabbing stories is the claim that the coupe's shallow bowl shape is moulded on Marie Antoinette’s left breast.

Feb 23, 20247 min read

First ice sold worldwide

Ice is such a natural and ubiquitous part of modern life, often available at the touch of a button from suburban freezers, that it’s hard...

Feb 21, 202210 min read

First cocktail umbrella

The cocktail umbrella is just a toothpick with a fancy wardrobe and a swagger. But who first added them to their drink? And why?

Jan 1, 20223 min read