The US President Who Drank Up To A Gallon Of Coffee Every Day

American lore never ceases to intrigue or entertain, especially when it comes to the food and beverage choices of history makers. Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, the former president famed for his boundless energy and strong personality, supposedly consumed up to a gallon of piping-hot coffee a day. Often drinking throughout the day, his ideal cup was half coffee, half milk, with up to seven lumps of sugar. His son Theodore Jr. Roosevelt even recalled his half coffee, half milk brew arriving in what looked like a bathtub. Another witness loosely claimed that Roosevelt downed 40 cups in a single day, meaning he possibly consumed over 2 ½ gallons of coffee daily.

The lines between fact and coffee legend can be blurry, but Roosevelt is a person of interest in America's food history. Alongside his beloved cup of joe, the president's all-time favorite dessert was said to be a scone-like sweet made with dried currants, called a fat rascal. Stories about Roosevelt's coffee habit may have grown alongside his larger-than-life reputation. Physically active, an avid hunter, a world leader, and admired for his pioneering of the National Park Service in America, how could he vigorously accomplish his day-to-day tasks without that bathtub of coffee?

As a child, Teddy Roosevelt suffered from asthma. A common treatment at the time was a cup of coffee, which, thanks to its caffeine content, can act as a bronchodilator and reduce the fatigue of respiratory muscles. With no inhaler invented just yet, Roosevelt's coffee habit had begun. Stories paint a picture of the former president starting his days with a mug full of milk, coffee, and heaps of sugar. Later in life, he supposedly switched over to an artificial saccharine sweetener, known as a low-calorie option at the time. The sheer volume he was said to have consumed sounds over the top, but it fits the man.

During his presidency, Roosevelt won a Nobel Prize for Peace, played a role in ending a war, and initiated the construction of the Panama Canal. A cup of joe sounds necessary, even vital, when looking at his accomplishments. Roosevelt shared his love of coffee with his family, so much so that they established a chain of Brazilian coffee houses in New York City in 1919, calling it the Double R Coffee House. In the end, whether folklore or entirely true, Roosevelt's legendary coffee consumption is a reminder that history is made up of ambitious stories and maybe even a few cups of coffee.