Coffee City is a small town in southeastern Henderson County, Texas, United States.

[6] The importance of Coffee City declined in 2012 with the passage of legislation which allowed beer and wine sales in Tyler.

[12] In August of 2023, an investigation by Houston television station KHOU found it was a relatively large police force with 50 personnel, more than 20% of the town's population, and more than five times the number employed by other municipalities of similar size.

More than half of the department's officers had reportedly been previously suspended, demoted, or terminated in prior law enforcement jobs.

[13] Additionally, John Jay Portillo, the chief of police, was discovered to have failed to disclose on his job application an unresolved DUI charge out of Florida.

After becoming chief of police, Portillo also launched a questionable warrant division in which full-time officers were not required to work in the city.

[14] Several officers were also found to work private security jobs in the area (Texas law allows full-time police to hire themselves out for extra money).

[17] On September 11, the city council unanimously voted to fire Portillo and to temporarily deactivate the department, pending the hire of a new chief, with the Henderson County Sheriff's Office taking over in the interim,[18] assisted by deputies from the nearby Smith County Sheriff's Office.