Villagers in the United States and Mexico first began to drink caffeinated drinks in 750 AD.

Patricia Crown and colleagues used a combination of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometers to analyze organic residues in 177pottery samples found in 18 locations in Arizona, Chihuahua, Colorado and New Mexico. These findings reveal that villagers living in the strip from southern Colorado to northern Chihuahua first began drinking caffeinated drinks as early as 750 AD and extended to at least 1400 AD.

The analysis identified traces of caffeine, theobromine and theophylline, the ingredients of stimulating drinks, most likely made from cocoa or medlar leaves and branches. These stimulating drinks are likely to be consumed at ceremonial occasions rather than every day, similar to the practice of other North and South American people at that time.

The findings may provide insights into relationships and trade between geographically distant North Americans, the authors say. Villagers in the United States and Mexico first began drinking caffeinated drinks as early as 750 AD (mysterious Earth Picture)

(mysterious Earth report) according to EurekAlertudes: villagers living in long strips from southern Colorado to northern Chihuahua, Mexico, started drinking caffeinated drinks as early as 750 AD.

In the years since archaeologists found cocoa residues in pottery in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, researchers have questioned the time depth and geographical scope of the cocoa exchange between the southwestern United States / northwestern Mexico and Central American populations in the pre-Spanish period.