Drinks for the Spirit

Seemingly ordinary beer, wine, tea and coffee have their roots in religion because the mysterious alchemy of bacteria makes seemingly ordinary things like wheat, grapes and camellia leaves morph magically into something far more heavenly.

So even in our age of supersonic jets and supercharged electronics, the ancient art of fermentation remains the universal symbol of transcendence. We wanted the alcohol or caffeine created by their ferment to transform us into something heavenly too.

Sandra Garson is the author of Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking and How to Fix a Leek and Other Food From Your Farmers’ Market. As a longtime student of Tibetan Buddhism and well-known cook for Dharma centers from Maine to Mongolia, she became the first food historian to explore the Buddha’s influence on how the world now eats. This led to exploration of more religious beliefs about food.

Beer B. C.

When domesticated wheat became the mainstay of the Middle East, its nomads had to settle down. Much effort went into preserving its harvest until the Sumerians hit the jackpot: literally overnight yeast spores in the air transformed their grain into something tastier and more nourishing than cracked wheat. The early 20th Century Victorian archeologists who found shards of their cuneiform recipes declared Sumerians mastered fermentation to make bread, but late in the Century, American brewers scientifically proved the Sumerians only made bread to get starter for beer. The brew was a sacred substance because it was far more nutritious and tasty than bread, safer to drink than water, and loosened inhibition to make people more social—thus life-giving in every way.

Beer and Christianity

He who drinks beer sleeps well.

He who sleeps well cannot sin.

He who cannot sin goes to heaven. --An anonymous

German Monk Hebrews and early Christians drank beer. Pagans in northern Europe brewed their beer from barley, and even attributed to the divine Valhalla a special goat that excreted not milk but ale—a more warming, nutritious and social beverage. This may be why Christian monks in northern Europe, especially Trappists, maintained breweries inside their monasteries, which continues today in Belgium. Catholics have several saints to protect brewers, like Saint Arnou (580 A.D) the bishop of Metz in 612 A.D, who spent much of his life warning peasants about the deadly dangers of impure drinking water and pushed beer because "from man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world."

Sake: Rice Wine

According to the Japanese Sake Brewers Association, "sake has always been a way of bringing our gods and people together.” Invented over two thousand years ago from fermented rice, the drink remains a cherished offering to the various gods and deities of the Shinto religion. A cup or two is still used by just about everybody to celebrate calendar holidays like New Year as well as the special joys of seasonal glory, like spring peach blossoming or the full harvest moon. The artistry of objects associated with drinking sake is also part of the celebration. The tokkuri, a ceramic flask in which sake is traditionally served, is still hand spun by potters to have a large body and a narrow neck that increases the aroma. The ochokos, the small cups individuals use to drink sake, are also still handmade. The Japanese believe the more visually uplifting the tokkuri and ochoko are, the more inspiration the sake drinker will enjoy.

Coffee

The brew made from fermenting and roasting the cherry-like coffee berry is often called “the wine of Islam.” The first credible reference to somebody drinking coffee came from Sufi monastics in Yemen, which is just across the Red Sea from Ethiopia, home of the wild plant. Our word mocha is actually the name of the Yemeni port that for centuries shipped its fruits. When the Dutch later hijacked some of the bushes for their colony in Indonesia, they added the word Java. The fact that coffee’s native terrain matched Islam’s, and that its brew provided quick alcohol-free stimulation for prayer and sociability for the exchange of ideas, gave it such instant appeal, coffee-drinking spread around the globe with Islam. Coffeehouses were an Arab innovation.

Tea

Since early monks discovered boiling a brew of fermented camellia leaves produced a slow acting but long lasting stimulant, Buddhists have prized tea. Its caffeine helps reach their goal of being fully awake. That’s why it’s often served in monasteries around 4 PM, the time metabolisms begin to flag and meditators start feeling sleepy. Tea drinking spread across Asia as part of Buddhism and probably helped Buddhism spread: the ever practical Chinese quickly accepted it not so much for the spiritual prowess it promised as for the medical help tea provided. It was much safer to drink than water, and easily blended with strong medicinal herbs. Identified as a source of good health and virtue (it was not alcoholic so did not dement the mind), tea became a popular offering to the gods. Elaborate ritual ceremonies were devised for drinking it. The now world famous Zen Buddhist chanoyu or chado, the Way of Tea, was devised in Japan to perfectly depict in the steeping and serving of one cup the union of the primary sacred principles: heaven and earth, many and one, impermanence and transcendence, activity and serenity.