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Reminds me of how the British stationed in 19th century India used to use quinine to ward off malaria. Apparently in its raw form it's incredibly bitter so the

Reminds me of how the British stationed in 19th century India used to use quinine to ward off malaria. Apparently in its raw form it's incredibly bitter so the soldiers started to mix it with water and sugar and voila - tonic water was born. Some bright spark added gin and the rest is history...

matwood 7y ago
Close, but it's really the gin and tonic that was born out of getting sailors to drink quinine in the tonic water: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_and_tonic#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_and_tonic#History And yes, having taken quinine pills for malaria it is very bitter and unpleasant.
- village-idiot 7y ago
  It’s bitter because it’s actually quite poisonous, and your tongue is warming you about that. Dave Arnold’s excellent Liquid Intelligence has a section on making your own tonic with pure quinine powder, and he admonishes the reader to mix with a blender, because an ubcombined chunk of pure quinine could actually hospitalize someone if it ended up in their drink.
- lostlogin 7y ago
  Tonic water made with actual quinine rather than the synthetic stuff is great. It seems preferable to the pills, though I suspect you’d have to drink a lot. Edit: The WHO suggest treating severe drug resistant malaria with 500mg of quinine orally every 8 hours. A 1 litre bottle of tonic water should not contain more than 83mg according to the FDA. Drinking 6 litres every 8 hours is a bit much. https://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Jh2922e/2.5.2.html#Jh2922e.2.5.2 https://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Jh2922e/2.5.2.html#Jh... https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=172.575 https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFR... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_water https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_water
  - matwood 7y ago
    I prefer my mixed drinks with tonic over any other mixer. As you note, off the shelf tonic has very little quinine nowadays. When I had to take the pills I was headed to an area with a known malaria risk.

matwood 7y ago

Close, but it's really the gin and tonic that was born out of getting sailors to drink quinine in the tonic water: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_and_tonic#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_and_tonic#History And yes, having taken quinine pills for malaria it is very bitter and unpleasant.

village-idiot 7y ago
It’s bitter because it’s actually quite poisonous, and your tongue is warming you about that. Dave Arnold’s excellent Liquid Intelligence has a section on making your own tonic with pure quinine powder, and he admonishes the reader to mix with a blender, because an ubcombined chunk of pure quinine could actually hospitalize someone if it ended up in their drink.
lostlogin 7y ago
Tonic water made with actual quinine rather than the synthetic stuff is great. It seems preferable to the pills, though I suspect you’d have to drink a lot. Edit: The WHO suggest treating severe drug resistant malaria with 500mg of quinine orally every 8 hours. A 1 litre bottle of tonic water should not contain more than 83mg according to the FDA. Drinking 6 litres every 8 hours is a bit much. https://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Jh2922e/2.5.2.html#Jh2922e.2.5.2 https://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Jh2922e/2.5.2.html#Jh... https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=172.575 https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFR... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_water https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_water
- matwood 7y ago
  I prefer my mixed drinks with tonic over any other mixer. As you note, off the shelf tonic has very little quinine nowadays. When I had to take the pills I was headed to an area with a known malaria risk.