"Coffee drinkers can be reassured that coffee does not increase their risk of death," said lead author Dr Esther Lopez-Garcia of the University of Madrid.

The study looked at the risk of mortality for women who consumed four to five cups a day against those who didn't drink coffee.

Risk of death due to all causes was 26 per cent lower for the five-a-day coffee drinkers.

Women who drank two to three cups of coffee a day had a 17 per cent lower risk.

Whilst men also showed similar benefits, the difference was not deemed to be statistically significant.

For both genders, there was no greater or lower risk of death from cancer among coffee drinkers.

"Coffee consumption has been linked to various beneficial and detrimental health effects, but data on its relation with death were lacking," said Dr Lopez-Garcia.

"Regular coffee consumption was not associated with an increased mortality rate in either men or women."

The study is the latest in a long line that have rehabilitated foods that were dismissed as unhealthy.

"It's also happened with other foods and nutrients, for example with fats," Dr Lopez-Garcia said.

"They used to be bad -- now it has been discovered they are not so bad, even can be good for our health."

The report states that coffee needs further investigation for its potential benefits to health.

"The possibility of a modest benefit of coffee consumption on all cause and cardiovascular disease mortality needs to be further investigated," it says.

But Dr Lopez-Garcia is warning people with certain medical conditions to be careful about taking up coffee as a result of the study.

"We need more research," she said.

"We are very cautious when we say coffee is not bad because for people with cardiovascular disease, hypertension and insomnia, clearly it's not a good idea to start drinking coffee."