Milk, Sugar, Broccoli: The Perfect Coffee?

How do you like your morning coffee? Maybe you like it strong and black. Maybe you prefer it milky and frothy. Perhaps you like a hint of chocolate in there, or a shot of caramel as a treat to yourself for getting out of bed (it is a big deal, especially on a Monday). Or maybe you prefer a sprinkling of broccoli in there.

Yes, you did read that right.

Broccoli coffee; it’s what we’ll all be ordering in a Starbucks/Costa/Caffe Nero near us one day soon, if reports are to be believed (we’re not sure that we will).

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Let’s slow down a little and see where this supposed new trend has come from. Down Under, scientists belonging to an Australian government agency called CSIRO have been working with agriculture group Hort Innovation to develop a dried broccoli powder.

The powder is super nutritious, with just two tablespoons of it containing the same nutrients as one serving of broccoli. So, that’s a whole load of fibre, some vitamin E, vitamin B6 and manganese.

John Lloyd, chief executive of Hort Innovation, explained: “Research shows the average Australian is still not eating the recommended daily intake of vegetables in a day, and options such as broccoli powder will help address this.”

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We’re fairly certain it’s a similar story here in the UK, but eating more broccoli would also help, surely? And where does coffee come into this?!

Well, one Melbourne cafe has decided that a great way to get more greens into its customers would be to sprinkle a little of this powder into its coffees, creating a new health food trend.

We still have several questions.

Firstly, are we all really so busy that we have to start blending veg into our coffees to get our five a day? Probably not. We have time to nip out to the coffee shop, so we have time to eat some fruit, surely?

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Also, if someone isn’t a fan of eating their greens, is giving their coffee a greenish tinge really going to help? Sure, some people like drinking matcha tea and even matcha lattes, but is ground broccoli in their cappuccinos really going to help them warm to greens? They could just try some other coloured veggies…?

At the start of 2018, mushroom coffee was tipped as one of the year’s big health food trends, but no one saw broccoli coffee coming, did they? Well, how on earth could you?!

What’s more, it’s not just coffee that’s set to get the broccoli powder treatment, as Hort Innovation reckons it’d also be great stirred into smoothies – we can totally see the sense behind that, blending it up with kale, avocado and lime juice for a superfood green juice boost, using a Tefal high-speed blender, of course – and baked goods. That, we’re less sure about. Broccoli brownie, anyone?