Did You Know People Actually Tried To Ban Coffee? WTF!
So I had a shipmate forward to me an article from Popular Science. I read this Popular Science piece—“4 times drinking coffee was illegal—or even punishable by death”—and it kicked loose a simple, dangerous thought: how many times has humanity tried to outlaw a beverage that mostly makes people… talk faster? So of course I had to go down this rabbit hole so you don't have to and do a bit of digging. But instead of walking the same path as the Popular Science article, we’re doing this like Sailors do it: by port call. One region at a time. And yes I realize that some of these locations are land-locked, but come on. I got to stay with the Sailor terminology. But in general here is the punch line no matter the motive for the ban or restriction. Same outcome: people keep hoisting mugs of Joe and hopefully today some Old Salt Coffee!
Port Call 1: Mecca — “This stuff is trouble.” (1511)
Picture Mecca in the early 1500s: coffee is new enough to be suspicious and popular enough to be blamed for… basically everything. In 1511, authorities banned coffee consumption. According to a University of Arizona Middle East Studies educational handout, coffee was seized and burned, vendors (and some customers) were punished, and trade into Mecca slowed. Then—because history loves a plot twist—higher authorities overturned the ban within a few months, possibly for economic reasons. The part people often miss: the anxiety wasn’t only about caffeine. It was about coffeehouses—places where normal people could gather, swap news, and say spicy things out loud. That same handout flat-out calls coffeehouses “hotbeds” for gossip, rumor, political debate, and satire.
Translation: Coffee wasn’t the villain. It was the Sea Stories told in the coffeehouses that were the problem.
Port Call 2: Cairo — coffeehouses become the “problem,” again (1539)
Fast-forward to Cairo and government officials in this town decided coffeehouses are the villain. Coffee arrives and spreads, of course. And once again, the issue isn’t just the drink— it’s the venue and what is said there..
That same University of Arizona (Go Wildcats!) handout notes an attempt to close coffeehouses in Cairo in 1539, but alas it also was short-lived—another early example of officials trying to put the genie back in the bottle after the bottle became everyone’s favorite meeting place and drink of course.
Coffee, it turns out, is an incredibly efficient delivery system for:
- Staying awake, and
- Noticing things that government officials don't want you to see.
Port Call 3: Istanbul — Murad IV goes full “scorched-earth autocrat” (1633)
Now we hit Istanbul, and the tone shifts from “stop that” to “STOP THAT.” Enter the not so awesome Sultan Murad IV.
Encyclopedia Britannica describes Sultan Murad IV’s era as one that included harsh enforcement and executions, and notes his broader crackdowns on social behaviors and gathering places.
Popular Science again summarizes the same moment as Murad IV treating coffeehouses as dangerous hubs and attaching severe penalties for public coffee drinking. The nice guy that he was the Sultan made sure Istanbul’s cafes were destroyed and people caught drinking coffee were beaten. If apprehended twice, they were sewn into a leather bag and tossed into the Bosporus to drown. Ships carrying coffee were sunk. Murad claimed coffeehouses were a fire hazard but his real concern was that they encouraged insubordination by providing his subjects with a meeting place that invited sober, thoughtful discussion. According to foreign visitors, Murad started roaming the streets with his executioner, instantly beheading anyone he found drinking coffee or smoking. It is estimated from 10,000 to 100,000 people were executed for drinking coffee or smoking.
And here’s the repeating pattern: rulers didn’t fear coffee because it made people jittery. They feared coffee because it made people networked and connected.
Port Call 4: Stockholm — Sweden’s coffee prohibitions and the underground mug economy (late 1700s–early 1800s)
If Istanbul is violent, Stockholm is bureaucratic.
A peer-reviewed study hosted by DiVA Portal (with links to the journal publication) examined Stockholm police records during coffee prohibitions 1794–1796 and 1799–1802, identifying 536 cases tied to illegal coffee selling, preparation, and consumption.
That’s not a “people stopped drinking coffee” number. That’s a “people got caught” number—which tells you the real story: coffee became a working-class hustle, a household economy, and a quiet act of defiance.
Sweden didn’t just outlaw a drink. It accidentally built a black-market brand ambassador program for poor women.
Port Call 5: Prussia — the Coffee “Sniffers” (c. 1780s)
Now for one of history’s greatest job titles: coffee sniffers.
German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) explains that starting around 1780, Frederick II commissioned retired soldiers (hey the guys over at Black Rifle need something to do) to enforce the coffee monopoly and taxes by catching illegal roasting/consumption—basically state-sponsored aroma enforcement.
Imagine being the poor soul trying to enjoy a quiet cup while the some retired G.I. Joe shows up.
"Sniff this!"
Port Call 6: England — Charles II tries to shut down coffeehouses (1675)
London coffeehouses weren’t just cafés. They were analog X or TikTok influencer locations, except with better manners and worse breath.
In 1675, Charles II issued a proclamation to suppress coffeehouses, claiming they were places where “ divers False, Malitious and Scandalous Reports are devised and spread abroad, to the Defamation of His Majesties Government, and to the Disturbance of the Peace and Quiet of the Realm” — an argument so timeless it could be posted today without changing a word.
Primary text (University of Michigan, EEBO).
