If I were sitting at a café like this in Istanbul four hundred years ago, they'd probably have my head on a platter.

Back then, Ottoman Empire ruler Murad IV banned drinking coffee in public places under penalty of death. Legend has it he'd even disguise himself as a regular person and go around catching violators with an executioner in tow.

The Janissaries and their constant coups were to blame for all this (Murad ended up in power as a kid because of one of them). The sultan was terrified of being overthrown out of nowhere. And where did the military love to hang out and plot? Coffee houses! Made sense to ban it.

That said, nobody actually banned selling coffee or even drinking it publicly outside Istanbul. Heck, the sultan himself enjoyed a cup or two.

But the ban stuck around under the next rulers anyway. Eventually they softened the punishment to a beating for the first offense, and if you got caught again, they'd sew you into a sack and throw you in the Bosphorus. Plus, enforcement got lazier and lazier. By the end of the 18th century it was basically just spies hanging out in coffee houses.

So, want your head chopped off, or can you skip coffee today? 😅