Abstract
Nowadays, coffee trails only oil as the world's second most traded commodity, however, its superiority among beverages in Europe does not date more than six decades back. For 150 years before, its predominant position was held by coffee substitutes which, thanks to its energetic contents, played a crucial role in nutrition during the Industrial Revolution and war conflicts in the 20th century.
These beverages did not compete between themselves, but altogether became a phenomenon inherent to the history of daily European life since the 18th century.