Relationships between coffee consumption and occurrence of cancer as well as mortality were explored in a Norwegian study of 13,664 men and 2,891 women who in 1967-69 reported their coffee consumption. No statistically significant positive associations were found between coffee consumption and disease. A weak negative association was found with total cancer incidence even when the first 4 of the 11 1/2 years of follow-up were excluded, and strong negative associations with coffee drinking were noted for cancer of the kidney and nonmelanoma skin cancer. For cancer of the pancreas and bladder, no increase in incidence was found among those with a high coffee consumption. In subjects less than 65 years of age at start of follow-up, coffee drinking showed a significant inverse association with colon cancer.