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Coffee Was Called “Satan’s Drink” Until the Pope Blessed It
Pope Clement VIII was pressured to renounce it, but then he tasted 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
In the 1600s, coffee was called “Satan’s drink” and heavily frowned upon by Catholic Europe. That all changed when Pope Clement VIII had his first cup of joe.
There’s no doubt that coffee has an interesting history stemming from Turkey all the way to Italy before it was embraced as a morning staple.
A Dangerous Drink
Although popular among the citizens of 17th century Turkey, coffee is a drink that has a history of being outlawed.
Sultan Murad IV of the Ottoman Empire made it illegal to consume or purchase coffee. And the punishment for breaking his law? Decapitation, oftentimes with their lips still on the rim of the coffee cup!
It’s recorded that the sultan was so obsessed with eliminating all coffee from his empire that he would disguise himself as a commoner so that he could enter coffeehouses without suspicion and find those who broke the law…all while…
