Café culture of Baghdad

The café culture of Baghdad (Arabic: ثقافة المقهي البغدادية) is a set of traditions and social behaviors in old, local, or traditional Baghdadi cafés in Baghdad, Iraq. Ever since their inception in the 1500s, cafés have acted as social forums and gathering grounds for friends and meetings for all ages as well as a gathering ground for intellectuals, thinkers, and personalities to discuss politics, art, literature, science, poetry, and other subjects that had a great impact on Iraq's cultural and literary life while consuming tea or coffee.

Cultural Baghdadi cafés have been thriving since their demands grew in the 17th century and continued into the 20th century, especially in al-Rasheed Street, which saw many of these cafés materialize along the street and the city. The majority of those cafés, which bear witness to cultural, social, and political changes marking Iraq's modern history, have since been closed. Although many heritage cafés and new traditional cafés are still open. The most popular of these is the Shabandar Café in al-Mutanabbi Street.

Despite the fact that the café 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.