diff --git a/biothings_client/client/asynchronous.py b/biothings_client/client/asynchronous.py
index 13d9227..db46ea2 100644
--- a/biothings_client/client/asynchronous.py
+++ b/biothings_client/client/asynchronous.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from collections.abc import Iterable
 from copy import copy
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Union, Tuple
+from typing import Tuple, Union
 import logging
 import platform
 import warnings
@@ -30,12 +30,12 @@
     MYVARIANT_KWARGS,
 )
 from biothings_client.__version__ import __version__
-from biothings_client._dependencies import _CACHING, _PANDAS
-from biothings_client.client.exceptions import OptionalDependencyImportError
+from biothings_client._dependencies import _CACHING, _CACHING_NOT_SUPPORTED, _PANDAS
+from biothings_client.client.exceptions import CachingNotSupportedError, OptionalDependencyImportError
 from biothings_client.mixins.gene import MyGeneClientMixin
 from biothings_client.mixins.variant import MyVariantClientMixin
 from biothings_client.utils.copy import copy_func
-from biothings_client.utils.iteration import iter_n, list_itemcnt, concatenate_list
+from biothings_client.utils.iteration import concatenate_list, iter_n, list_itemcnt
 
 if _PANDAS:
     import pandas
@@ -310,6 +310,9 @@ async def _set_caching(self, cache_db: Union[str, Path] = None, **kwargs) -> Non
         Outputs:
         :return: None
         """
+        if _CACHING_NOT_SUPPORTED:
+            raise CachingNotSupportedError()
+
         if _CACHING:
             if not self.caching_enabled:
                 try:
@@ -351,6 +354,9 @@ async def _stop_caching(self) -> None:
         Outputs:
         :return: None
         """
+        if _CACHING_NOT_SUPPORTED:
+            raise CachingNotSupportedError()
+
         if _CACHING:
             if self.caching_enabled:
                 try:
@@ -380,6 +386,9 @@ async def _clear_cache(self) -> None:
         Clear the globally installed cache. Caching will stil be enabled,
         but the data stored in the cache stored will be dropped
         """
+        if _CACHING_NOT_SUPPORTED:
+            raise CachingNotSupportedError()
+
         if _CACHING:
             if self.caching_enabled:
                 try:
diff --git a/biothings_client/client/base.py b/biothings_client/client/base.py
index ec394ec..d0f6901 100644
--- a/biothings_client/client/base.py
+++ b/biothings_client/client/base.py
@@ -30,12 +30,12 @@
     MYVARIANT_KWARGS,
 )
 from biothings_client.__version__ import __version__
-from biothings_client._dependencies import _CACHING, _PANDAS
-from biothings_client.client.exceptions import OptionalDependencyImportError
+from biothings_client._dependencies import _CACHING, _CACHING_NOT_SUPPORTED, _PANDAS
+from biothings_client.client.exceptions import CachingNotSupportedError, OptionalDependencyImportError
 from biothings_client.mixins.gene import MyGeneClientMixin
 from biothings_client.mixins.variant import MyVariantClientMixin
 from biothings_client.utils.copy import copy_func
-from biothings_client.utils.iteration import iter_n, list_itemcnt, concatenate_list
+from biothings_client.utils.iteration import concatenate_list, iter_n, list_itemcnt
 
 if _PANDAS:
     import pandas
@@ -302,6 +302,9 @@ def _set_caching(self, cache_db: Union[str, Path] = None, **kwargs) -> None:
         Outputs:
         :return: None
         """
+        if _CACHING_NOT_SUPPORTED:
+            raise CachingNotSupportedError()
+
         if _CACHING:
             if not self.caching_enabled:
                 try:
@@ -343,6 +346,9 @@ def _stop_caching(self) -> None:
         Outputs:
         :return: None
         """
+        if _CACHING_NOT_SUPPORTED:
+            raise CachingNotSupportedError()
+
         if _CACHING:
             if self.caching_enabled:
                 try:
@@ -378,6 +384,9 @@ def _clear_cache(self) -> None:
         Outputs:
         :return: None
         """
+        if _CACHING_NOT_SUPPORTED:
+            raise CachingNotSupportedError()
+
         if _CACHING:
             if self.caching_enabled:
                 try:
diff --git a/biothings_client/client/exceptions.py b/biothings_client/client/exceptions.py
index c20fa66..ee413e2 100644
--- a/biothings_client/client/exceptions.py
+++ b/biothings_client/client/exceptions.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from typing import List
 
 
-class OptionalDependencyImportError(Exception):
+class OptionalDependencyImportError(ImportError):
     def __init__(self, optional_function_access: str, optional_group: str, libraries: List[str]):
         pip_command = f"`pip install biothings_client[{optional_group}]`"
         message = (
@@ -13,3 +13,9 @@ def __init__(self, optional_function_access: str, optional_group: str, libraries
             f"To install run the following command: {pip_command}"
         )
         super().__init__(message)
+
+
+class CachingNotSupportedError(Exception):
+    def __init__(self, message: str):
+        message = f"Caching is only supported for Python 3.8+\n{message}"
+        super().__init__(message)