Cultural Baghdadi coffeehouses have been thriving since their demands grew in the 17th century and continued into the 20th century, especially in al-Rashid Street , which saw many of these coffeehouses materialize along the street and the city. The majority of those coffeehouses, which bear witness to cultural, social, and political changes marking Iraq's modern history, have since been closed.
Although many heritage and new traditional coffeehouses are still open. Despite the fact that the coffeehouse culture is mostly associated with and active in Baghdad, the culture is spread throughout Iraq and examples can be found such as in Sulaymaniyah , Erbil and Karbala. This coffeehouse was located behind al-Mustansiriya Madrasa. From the 17th century to the midst of the 18th century, there was high demand for coffeehouses in the neighborhoods of Baghdad which is believed to be the origin of how the culture surrounding those coffeehouses began.
Alongside mosques, the coffeehouse became a meeting space, especially a secular one and a meeting ground for military officers and the civil rulers of Baghdad. By the end of the seventeenth century, there were ten coffeehouses in Baghdad with five being located on al-Maidan Square mostly due to trading and military services, while the rest were either located next to the banks of the Tigris river or the souks.
Coffeehouses started to spread around the city and its outskirts. The number of coffeehouses in Baghdad reached , according to what was indicated by the Baghdad Code of , and by , the number had reached What helped in this matter was the declaration of the Ottoman constitution in about giving relative freedoms to the religious and national communities of the states that were under the control of the Ottomans, and many of the restrictions imposed on the press were lifted.
Some owners went as far as hiring female dancers and singers from Egypt, and the Levant , and this recruitment was considered a shift in public social morals at the time. Some owners even changed the buildings' structures for a stage to be built. The main material offered by the coffeehouses was hot tea in addition to coffee, and some coffeehouses offered sweets and cold drinks.
