It’s not uncommon to hear someone say “Time for my drugs” in reference to coffee. Referring to our precious java as a drug sparked my curiosity so I did a little digging.

Historically there have been some attempts to ban coffee!

1. Mecca 1511

The governor thought that people might over throw him if they drank too much coffee. They believed it was in the same category as alcohol even. (Luckily the sultan decided the governor was wrong and lifted then ban)

2. Constantinople 1600s

Another case where Coffee, Alcohol, and this time Tobacco were considered equivalent. Murad IV Ghazi decided he would ban all 3 when he took power! I couldn’t find out when this ban got lifted but clearly it did. Whew.

3. Italy (GASP) 1600s

A religious ban. No real surprise there. The Catholic priests wanted to declare it Satanic practice to drink coffee! Good Guy Pope Clement VIII tasted it though and said it was delicious and blessed it. It seems he either baptized the cup it was in or made a joke about it.

4. Prussia 1777

Frederick the “Great” proclaimed beer, not Coffee, was to be the Prussian drink. The people decided he was wrong and continue to drink coffee. I get where Freddy was coming from, but dude, Coffee to start the day is best. Beer in the morning… well your day isn’t going to be very productive.

5. Sweden 1747

Gustav III levied taxes against the use of Coffee. If these taxes were not paid your Coffee and coffee dishes would be confiscated! They even had a lifelong experiment on twins performed. One twin drank 3 pots of coffee; talk about some jitters! The other twin drank the same amount of tea. Each twin had a physician assigned to them to report the experimental resuts. The tea drinker died at age 83 but there’s no detail on the Coffee drinking twin. Additionally the doctors died before any useful detail could be attained.