It’s been added to beauty products for a while now to suck the yuck from our skin and hair.
Charcoal has been touted as a natural tooth whitener. You have probably seen the tutorials on Pinterest and YouTube?
But now charcoal has made its way into our food. Charcoal juice and ice cream are appearing all over the place. It’s a goth foodie’s dream come true (if that’s a thing).
This spring charcoal lattes started trending in the UK and Australia and quickly made their way to the US. Living in BFE as I do, charcoal items have not appeared at my local eateries, but I easily found charcoal latte recipes online. My teen was all in on the taste testing, as she was excited to see “coffee as black as my soul”. She’s kidding, I think.
There seem to be two main variations on the recipe, one with coffee and one without. I prefer to be heavily caffeinated at all times.
However, for you the reader, the kid and I tried them both. It’s really easy. Get some activated charcoal powder from the grocery store or pharmacy. It often comes in caplets as a digestive aid. Pulling apart the caplets gets a bit messy so you may want to do it over a plate or napkin.
Charcoal Latte with Almond Milk:
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tsp. activated charcoal
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. agave nectar or 1 stevia packet
This is a pretty standard recipe. Some variations use water along with the almond milk or slightly alter the amounts of the other ingredients. Just warm up the liquid in a small pot, whisk in the other ingredients, pour into a mug and drink.
The Verdict:
This method does not render a very aesthetically pleasing latte. It looks like dirty water that preschoolers have been rinsing their paint brushes in.
But how does it taste? Well, it tastes like vanilla almond milk, with grit, like really fine grains of sand between your teeth. Not super gross but not really appealing either.
Charcoal Latte with Coffee:
Make coffee as usual
Pour into mug
Stir in 1 tsp. activated charcoal
Verdict:
Now we have achieved the beautiful blackness of a true goth latte.
Guess what it tastes like. It tastes like coffee, with grit. Apparently charcoal doesn’t have much of a taste which is probably a good thing. So why are so many people drinking it? It might be healthy. Maybe.
For thousands of years charcoal has been used in medicine to combat toxins and odors. The allure of the charcoal latte is that it is a detox coffee. But do we really need this? Most dietitians and doctors seem to think not. Sure activated charcoal is great when administered by a physician to combat a drug overdose or if your pet eats your chocolate stash, but it can also damage your health.
Charcoal is an equal opportunity absorb-er. Just as it can soak up toxins in your body, it can also soak up nutrients from your food or morning vitamin, your allergy meds and your *gasp* birth control.
It’s cute, it’s different, it’s fun for Halloween, but I for one need my meds, so this is one trend I will avoid.
Have you had a charcoal latte? What did you think?
Written by Leanne
Current Obsessions: Leanne is a wife, mother of 2 and currently unemployed. Her writing has been featured at GirlBodyPride.com and The Huffington Post. She is currently avoiding writing a memoir of her summer as an exchange student. Follow her nowhere, because that would be stalking, as she does not tweet, blog or insta. She doesn’t even own a smartphone!
