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Is Coffee an Aphrodisiac? What the Science Says

Your favorite morning brew has a deliciously dark side. Its history with sex is long and complicated, like most relationships worth having.

Long before anyone was ordering a double espresso before a date, coffee was used for medicinal purposes. In 17th-century England, it was credited with aiding digestion, easing headaches and “quickening the spirits.” Nobody called that sexy, but it’s easy to see how a drink believed to sharpen the mind and invigorate the body could acquire a sexy reputation.

But coffee’s sexual reputation has never been entirely straightforward. At different points in history, it has been celebrated as an aphrodisiac and condemned as anything but. Today, we have scientific research to help answer the question: is coffee an aphrodisiac?

Table of Contents

The benefits of coffee sexually

So what does the science tell us? Coffee influences several systems that matter to sexual function, from energy and mood to circulation. Some of the evidence is intriguing, although it doesn’t mean that drinking coffee is guaranteed to make you more interested in sex or better at it.

Can coffee boost energy for sex?

Let’s start with the most obvious benefit. Caffeine is a stimulant that acts on the central nervous system, increasing alertness and reducing the perception of fatigue. Research has found that caffeine can improve alertness, vigilance, attention and physical performance, particularly when people are tired or sleep-deprived.

If you’re exhausted at the end of the day, a cup of coffee isn’t going to magically create desire. But when fatigue is what’s standing between you and intimacy, having more energy can certainly help. That’s not evidence that coffee is an aphrodisiac. It is, however, one plausible way a stimulant could indirectly benefit your sex life.

If you’re curious about how green coffee differs from the roasted beans most of us drink, here’s more information on how green coffee can effect your energy boost.

Can coffee improve mood and pleasure?

Coffee doesn’t just chase away the morning fog. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system and can affect brain chemistry, including the activity of dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in motivation, reward and pleasure. Research has found that caffeine can influence dopamine activity in the brain.

Mood matters when it comes to sex. When you’re tired, distracted or in a lousy mood, desire can be pretty far down the list. Coffee can’t turn a foul mood into joy, but its stimulating effects may help create a mental state that’s more receptive to pleasure. Whether that translates into greater sexual desire is a more complicated question.

Can coffee improve blood flow?

Blood flow is important for sexual arousal, so it’s worth asking whether coffee has any effect on circulation. The answer is complicated. Some human studies have found that coffee or caffeine can improve certain measures of blood-vessel function, while others have found short-term effects that go in the opposite direction.

So while there is some evidence that coffee may affect circulation in ways that could be relevant to sexual function, we can’t say that drinking coffee simply improves blood flow or makes arousal easier. That’s one reason the question of whether coffee is an aphrodisiac is way more interesting than a simple yes or no.

Can coffee help erectile function in men?

The research on erectile function is, to put it simply, complicated. A 2015 analysis of U.S. health data found that men consuming moderate amounts of caffeine were less likely to report erectile dysfunction than men consuming very little caffeine. However, that was an observational study, so it could identify an association but could not show that caffeine prevented ED.

A later prospective study following more than 21,000 men found no significant association between coffee consumption and developing erectile dysfunction over time. A 2024 meta-analysis of cohort studies also found no significant relationship between caffeine intake and ED risk.

So, for now, the honest answer is that coffee may have some interesting connections to erectile function, but there isn’t good evidence that drinking coffee prevents or helps in treating erectile dysfunction.

Can coffee affect sexual function in women?

The research on coffee and sexual function in women is much thinner than the research on erectile function in men. There isn’t good evidence that coffee directly increases sexual desire or arousal in women.

What we do know is that caffeine can increase physiological arousal and alertness. In studies that included women, caffeine increased measures of arousal such as skin conductance, but that doesn’t tell us whether women felt more sexually interested or aroused.

So, for women, the case for coffee as an aphrodisiac is still largely plausible rather than proven. Its effects on energy, alertness and mood may be relevant to sexual experience, but we shouldn’t confuse those effects with evidence that coffee directly boosts female sexual function.

The history of coffee and sexuality

Depending on the century, the culture and apparently the mood of the person doing the complaining, coffee has been praised as an aphrodisiac or condemned as an anaphrodisiac.

In 17th-century England, coffee was promoted as a medicinal drink and credited with all sorts of benefits. But not everyone was impressed. A famous 1674 pamphlet called The Women’s Petition Against Coffee complained that coffee was making English men less interested in sex. The petition accused coffee of leaving husbands “as impotent as age” while supposedly making them better talkers. (It’s believed that the petition was largely satire but it does point to an early historical link between coffee and matters of the bedroom.)

Coffee recipes

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Tia Maria Cold Brew Espresso Martini
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Discover more of the world’s greatest aphrodisiac foods

The benefits of coffee sexually graphic with a cup of brewed coffee next to a steaming pile of coffee beans
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It should not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here are not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional. More information

This article was written in 2018 and most recently updated in October 2026 with a new introduction and new research on blood flow, erectile dysfunction, women’s health and a new section on the history of coffee as an aphrodisiac.

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Amy Reiley

Eat Something Sexy's Creator & Editor-in-Chief Amy Reiley is the award-winning author of five aphrodisiac cookbooks. She has her Master of Arts in Gastronomy, awarded by Le Cordon Bleu and The University of Adelaide. She is also a Certified Nutrition Coach awarded by the International Sports Sciences Association and she is a California Certified Massage Therapist.

Amy is considered a leading authority on aphrodisiacs. Her work in aphrodisiacs is quoted in publications including National Geographic, The New York Times, Epicurious, Wine Enthusiast, Health and Playboy magazines. She speaks internationally on aphrodisiac foods and has brought her knowledge of aphrodisiac history and science to national television shows including The Today Show and CBS Early Show. She is a frequent guest on relationship and lifestyle radio and podcast shows and has been interviewed by BBC and NPR radio, Cosmopolitan radio and popular podcasts including My Dad Wrote a Porno.

Amy is also a freelance food, wine and health researcher and writer as well as a wine competition judge. Her work has appeared in publications ranging from Variety to The Daily Meal. She is an MSN content provider. And she is also a former wine editor for Gayot.com and wine & spirits editor of Las Vegas magazine.

Fun fact: Amy was the creator of the first ever comprehensive food and wine apps, Amy Reiley's Pocket Gourmet and Amy Reiley's Pocket Vineyard for Palm.