Why don’t Latter-day Saints drink coffee?

Generated with DALL-E, depicting people enjoyed coffee in a cafe.

An excerpt from the forthcoming 40 Questions About Mormonism (Kregel Academic).

I had a few hours before the conference started, so I typed the word “cafe” into my map app and followed it to a local place tucked away in a shopping strip and not easily seen from the busy road. I could go to one of the major coffee chains in town, but I prefer to support local business.

The cafe was more of a bakery than the coffeeshops I’m used to. “No matter,” I thought to myself. As long as they were brewing that black elixir of goodness I desired, I’d be happy.

“We don’t have any, sir,” the cashier said.

“Sorry?” I replied. The confused and disappointed look on my face must have asked the question for me.

“No, sir. Sorry, we don’t serve coffee.”

Surely, she was kidding. I leaned to the right a bit to peer over her shoulder, desperately looking for coffee makers or canisters or something. Shoot, a single-pod coffee maker would have been sufficient at that point.

“Sir,” she interrupted with a smile. “This is Provo.”

That’s when it hit me—Latter-day Saints don’t drink coffee, and I was trying to order a cup in one of the densest concentrations of Latter-day Saints in the world.

Sheepishly, I ordered a muffin. To go, of course. I departed quickly with hope that the green mermaid could fulfill my order.

I knew Latter-day Saints don’t drink coffee, or tea and alcohol for that matter. And neither do they use tobacco. All that had just slipped my mind. Coffee is such a common part of the American experience, its absence at that moment was almost jarring to me. Of course, there’s coffee in Utah. Some of the best I’ve ever had, in fact. But my interaction that morning motivated me to dig deeply into understanding one of Mormonism’s more unique practices, or better put, abstinences.

Why Don’t Latter-day Saints Drink Coffee?

The answer is simple: coffee is prohibited according to a short LDS scripture, the Word of Wisdom. The Word is a health code that advocates abstinence from tobacco use (D&C 89:8), consuming alcohol and “hot drinks” (D&C 89:5–7; 9), while also recommending certain types of food (D&C 89:10–17). It is commonly misunderstood that the Word prohibits caffeine, likely due to the interpretation of “hot drinks” as caffeinated beverages like tea and coffee. But soda is presently permitted and not all heated beverages are prohibited. Latter-day Saints may enjoy herbal teas and hot chocolate, for example.

The principle behind the law, however, prohibits narcotics, vaping, and substance abuse of any kind. Sobriety and good health are its measures but not its ultimate purpose. Those who keep this “principle with promise” may expect both physical health and spiritual blessings (D&C 89:18–21); it is an LDS expression of the NT’s command to “glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:20). Thus, the Word of Wisdom correlates to the similar dietary laws of other religious traditions (e.g., kosher, halal), which categorizes the Word as a spiritual discipline rather than merely a health code. The Word is not advice for physical health alone; it’s tied to the soul as well. To reject its prohibited practices is to receive a richer relationship with God.

For the early LDS Church, the Word was optional and not required, and members followed it selectively. Generally, though, LDS leaders warned that failure to heed its advice was detrimental for the individual and community. The optional character of the Word makes it unique among other LDS revelations. The Word came to the Church “not by commandment or Constraint,” but by revelatory counsel. This language reminds readers of the way NT apostles sometimes counseled the church “not by commandment” (2 Cor. 8:8) but as a gentle prompt to incline the saints toward obedience, “not by constraint, but willingly” (1 Pet. 5:2). Congregations were given the opportunity to demonstrate their willingness to serve others in their community, “[not] because you have to, but because you want to please God” (1 Pet. 5:2, MSG). If Joseph Smith had this model in mind, then he may have issued the Word, in part, to offer his church a way to demonstrate their fidelity to the community. Whether Smith’s prompt was warranted has less to do with the Word’s content than with one’s view of his authority.

But why did Smith pen the Word in the first place?

Where did the Word of Wisdom Come From?

While the precise circumstances that led Smith to dictate the Word in early 1833 are unknown, historians have noticed a few contextual clues. Broadly speaking, the Word came at a moment when the LDS Church was overshadowed by health epidemics, like cholera, which raged during the early 1830s. Scholars have noticed how much of the Word’s content reflected orthodox medical treatments of the day. At that time, the medicinal use of tobacco and alcohol were prescribed to reduce symptoms caused by illness. For example, tobacco was a popular ingredient in many home remedies ranging anywhere from emetics and diuretics to healing rattlesnake bites. Alcohol, too, was well-known for its antiseptic power, even as the relationship between microbes and hygiene was then unknown. The Word apparently reflected these medical practices when it explained how “Strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies,” (i.e., for hygiene and not inebriation) and “Tobacco is not for man but is for bruises,” (i.e., for topical application, not smoking or chewing).

