Beverages

A number of beverages receive particular attention and provide insight into the culture of the era well into the twenty-fourth century.

Coffee[]

Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, which are the seeds of berries from the Coffea plant.

Coffee and the value of a particularly good coffee is a recurring topic in the books.

The discovery that the Roci has a pretty good coffee machine and a large supply of fresh coffee to brew triggers numerous moments of mental and vocal advocacy. The coffee machine in the galley of the Rocinante is one of the pieces of equipment which receives a high degree of attention.

The fact that the Rocinante has such a great coffee maker supports the conclusion that coffee is just as popular on Mars as it is important to the people of Earth. It seems to be an imperative that every ship of the MCRN is equipped with a machine and the supplies are well-stocked. The crew is known to have thought, "thank god for over bloated military budgets."

Holden ^{Books • TV} is an enthusiast. As with any consumable, other characters he encounters would rate him somewhere between a junkie or a connoisseur, depending on their own personal relative level of interest.

Featured appearances[]

In Abaddon's Gate, Tilly offers Anna a particularly good bulb on board the Behemoth.

In Cibola Burn, it is described how the crew likes their coffee:

Holden ^{Books • TV}: black
Naomi ^{Books • TV}: one sweetener
Alex ^{Books • TV}: one whitener
Amos ^{Books • TV}: two whiteners, two sweeteners

In Season 3, Episode 8 James Holden coffee selection options:

Canterbury Classic: Dark Roast ^{Books • TV}
Wake Me Up: Double Shot Espresso ^{Books • TV}
Organic Tea ^{Books • TV}
Mariner Moonshine: Hot Chocolate and Synth-ale ^{Books • TV}

Tea[]

In Caliban's War, coffee often contrasts to Avasarala's ^{Books • TV} preference for tea. Chrisjen Avasarala is known to favor tea as her choice of the hot beverage. Maté is a particular variety she demonstrated demand from her assistants.

Beer[]

Beer is one of the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drinks in the Sol system. It is brewed from cereal grains, most commonly from malted barley, though wheat, corn, and rice are also used. Hops is also used in the brew for bitterness and flavor, and as a natural preservative and stabilizing agent.^[1]

Known Brands[]

Steel Beam Beer

Gin[]

Gin is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its predominant flavor from juniper berries. Gin is a broad category of spirits, including all of the various origins, styles, and flavor profiles that revolve around juniper as a common ingredient.^[2]

Known Brands[]

Ganymede Gin

Whiskey[]

Whiskey is a distilled spirit made from fermented grain. Moss whiskey made from engineered yeast is popular on Ceres, and several distillations of scotch whiskey are made on Ganymede. For the scotch traditionalist, Lagavulin 16-year from the Island of Islay on Earth is available, but at twelve hundred a bottle on Ceres is an expensive indulgence for most.^[3]

Known Brands[]

Tequila[]

Tequila is a distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila 65 km northwest of Guadalajara, in the Jaliscan Highlands of central western Mexico on Earth.^[4]

Tequila is differentiated from mezcal in that it is made only from blue agave.