3 Misconceptions about Coffee Enemas & What to Expect Your First Time

5 min readJun 23, 2023

About a year ago, I tried my first coffee enema.

I’m expecting a round of applause… It was a personal milestone for me.

I currently consider myself a recovering health and wellness addict. Across a span of several years, I was willing to try just about anything in the pursuit of health. Vitamin IVs, NMN supplements, red light therapy — name a wellness trend, I’ve tried it!

If you have no idea what an enema is, I’m about to let you in on a massive health and wellness practice that is tubing coffee up your butthole as a detox practice.

Now when I said “butthole,” did you cringe a little? I get it. I can use more mature language, like “anus,” from this point on. Nope, still cringey?

Listen, I understand the visceral tightness you may feel in your gut when I mention that part of your body, let alone putting something inside of it. But we’re all adults here. If this topic makes you feel squeamish, I recommend you revisit a classic grade school book, Everyone Poops by Tarō Gomi.

Now, the hardest step to an enema is doing it! Your first enema can feel meaningful in some weird way, like a rite of passage into some exclusive health and wellness club. Welcome! Many of us like to cold plunge, infrared sauna, and apparently, do coffee enemas.

Trust me when I say that the benefits of an enema outweigh the ick you may feel about them. You’ve been making an enema a bigger deal in your mind than it really is.

Enemas are not as uncomfortable, or disgusting, or downright terrifying as you may think. In fact, they’re none of these things.

Following my first enema experience, I recognized three misconceptions about enemas — that were completely proven false by doing an enema myself for the first time.

Common Misconceptions

Misconception #1

You Must Use Coffee

Coffee enemas are beneficial for liver detoxification, but a water enema can still be beneficial for colon cleansing as it rinses the colon of stubborn debris.
If the coffee seems overwhelming and causes questions like, ‘What kind of coffee?’ or ‘How long do I brew the coffee?’ or ‘What is the proper ratio of coffee to water?’ then rest assured, you can start doing enemas with simply distilled water.
At one point, I mistakenly thought that a coffee enema meant putting coffee grounds “in there,” which sounded like a mess. That’s not true either. It’s typically a ratio of coffee to distilled water that has been brewed and finely strained through cheesecloth.
You could start with a water enema your first time to get the hang of it, then progress to a coffee enema next time.

Misconception #2

You Must Keep the Tube Inserted

You may prefer to keep the tube inserted to assist in comfortably holding all of the liquid for the designated amount of time. However, it’s not absolutely necessary. Once all of the liquid makes it into your colon, you could remove the tube.
If removing the tube, be extremely gentle and slow. Be mentally prepared that you may feel an “urge” to eliminate. With some mental focus, you will not be spewing liquid like a garden hose (apologies for that visual).
Now if you remove the tube, you’ll want to remain in the bathroom as opposed to cruising around the house, but you’re also not chained to the tube if it’s causing any discomfort or if you need to get up and grab something from the bathroom counter. Free yourself from the enema umbilical cord!

Misconception #3

It’s Painful to Release

Once the enema is complete, you (slowly) remove the tube and sit on the toilet to eliminate the liquid — just like you would a regular bowel movement.
It shouldn’t be painful or uncomfortable, but it may be a surprising feeling due to the liquid content (we’re typically used to solids here).
Will it smell? Most likely. You’re releasing things that may have been trapped in your colon for far too long. When it meets the light of day, it could smell.
Suggestions for a pleasant elimination include lighting a candle (beeswax preferably, don’t breathe in more toxins while you’re trying to eliminate them) or keeping essential oil sprays nearby.

Now that we’ve cleared up the misconceptions, let’s talk about how you can expect to feel after your first enema. Keep in mind, I’m speaking to my subjective experience.

What to Expect

Short-Term

Feeling physically light as a feather. Apparently, that’s from all the literal feces that exits your body.
Experiencing a surge of energy. The best analogy for this feeling, and stay with me here, relates to using cannabis. If you were to smoke cannabis, you feel a “head high,” whereas if you were to eat a cannabis edible, you feel a “body high.” If drinking coffee is a “head high,” a coffee enema gives you a “body high.”
Potential bloating. If any air bubbles made their way into your tube, there may be some gas to pass. Nothing we haven’t seen before.
Surprise and relief. It probably wasn’t anything like you expected.

Long-Term

Heightened awareness of your digestion
Feeling more in tune with your gut. I felt like I could hear or feel everything going in my gut — like it was communicating with me. There’s some science to this in terms of the Vagus nerve, if you’d like to continue the research.
Clarity on your body’s internal state
Recognition of your body’s signals you may have been ignoring. Following my first enema, signs like bloating, gas, or indigestion after a meal became clear and difficult to ignore.
Greater understanding of your body’s food tolerances. My body became quick to respond whether it did or did not like a food — like my own internal food allergy or elimination test.
Increased desire to incorporate real foods in your diet — like fruits and vegetables (and less processed, packaged foods.)
Increased bodily knowing. In a world where we’re told to look outside of ourselves for the answers, we could all benefit from trusting our physical body.

I’m just an average (formerly wellness-obsessed) human trying to demystify enemas for my fellow humans.

Enemas are not as scary as they may seem. I encourage you to give it a try, because it’s not that big of a deal. It’s worth it. You’re going to feel like a million bucks.

Has this information swayed your opinion? At the very least, hopefully some of your misconceptions have been cleared up — like your colon will be if you decide to do an enema.

If this information was beneficial to you, read more from Monika Sage on Medium.