Coffee Was Banned by Governments. Multiple Times.
Quick Answer
Yes. Coffee has been banned by governments at least a dozen times across four centuries. A Mecca governor banned it in 1511. An Ottoman sultan made it a capital offense in 1633. England, Prussia, and Sweden all issued their own bans at different points. Every single one eventually failed.
Sultan Murad IV made coffee a capital offense in 1633. He walked the streets of Constantinople in disguise to catch people drinking it. He died of cirrhosis.
This happened more than once. Different governments. Different centuries. Different stated reasons. In each case, coffeehouses were where people gathered to talk about whoever was in charge. The bans kept coming. The coffeehouses kept reopening.
Mecca, 1511
Coffee arrived in Mecca from Ethiopia sometime in the mid-1400s. By 1511, coffeehouses were operating in the city.
Governor Khair Beg convened a council of religious jurists that year. The council ruled that coffee was intoxicating. Under Islamic law, that made it forbidden. Coffeehouses were ordered to close.
The ban lasted a few months. The Sultan of Cairo had a different view. He liked coffee. He overruled the ban. Khair Beg lost his post. The coffeehouses reopened.
This may be the first case in recorded history of a public health ruling being reversed because the head of state simply liked the product.
Sultan Murad IV made it punishable by death
Sultan Murad IV was not interested in convening a council. In 1633, he declared drinking coffee punishable by death.
He did not administer this from a distance. He dressed as a commoner and walked through coffeehouses looking for violators. Accounts from the period say he had people executed on the spot.
The ban ended in 1640. Murad IV died that year. He enforced a ban on coffee by wandering the streets in disguise, and died of cirrhosis from alcohol.
The coffeehouses reopened.
Pope Clement VIII blessed it instead
Italian clergy presented Pope Clement VIII with a formal petition to ban coffee in the late 1500s. They called it the devil's drink. They wanted it declared incompatible with Christianity.
Clement asked to taste it before making a ruling.
He liked it considerably. He blessed the coffee. He declared it acceptable for all Christians. The clergy's petition was dropped.
You'd think the Pope would side with his own clergy on this one. Turns out, no. His opinion after tasting it was the final word, and his opinion was favorable.
The most consequential food review in church history was never written down.
Charles II called coffeehouses seminaries of sedition
By 1675, England had somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 coffeehouses. Lloyd's of London started as one. The London Stock Exchange too. Men gathered there to talk, read newspapers, and argue about politics.
Charles II did not find this reassuring. On December 29, 1675, he issued a royal proclamation ordering all coffeehouses closed. The proclamation described them as places "where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of His Majesty."
The closure was set to begin January 10, 1676. Charles II revoked it on January 8. Two days before it was supposed to start. The pushback had come from the coffeehouses.
Charles II took eleven days to decide that 2,000 coffeehouses were not worth the fight.
If you want to understand how governments respond to people gathering and talking freely, we covered that in our post on authoritarianism and how it works. Coffeehouses were organizing spaces. The crown knew it. The phrase "disaffected meeting to spread scandalous reports" has not aged out, and we wrote about that in No Kings.
Frederick the Great hired coffee spies
Frederick the Great issued a manifesto against coffee in 1777. The document contains the actual line: "His Majesty was brought up on beer."
The concern was economic. Coffee imports were draining money out of Prussia. Beer was a domestic product. Frederick wanted his citizens drinking the domestic product.
To enforce the ban, he recruited former soldiers as inspectors. Their assignment was to walk through neighborhoods and smell for illegal coffee roasting. In German they were called Kaffeeriecher. Coffee sniffers. They were paid per violation found.
Coffee consumption in Prussia continued.
These men were paid to walk around smelling things. This was an official government position.
Sweden banned it five times
Sweden banned coffee in 1756. Then 1766. Then 1794. Then 1796. Then 1817.
King Gustav III wanted scientific proof that coffee was harmful. He arranged an experiment. A convicted murderer was offered clemency on one condition: drink coffee every day for the rest of his life. The man's twin brother drank tea as the control. Two physicians were assigned to observe both men over time.
Both physicians died before the experiment was finished. Gustav III was assassinated in 1792. The tea drinker died second.
The coffee drinker died last, reportedly in his eighties.
Governments banned coffee. People drank it anyway. If that sounds like your kind of politics, our Death Before Decaf T-Shirt and Death Before Decaf Mug were made for you. Browse the full mugs collection while you're here.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why was coffee banned by governments?
Governments banned coffee for different stated reasons across different centuries: religious prohibition in Mecca, political concerns in England, economic protectionism in Prussia, and contested health claims in Sweden. In most cases, coffeehouses were gathering places where people discussed politics and current events. The bans were short-lived and the coffeehouses reopened each time.
Why was coffee banned in Mecca?
In 1511, Governor Khair Beg convened a council of religious jurists who ruled that coffee was intoxicating and therefore forbidden under Islamic law. The ban lasted a few months before the Sultan of Cairo overruled it. Khair Beg was removed from his post and the coffeehouses reopened.
Was coffee ever banned in the Ottoman Empire?
Yes. Sultan Murad IV declared coffee drinking a capital offense in 1633. He reportedly walked the streets of Constantinople in disguise to catch violators and had some executed on the spot. The ban ended when Murad IV died in 1640. His cause of death was cirrhosis from alcohol.
What did Pope Clement VIII say about coffee?
Italian clergy presented Pope Clement VIII with a petition to ban coffee in the late 1500s, calling it the devil's drink. Before making a ruling, Clement asked to taste it. He liked it. He blessed the coffee and declared it acceptable for Christians. The ban was never issued.
Why did Frederick the Great ban coffee?
Frederick the Great issued a manifesto against coffee in 1777 citing economic concerns. Coffee imports were pulling money out of Prussia, while beer was domestically produced. He hired former soldiers called Kaffeeriecher, or coffee sniffers, to walk through neighborhoods detecting illegal roasting by smell. The ban did not stop coffee consumption in Prussia.
Was coffee ever banned in America?
Coffee was never officially banned in the United States. During World War II, coffee was rationed and supply was restricted, but no outright ban was issued.
