Charcoal Water and Why You Might Drink It

If you are looking for a new beverage after you have raised a glass (or three), you might consider activated charcoal water. While the color may seem a bit off-putting, some believe there are benefits to imbibing water the hue of soot.

Activated charcoal is processed so it becomes ultra-absorbent and safe to consume. It contains many tiny sponge-like pores that suck up everything in sight as soon as it hits the digestive tract. After a long night of drinking, activated charcoal water might help relieve your misery by removing toxins from the liver and bloodstream.

So where does activated charcoal come from? Can you go out to your fire pit and collect the remnants? Well, not exactly. While charcoal can be made from a wide variety of materials, the activated charcoal used at Watts Juicery is obtained from coconut shells, a material that produces a high-quality and extremely adsorbent* charcoal (while minimizing the damage to the environment). The shell charcoal is manufactured by burning shells of fully matured nuts, and activated carbon produced from coconut shells has certain specific advantages that aid in adsorption.

Annie Tuttle, owner of Watts Juicery and a local producer of charcoal water, consulted with an herbalist to determine the ratio of charcoal to water. While there is not much flavor to the activated charcoal water, there is definitely a silt-like texture. And don't despair -- if black water is not your beverage of choice after a night of firewater, maybe one of the cold-pressed vegetable and fruit juices at Watts will be a better fit.

*That’s not a typo—adsorption is defined as the adhesion in an extremely thin layer of molecules (as of gases, solutes or liquids) to the surfaces of solid bodies or liquids with which they are in contact.