Coffee: Satan’s Drink?

The Rise of Coffee

Most historians and botanists agree that coffee originated in Ethiopia. From there it gradually spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula. By the 15th century, coffee houses, or ‘Gahveh Khaneh,’ started to pop up and the drink took on a key social role. Men frequented coffee houses to talk, debate, watch performances, play chess, etc. Unlike wine or beer, coffee didn’t make them drunk. On the contrary, the men noticed that their senses were stimulated and their wits enhanced, meaning they could hold intellectual and academic conversations. Coffee houses were soon renowned for the enlightening discussions that flowed through them, earning them the nickname: ‘Schools of the Wise.’

Coffee became embedded within public life in the Middle East. But of course, it was never going to be confined to this region. Trade brought travellers, who got a taste for the hot, bitter beverage and in the 16th century, coffee made its way to Europe.

Initially, the drink was met with suspicion. Knowing that it was popular throughout the Muslim world, members of the church began describing it as the drink of “infidels,” even labelling it “a bitter invention of Satan.” It became such an issue that in 1600, Pope Clement VIII was reportedly asked to weigh in. The story goes that after being presented with a cup, the pope enjoyed it so much that he gave it his blessing, proclaiming, "This Satan’s drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it!"

"This Satan’s drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it!"
Pope Clement VIII

Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death

While coffee grew in popularity in Europe, back in the Ottoman Empire, the drink became the subject of controversy. In 1633, Sultan Murad IV outlawed public consumption of coffee in Istanbul, declaring it a capital offence. It’s said that the Sultan would even hit the streets in disguise and decapitate anyone he saw drinking coffee with a broadsword. Why did he hate coffee so much? Well, it wasn’t the beverage itself per se but rather the novel social space that coffee houses provided. Inexpensive and devoid of traditional Ottoman social restrictions, people from all walks of life could gather in coffee houses and exchange ideas. This scared the ruling elite, who worried that all this class mixing and free thought would destabilise the strict social order. Murad was not the first Ottoman ruler to try and quell public coffee drinking, but he was the most harsh, due largely to his well-documented cruel streak.

His successor, Ibrahim, also tried to discourage public coffee drinking but was far more lenient: first-time offenders received a beating, second-time offenders were sewn into a leather bag and thrown into a river.

But despite these extreme punishments, people never stopped drinking coffee. Ultimately, coffee had become so deeply ingrained in Ottoman society that even the most brutal crackdowns couldn't extinguish its popularity.

Dangerous Ideas

In 1652, a Turkish man named Pasqua Rosee opened the very first coffee house in London. In the ensuing decade, 83 more sprang up throughout the city.

Much like their forebears in the Middle East, coffee houses in London were seen as a freethinker’s place to gather – a haven for the intellectuals of the day. They became a favourite hangout spot for the likes of diarist Samuel Pepys, architect Christopher Wren, and even exiled French philosopher Voltaire.

With the relatively cheap price of just one penny for a cup, people from all walks of life were able to drink, talk, listen, and debate together. At least the men were – there’s scant evidence of women visiting coffee houses unless they were there to work. In fact, in 1674, the women of London banded together to write a six-page manifesto titled “The Women’s Petition Against Coffee.” In it, they argued that this strange, foreign drink was making their husbands impotent.

King Charles II was also not a fan of coffee's growing popularity. He, like the Ottoman rulers before him, feared that coffee houses provided the perfect breeding ground for ideas of revolt. And so, in 1675, he ordered his ministers to close down the coffee shops, as he saw them as ‘evil and dangerous.’ However, his plan was unpopular and never came to fruition.

It turned out he was right, though, about coffee houses being a hotbed of dangerous ideas and rebellion. The Green Dragon, a tavern and coffee house in Boston, was known as “the Headquarters of the Revolution,” because it was one of the favoured meeting places of the Sons of Liberty in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War. And in 1774, Benjamin Franklin wrote his famous “Open Letter to Lord North,” which mocked the king and his power over the colonies, from the Smyrna Coffee House in London.

An Enduring Legacy

Since it first emerged in Ethiopia and gradually spread across the world, coffee has proven to be far more than just a beverage. It has been a catalyst for social change, a perceived threat to established orders, and a fuel for intellectual discourse and political revolution.

Today, we drink a staggering 400 billion cups of coffee a year. It remains a central part of social and cultural life; bringing people together, stimulating conversation, and occasionally brewing up ideas that change the course of history.