A Princeton University Press chapter excerpt notes the proclamation was issued (and then rapidly walked back under public pressure), underscoring how deeply coffeehouses had embedded themselves into public life. Quoting the Princeton report - "The royal proclamation was issued on 29 December but had to be recalled eleven days later (with face-saving licensing restrictions) so great was the anger of men of all parties and social classes at the prospect of being deprived of their accustomed haunts."
Result: coffeehouses stayed, because people had discovered a terrifying new hobby: sober conversation.
New World Detour: “Coffee wasn’t immoral—just controlled.”
Now we cross the Atlantic, because you asked the right question: Did this ever happen in North America or South America?
Yes—but here it’s often a much less “sinful beverage” and more “strategic commodity.”
Port Call 7: United States — WWII coffee rationing (1942–1940s)
In the U.S., coffee wasn’t banned as wicked. It was restricted because war logistics don’t care about your morning routine.
The National Park Service documents that to prevent hoarding, coffee sales were halted for a week, then rationing began November 29, 1942. Initially, adults over 15 got 1 pound every 5 weeks, later reduced in February 1943 to 1 pound every 6 weeks.
Ration math (step-by-step):
- 1 lb = 16 oz
- 5 weeks = 35 days
- 16 oz ÷ 35 days = 0.457 oz/day
- 0.457 oz/day × 28.3495 g/oz = 12.96 g/day - THAT IS ONE LESS Kcup PER DAY!
That’s the average allowance spread across days—not “here’s your daily scoop.” It’s basically the government saying: “Congratulations—you’re on a government-issued caffeine budget.”
Port Call 8: Canada — rationing tea & coffee (1942–1944)
Canada’s wartime rationing story is remarkably well documented by the Canadian War Museum. Go figure. I certainly didn't think I would find anything.
Their “War and Daily Life” timeline states:
- August 1942: coupon rationing for tea and coffee begins
- September 1944: coupon rationing for coffee and tea ends
And their ration book artifact backgrounder explains ration books and coupons applied to items including coffee and tea.
So yes: Canada also experienced a legally enforced “not forbidden, but definitely not unlimited” coffee era.
Port Call 9: Brazil — the “we burned HOW MUCH?” years (1931–1944)
Now we arrive at the wildest entry in the logbook, and you’re right this is crazy. Well certainly not as crazy as the old Sultan, but from a commodity stand point it is crazy as hell.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture / Foreign Agricultural Service report explains that Brazil created a National Coffee Council in April 1931 and was ordered to reduce coffee quantities by destroying low grades. It then states plainly: “More than 78 million bags of coffee were destroyed, principally by burning, between 1931 and 1944.”
TIME reported during the program that Brazil announced in March 1933 it had destroyed over 14 million bags since June 1931, describing “clouds” of aromatic smoke from burning coffee to support prices. Man could you imagine that smell of burnt coffee. You thought it bad on the midwatch when that pot from the previous day was left on and burned the only Joe on the bridge to crisp. 14 million bags burning - holy crap that is a lot coffee.
But unlike previous centuries, this action was not a moral ban on drinking coffee—more like a national-level, operational decision to keep prices from collapsing by destroying supply.
If your brain wants a scale check, here’s one using TIME’s figure (not the full 78 million):
- TIME cites 14,000,000 bags, each 132 lb.
- 14,000,000 × 132 lb = 1,848,000,000 lb
That’s 1.848 billion pounds of coffee turned into smoke (for just the early portion of the program).
Brazil didn’t just restrict coffee. Brazil set coffee on fire as policy.
What this world tour actually shows
Across regions, “coffee bans” usually weren’t about taste. They were about one of these three fears:
- People gathering (coffeehouses as unsupervised idea factories)
- Supply pressure (wartime shipping and scarcity)
- Economic stability (price support via brutal market intervention)
So yes—coffee has been “forbidden” on both American continents. It just wore a different uniform: ration books and economic policy, not religious or political edicts.
Sources:
If any of you Old Salts want to go down the rabbit hole I did. Enjoy the links below:
Popular Science article (the spark):
https://www.popsci.com/health/coffee-ban-history/
Mecca/Cairo/Istanbul background (UA PDF):
https://cmes.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2023-07/4.%2520Coffee%2520Lesson%2520Student%2520Handouts%2520%25281%2529.pdf
Charles II coffeehouse proclamation (primary text):
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/B19975.0001.001/1%3A1?rgn=div1&view=fulltext
Princeton excerpt discussing the proclamation backlash:
https://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/s7835.pdf
Coffee “Sniffers” (GHDI):
https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/the-holy-roman-empire-1648-1815/the-coffee-quot-sniffers-quot-c-1780-1892
Sweden police-record study (DiVA):
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1612685
U.S. WWII rationing (NPS):
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/coffee-rationing-on-the-world-war-ii-home-front.htm
Canada rationing timeline (Canadian War Museum):
https://www.warmuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/T6.1-Eng-WarandDailyLife.pdf
Canada ration book artifact backgrounder (Canadian War Museum):
https://www.warmuseum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/AB21.1-Eng-RationBookandTokens.pdf
Brazil burning program (USDA/FAS report PDF):
https://archive.org/download/brazilscoffeeind131king/brazilscoffeeind131king.pdf
Brazil burning reported by TIME (1933):
https://time.com/archive/6750863/brazil-smoke-mirth/
Sea Stories? If you’ve got a “coffee underway” moment—midwatch survival, wardroom diplomacy, or the time coffee became currency—send it (and a photo if you’ve got one) at:
oldsaltcoffee.com/pages/sea-story-submissions