#jedrzej-kitowicz

2026 / Culture and everyday lifeCulture and everyday lifeПБП

Beer Glasses, Drinking Games and Politics during the Reign of Augustus III

How did people drink beer in the 18th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? Drawing on Jędrzej Kitowicz, we explore regional beer traditions, unusual drinking vessels, the game “piwo — dobre — nalej”, and the political role of alcohol at noble assemblies.

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2026 / Culture and everyday lifeCulture and everyday lifeПБП

Culture and everyday life4 min

How Coffee Saved Noblewomen from Drunkenness: The Story of Beer-Based Gramatka

How did coffee transform the morning habits of noblewomen in the eighteenth-century Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth? Historian Jędrzej Kitowicz recounts how coffee replaced a traditional beer-based breakfast soup known as gramatka and, in his view, helped curb excessive consumption of strong spirits.

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