Is Coffee After Drinking Alcohol Safe When Medicine Is Added?
A trend of pouring Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui into iced Americano has spread online, following earlier iced herbal tea and traditional Chinese medicine granules added to coffee. Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui is a medicine, and its ingredients can irritate the stomach and intestines. Combined with coffee, it can trigger gastrointestinal spasms, leading to abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. Curiosity does not make the mixture safe.
The pattern escalated from March, when iced Cantonese-style herbal tea with ice cubes became popular online, to medicated coffee drinks that imitate that novelty. Coffee after drinking alcohol already exists as a gimmick, and adding medicine pushes the idea further. Because the ingredients of a patent medicine are not meant to be combined with a stimulant beverage, the casual mixture crosses a boundary rather than offering a new flavor.
Recently, a craze of pouring Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui into iced Americano has spread rapidly online, and many coffee lovers have rushed to imitate it. From the earlier iced herbal tea, to later adding traditional Chinese medicine granules to coffee, to now directly pouring Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui into iced Americano, this kind of "medicated coffee" gimmick keeps escalating. However, Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui is, after all, a medicine, and its ingredients may irritate the stomach and intestines. When mixed with coffee and consumed, it can easily trigger gastrointestinal spasms, leading to abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and other uncomfortable symptoms. Curiosity is understandable, but the casual mixing of medicine and coffee has crossed the boundary of safety. This article will start from the origins of this trend and discuss why this way of drinking is not worth advocating.
For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account cafe_style)
For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex
"good (imitative sound)! gulu～～～～～～gululu～～～～～～～～"
Before the picture is attached, with this string of imitative sounds, in what situation would this appear? A Take a sip of espresso with added Banlangen B Take a sip of Bansha herbal tea with added ice C Take a sip of iced Americano with added Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui If everyone thinks all three options are correct, then you should choose the longest answer! So the answer to this question is C. I believe many friends who have read this far have already begun to frown.
On the road of pursuing stimulation, people have always been so stimulated... Earlier, there was the pursuit of mental stimulation, so alcoholic coffee was invented; later, there was the pursuit of taste bud stimulation, so specialty coffee was invented; now there is the pursuit of gastrointestinal stimulation, so medicated coffee was invented... It is unclear when it started, but traditional Chinese medicine + coffee became something everyone imitated. Starting in March this year, the making of "iced Cantonese-style" (herbal tea + ice cubes) suddenly became popular online, and many friends in Guangdong imitated it one after another... At the time, it was so popular that when you went to a herbal tea shop to buy herbal tea, the auntie would say: Drink herbal tea while it's hot! Adding ice will make you sick! (Translated: adding ice to herbal tea will turn you into a jet fighter)
Later, herbal tea + ice cubes could no longer satisfy everyone's curiosity, so many coffee shops began adding traditional Chinese medicine granules during coffee extraction, and then created the Guangdong March special that leaves everyone speechless. Originally I thought these were just a temporary imitation trend, but unexpectedly! More and more people began adding traditional Chinese medicine to coffee... and what they added was highly potent traditional Chinese medicine, for example: Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui.
Recently, perhaps because the weather has been too hot, the heat-relieving effect of iced Americano has declined, so some friends began stacking buffs onto iced Americano by stuffing in a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui... "As long as you pay for one cup of Americano, you get one more reason to swipe your medical insurance card." Perhaps because of this mindset, more and more friends followed the trend... No coffee brand's iced Americano can escape the addition of Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui.
But!
This is medicine! Medicine! Medicine! Medicine cannot be taken casually!
The function of Huoxiang Zhengqi Shui itself is to prevent heatstroke, and its ingredients may irritate the stomach and intestines. Although adding it to coffee may not be toxic, it can easily cause gastrointestinal spasms, leading to symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. Whether it is to attract more consumers' attention to one's brand, or to make more people notice coffee, curiosity is curiosity, but these medicine + coffee practices have gone too far! Innovation or imitation, there must still be a limit! Image source: Internet
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
