Charcoalade Recipe

Charcoal is en vogue and seems to be everywhere right now. Charcoal face masks, charcoal for whitening teeth, charcoal ice cream, charcoal lemon-aid, charcoal waffles…

So, what’s the big deal with this stuff and why is it in everything!? Charcoal has been used for years as a dextoifying agent to treat things like overdoses, poisoning and spider bites as well as helping to alleviate gas and bloating. My first exposure was on a trip to LA last year when a friend introduced us to Kreation Juice. Their cafes are adorable, have an amazing selection of juices (some locations serve food too!) and I just love their branding. Friends, I found my happy place! They format the label on the bottle like a prescription and list the ingredients of the juice with the corresponding health benefits. I grabbed a bottle of the Charcoalade for some gas and bloating that I was feeling, and immediately fell in love! There’s a little ginger in there for nausea, some cayenne for metabolism, coconut water for electrolytes and lemon for energy. They add coconut sugar in theirs but in my recipe I leave that out since the coconut water has enough sweetener for my taste. It did help to alleviate some of my gas and bloating and I just LOVE the taste and the detoxifying nature of the drink.

But, as much as I love it, one of these bottles costs $11.95! Now, that price includes a $1 glass bottle deposit that you get back when you bring the glass bottle back but that’s still $11 for ONE of these! We don’t have any Kreation Juice locations back home in Seattle and as I just love to DIY things so I decided to take it upon myself to make this myself at home.

One thing that I do want to say about charcoal before we get to the recipe, is that a little goes a long way. It works by trapping chemicals and prevents their absorption (Source: WebMD). It’s excellent at absorbing things for detoxification but it doesn’t discriminate between toxins, chemicals, vitamins, or nutrients. So, make sure you drink plenty of water (at least two liters of water) on days that you drink this and consume it away from food to minimize it neutralizing nutrients from meals. Also, take this about two hours after taking any medicines. I like to drink this one mid-morning and have a late lunch, but another great time to give it a try is a few hours after dinner right before bed and let it do it’s thing!

This is pretty easy to make with items that you likely have at home, except for the activated charcoal. I did what most of us do and jumped onto Amazon to find it and after researching a few options I decided to purchase Prescribed for Life Coal-Conut Activated Coconut Shell Charcoal Fine Husk Food Grade Powder. The 8oz packet has lasted me almost a year and I even shared about 1/3 of the package with some friends. I use the charcoal for this drink and to brush my teeth once a week as whitener -which I can post about if you’re interested! Let me know in the comments.

Charcoalade: 

• 6 oz of purified water water
• 6oz coconut water
• 1/2 tsp  Activated Charcoal (feel free to adjust this down based on taste)
• 1tsp powdered ginger (or 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, or 1oz ginger juice)
• 2 oz Lemon Juice
• Pinch of Cayenne Powder or to taste

Add all ingredients to a bottle or glass mason jar and shake, shake, shake! You may have a little black residue on your lips or teeth after drinking this but no fear, just swish with plain drinking water and it should go away.