But some medical professionals in Smith’s day promoted complete abstinence from drinking and smoking as a preventative measure to avoid sickness altogether. They believed the body was perfectly capable of staving off illness on its own, but that immunity was weakened by habitual and prolonged use of these substances. Alcohol, for example, was thought to be “destructive to the bloom of youth,” according to a medical journal published the same year as the Word. That journal also theorized how “excessive use of hot drinks” like coffee, tea, and hot chocolate, could “weaken the organs of digestion.” Some of these substances could be used medicinally, but it was best to stay away from them altogether and let the body heal itself. Still, others found moderate intake of alcohol and tobacco to be healthy. “Very moderately taken,” argued a pair of physicians, “[tobacco] quiets restlessness, calms mental and corporeal inquietude, and promised a general state of languor or repose.” The debate was far from settled.

Latter-day Saints also believed that God had blessed them with the spiritual gift of healing through prayer and blessings. One historian observed how early Mormonism contrasted itself against the cessationism that guided Protestantism away from the miraculous healing. In the early days of the LDS Church, he argued, “elders either commanded the sick to be made whole or prayed over the sick and laid their hands on them, reflecting divine instruction given through Joseph Smith exhorting the saints to ritually administer to the sick.” And this practice was not restricted to men. In fact, a major role of the Relief Society, a women’s organization within the Church, was faith ministry to the sick. So, members questioned their reliance on the medical wisdom of their day. Early Latter-day Saints generally adopted a ‘faith against medicine’ posture, argued one researcher. If there was any medical advice to be trusted, it was in botanical medicine, healing that came through herbs created by God and a regulated diet guided by divine wisdom.

With converts joining from an array of backgrounds and beliefs, the early Church may have found itself confused by these competing views on health. Are tobacco and alcohol good or bad? Are they good for medicine but bad for recreation? Shouldn’t the faithful rely on God’s healing power rather than worldly medicines? These questions—and the inevitable debate that accompanied them—doubtlessly fueled dissenting opinions. The Word came at an opportune time to offer Smith’s church surety amid confusion.

The Word of Wisdom and 1 Corinthians 8

There is another clue in the text that sheds more light on the coming forth of the Word of Wisdom, one that frames the revelation as a mechanism to preserve unity by alleviating tension between ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ Latter-day Saints.

While the text is addressed to the whole LDS Church, it is especially concerned with “the weak & the weakest of all Saints.” Readers are reminded of the apostle Paul’s teaching concerning the consciences of the ‘weak brothers’ who stumbled in their faith at the indifference some church members held toward meat sacrificed to idols. “We know that an idol is nothing in the world” Paul wrote (1 Cor. 8:4), but not everyone felt the same way. Some ‘weaker’ saints were aghast that fellow Christians would eat food dedicated to false gods. It shook their delicate conscience and threatened to undo their faith, even leading pagan converts back to their old ways (1 Cor. 8:10). Why would the church tolerate such a thing, Paul wondered? “Shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?” (1 Cor. 8:11). The answer, of course, was no. “Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak,” warned the apostle (1 Cor. 8:9); it ought to be freely given up in love to preserve unity in the church.

Smith’s careful use of the term “weak” to discuss matters of conscience in the Church helps explain why he wrote the Word. Perhaps some members thought alcohol and tobacco used were permissible, whether for consumption or medicinal purposes. But perhaps others thought consuming alcohol and tobacco was immoral, and that using them for medicinal purposes was a sign of weak faith in God’s ability to supernaturally heal. The Word offers the LDS Church a unifying avenue to walk amid this tension, throwing its weight behind giving up a liberty for the sake of health, both personal and ecclesiastical. Just as Paul advocated giving up a personal liberty for sake of the “weak brother,” so Smith advocated giving up the liberty of leisure and folk remedies, all for the sake of “the weak & the weakest” in his Church.

The Word of Wisdom Today

Despite it coming to the LDS Church “not by commandment or Constraint,” Word of Wisdom adherence has been widely compulsory since the beginning of the twentieth century. In part, the Word functions as a symbolic designator that distinguishes Latter-day Saints from Christian denominations. As one historian has argued, Mormonism once distinguished itself by plural marriage, but after its repeal in the late-nineteenth century, Latter-day Saints “reemphasized certain doctrines and practices that had been relatively dormant, such as the Word of Wisdom,” to set themselves apart from the culture.

Today, more Latter-day Saints than not choose to abstain from tobacco, alcohol, and tea. But not all Latter-day Saints abide by the Word as younger members opt to consume coffee and alcohol at higher rates than earlier generations. And despite the Word’s explicit prohibition guidance to reserve the meat of “beasts & of fowls” for wintertime, steakhouses in Utah find no shortage of business during the summer months. Still, obedience to the Word is prerequisite for baptism and one’s temple recommend. It serves modern Latter-day Saints much the same way it did their theological forebearers; as a way to demonstrate their willingness to set aside habits and tailor diets in exchange for bodily and spiritual blessing.

The print edition will, naturally, include citations.