| Soap is an everyday essential, but this incredibly useful (and lifesaving) cleanser hasn't always existed. The earliest known mention of soap dates back 4,500 years, found on a cuneiform tablet unearthed from Girsu, in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). But even then — and for centuries afterward — humans likely weren't using the slippery substance for handwashing. Bars of soap made from rendered fat and wood ash were primarily used to clean dirty clothing and raw fibers that were being prepped for weaving. Instead of soap, many ancient peoples (such as the Greeks) used scented olive oils and other substances — including coffee — to clean their bodies. Historians believe the practice of drinking coffee originated in Ethiopia and slowly spread to the Middle East and Europe, becoming popular around the 15th century. Before then, some cultures relied on the brew not as a beverage, but as a cleanser. Around the 10th century, physicians and botanists in the Middle East began writing in Arabic about "bunk," a compound similar to modern brewed coffee that could be used for handwashing. Surviving texts from the time credited bunk with removing strong odors from hands without drying out the skin, and recipes for the substance sometimes included spices such as cloves, cinnamon, and fruit peels. Bunk also may have been incorporated into other products, like body oils and perfumed powders. However, little is known about the compound. It appears the practice fell out of popularity as coffee became valued less for its odor-eliminating properties and more for the same thing modern consumers appreciate: that caffeinating buzz. | 
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