Are you ready to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy?

Okay, okay, this is not the magic school bus, but we are going to go on an adventure, and one that takes us back in time.

The other day we gave you the lowdown on the explosive gin scene in Cape Town. But gin isn’t consumed alone; it is generally accompanied by a slug of tonic water.

However, on most cans and bottles of tonic, including those made by Fitch & Leedes, the tonic is called “Indian Tonic”.

But why? Well, let’s get to it.

You see, the origin of tonic water goes back to the beginning of the 17th century in Peru, of all places.

Around 1640, the story goes that the Countess of Chinchon, a Peruvian viceroy’s wife, took the bark of a quina quina tree to Spain after it saved her from malaria.

It was given to her by the daughter of a local tribal chief, whose name was clearly not important enough to remember. And, since it was the countess who took the bark back to Europe, the tree was named after her, called Cinchona officinalis.

Centuries later, a pair of clever French scientists found a method for extracting the bark’s most medically powerful compound, quinine, and soon established a factory to produce it.

The plant, bark and properties:

But when attempting to colonise India, British officers needed the tonic with them so as to scare off the mosquitoes, and soon they devised a way to make their bitter, daily dose more pleasurable.

Around 1825 they combined it with water, sugar, lime and, of course gin, inventing a potent predecessor to the classic gin and tonic, explains Gin Festival:

Bottles of sweetened quinine water soon appeared, to be drunk with or without the alcohol. Carbonated tonic water was introduced towards the end of the 19th century.

So tasty was gin and tonic water that it took on a life of its own, being sold as a method of intoxication rather than a medicine. Unfortunately, the growing demand for quinine was greater than Peru’s capacity to supply it. Prices soon skyrocketed with cinchona bark powder becoming more expensive than gold.

Despite their inability to meet demand Peru prohibited the exporting of Cinchona seeds in order to keep the lucrative economic benefits of being the sole producer. Even with this in mind, cinchona farming was frequently wasteful and inefficient with more trees harvested than planted and a serious danger that the plant may even go extinct.

Not to be denied a fine G&T (or a chance to make some money) many attempts were made to smuggle viable seeds out of Peru by colonial powers. Ultimately, Charles Ledger, a British businessman who managed numerous alpaca farms in Peru, was able to smuggle seeds to London with the assistance of his manservant Manuel Incra Manami whom, as a young man, Ledger had saved from drowning.

The Dutch government bought the seeds and was able to establish successful cinchona farms in both their african colonies and, in particular, in Java (now known as Indonesia). The Indonesian farms, especially, were a roaring success. By 1900 at least 60% of the world’s quinine came from Java and some estimates put this as high as 95%.

So, if you have yet to put two-and-two together, it’s called “Indian Tonic” because the quinine-infused carbonated water supposedly had a tonic effect on the body, and, well, the Brits came up with the drink in India.

Clever, hey?

These days, however, there is not enough quinine to have that much of an effect on you health-wise (the more quinine, the more bitter the tonic is).

BUT, there is enough of the alkaloid to create a seemingly supernatural effect: it’s fluorescent. Yes, yes, hold your glass of gin and tonic under a UV light and your drink will glow.

HINT: if you ever make jello shots for a party, add some tonic water to the cold water to get the UV effect. It works, even at ratios of 1:100 000.

Oh, and one more thing.

Stellenbosch-based Fitch & Leedes know the difference between good and exceptional. Their name pays tribute to Ralph Fitch and William Leedes, who set sail on the Tyger in 1583 in search of new, exotic tastes in India and the East, and they rank among the most remarkable of Elizabethan adventurers.

Of course, they lived a whole century before quinine was discovered, but Fitch & Leedes doesn’t only produce Indian Tonic: their product list includes everything from ginger ale to soda water:

And with that, the magic school bus lesson is over for the day.

Go forth and school your mates.

[source: johnstonic&ginfestival]