Why are folks adding scallions to their coffee and turning their morning joe into a bad-breath barrage? We need breath mints stat!
Social media is a great place to connect with friends, but more often than not, it's an oddity farm. It's where we go to discover the weird and novel aspects of pop culture. We've seen some amazingly bizarre food trends on the socials this year that included roast pork java, "rat-snacking," people throwing slushies at their own trucks, people eating toothpicks, and cheese washing. This new one is a genuine hoot. People are making scallion-infused coffee. We joke not. Some mad caffeine fan decided that it would be a great idea to cut up Spring onions and use them as a coffee condiment because, of course, it's not like coffee doesn't linger on your breath for a while already, might as well add some Eau de Onion to your mouth odor so it will hit folks like Mike Tyson in a second round KO.
This unusual concoction hails from China, where "dark cuisine" trends (aka bizarre foods and food combos) are pushing boundaries and challenging people's palates. The broader "dark cuisine" movement has brought us oddities like mushroom coffee to "cursed" soy sauce lattes and as unique as they are, onions? Seriously? And not just onions, which can at least be sweet if you are using say, Vidalias, but scallions? We're having trouble seeing the draw here.
The idea is simple: chop up some spring onions, throw them in an iced or hot latte, and voila! Your scallion coffee is ready to go. Hmmm, we thought there'd be more to it than that, but then again, that alone is odd enough. What's next? Garlic Gatorade? Tomato sauce tea? Marmalade matcha?
Of course, the internet has erupted with mixed emotions. Some intrepid coffee fans were intrigued, while purists declared it an utter abomination that should be stricken from history and never spoken of again. Comments range about the resulting halitosis this will bring, that next we'll see creamers in miso soup, and in some cases people just got enraged. What we find hysterical about the interwebs is not just curious food combos but how outright indignant folks get about it when commenting about something no one is forcing them to try. OK, dude, we get it. Not your thing. No one is going to sneak shallots into your Americano...yet!
So, should you try the scallion latte? Why not, we say! You aren't eating bugs or chicken sashimi. It's definitely an adventurous choice, but hey, what do you have to lose? If you're feeling daring and have a curious side, give it a go! Just be prepared for a potentially polarizing experience. We are actually nervous that we might like it and what that says about us.
If you're curious to learn more, check out the video below on how to make this strange brew. If you decide to give this thing a whirl, all we'll say is have some Listerine on hand so you don't knock people out with your onion-coffee breath on your commute.