Hot beverages in early 16th century England?

[gisho]

Setting: A prosperous household in England, early 1500s, spring. A character is sitting up late; another character notices he seems cold and offers him a hot drink of . . . what? It has to be something fast to prepare, that would already be sitting around the kitchen. Cider? Sack? Did anyone ever drink hot ale

Comments

[jayb111]

The mistress of a household would normally have a selection of herbal/traditional remedies prepared and to hand. You could just say the character was offered 'Mistress Joan's remedy against the cold' or whatever and say that it was sweetened with honey and was very warm and soothing, or whatever is appropriate.

Wine would be on hand. Mulled wine is a matter of adding spices and warming. That could be done quickly as long as there was a fire lit.

Spices became increasingly available in the 16th century. What was easily available in Elizabeth's reign might not have been several decades earlier, or might have been far too expensive to use casually, so you'd need to be cautious about that.

Incidentally, I don't know where you are, but if you're not already aware, you might want to note that in England, cider is always alcoholic.

[rurounitriv]

Agree with this - tea (as in the plant Camellia sinensis) may not have arrived in England until later, but there were and are a number of herbal teas (also called tisanes) which have been in use for time immemorial. Which herbs would be used depends on the area and what grows there, but there are definitely some that can be used which could be found growing wild in most areas.

Warm ales and mulled wines would also be used to help warm people up - alcohol does have a reputation for helping warm people up, and might be another option, spiced or otherwise. Remember that in those days, it was often safer to drink ale and wine than water, so most people drank it every day.

[syntinen_laulu]

But herbal teas were used as medicines, not as drinks (as they are to this day in France - offer a herbal tea to a French person, and s/he will assume you think s/he isn't quite well) ally, and not drunk very hot, nor necessarily even warm. When tea, coffee and chocolate were introduced in the 17th century, there was quite a flurry of medical pamphlets published warning of the awful danger to the digestive tract posed by the drinking of piping hot liquids.

[marycatelli]

Cider was always alcoholic everywhere except shortly after harvest until refrigeration and pasteurization were invented. No other way to keep it from being alcoholic.

[jayb111]

Yes, but I've come across Americans online who specify 'hard' cider when they mean alcoholic cider. For them, 'cider' unspecified is assumed to be a soft drink. So I thought it was worth clarifying the point.