Note: Originally published 06/03/2016. This article has been revised and updated for accuracy.

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Coffee Enema: The Detox and Bile Flow Superstar

Article Summary:

Coffee enemas can be used to detoxify the body and open the bile duct system, flushing stagnant bile from the liver and gallbladder.
This kind of enema was first used in WWI, when a nurse used the surgeon’s coffee in place of water for a pre-surgery enema. The soldier noticed a large reduction in pain after the surgery was complete, so the nurses continued administering coffee enemas to other patients who benefitted as well.
Physician Max Gerson used coffee enemas in his therapy protocol, The Gerson Therapy, and had found them to be especially useful in working with cancer patients.¹
Coffee enemas boost glutathione s-transferase by up to 700%, which is one of the body’s master antioxidants and is involved in different phases of detoxification.
To prepare for a coffee enema, you’ll want good quality organic, shade-grown coffee, a stainless steel enema bucket, and a French Press.
Hold the enema for 15 minutes for the coffee to be absorbed through the hemorrhoidal vein to reach the liver.
Be sure to replace electrolytes, preferably by drinking a few glasses of fresh green juice on days you perform coffee enemas.
It’s important to take an binder before and after the enema to mop up toxins released from the bile duct, like BioActive Carbon BioTox or another BioActive Carbon binder. Binders attach to toxins and escort them safely out of the body.
Check out my Ultimate Coffee Enema Program for specific instructions on how to order supplies, make the solution, perform your enema, and for support and answers to the most frequently asked coffee enema questions.

We all love talking about drinking coffee. Maybe your spouse has memorized your complicated Starbucks order (decaf iced coffee with half almond milk, half coconut milk, please). Maybe you gather around the coffee pot when you first arrive at work, catching up on weekend gossip and trying to keep your eyes open, because, after all, it’s Monday. You see coffee shops on just about every corner, with lines out the door. It’s clear that it’s one of the most popular drinks in the country, and even around the world, giving its consumers a nice burst of energy when they need it most.

But have you ever tried inserting coffee in the form of an enema?

First of all, I understand that you’re skeptical. You should hear the responses I have received from some of my clients when I mention coffee enemas! It’s important to understand how a coffee enema works before you ever consider doing one.

The main purpose of doing a coffee enema is not for weight loss or colon cleansing. Instead, the primary purpose of a coffee enema is detoxifying your liver by dumping the toxic sludge (bile) from it. They’re great tools to open and empty the bile duct system.

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Coffee Enema Words to Know

Gerson: Max Gerson was the first well-known physician to use coffee enemas in his treatment protocols (also known as Gerson Therapy). He had great success in treating cancer and other diseases naturally, using nutrition, juicing, and tools like enemas, at the Gerson Institute.²

Bile: A green or yellow fluid produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder, which helps your body emulsify and digest fats. Bile also helps you safely remove the waste in your body. Inside bile is cholesterol, electrolytes, toxins, bile salts, and more. During a coffee enema, old bile is flushed out, causing your body to produce new, clean bile.

Glutathione: Your body’s master antioxidant. Glutathione production increases greatly after a coffee enema, helping your body detox.

Catheter: A rubber hose at the end of the main enema hose, used to insert 6 inches into your anus to administer the enema.

Enema Bucket: Stainless steel bucket that holds the coffee while you’re administering the enema. Enema bags are also on the market, but they are usually made of rubber or plastic, which can leach unwanted substances into your enema. It’s best to stick to stainless steel, and it’s easier to keep clean, too.

Palmitates: Components of unfiltered coffee (for example, kahweol and cafestol) that help increase body’s glutathione. Palmitates in coffee stimulate and detoxify the liver and blood.³

Kahweol: A compound found naturally in the oil of coffee, named after the Arabic word “A-hah-wa.” Some studies suggest this compound might be cancer-protective.⁴

Cafestol: Another cancer-protective compound like kahweol, also found in the oil of coffee. This is one reason why you don’t want to filter your coffee enema coffee through paper filters, because these helpful compounds will be removed.⁵

Origins of Coffee Enemas

Coffee enemas were first used during World War I. Nurses would typically administer a water enema before surgery to clear the patient’s colon. When no water was available, a nurse used the coffee that was meant for the surgeons to drink instead. Using the coffee reduced the soldier’s pain, so the procedure was repeated, and they discovered that the other soldiers felt relief as well from the coffee enemas.

German scientists soon began to study the clinical effectiveness of coffee enemas. More recently, Max Gerson, a physician who developed the Gerson Therapy, came across this research and began using them in his protocols.⁶ The coffee enema was even mentioned as a means to detoxify the body in the Merck Manual of Medical Diagnosis, a very widely used medical reference book, until recently. In 1984, it was removed, presumably because it didn’t benefit the pharmaceutical industry.

Enemas have been mentioned in various other texts, like a case study in the Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal in 1866, to treat a child poisoned, and in 1941 in an extensive research paper by Dr. Stajano, titled “The Concentrated Coffee Enema in the Therapeutics of Shock.”⁷ Some even claim water enemas are described in detail in the Dead Sea Scrolls!

Effectiveness of a Coffee Enema

Every six minutes all of your blood goes through your liver to be detoxified. When a coffee enema is performed, that time shortens to three minutes, which essentially makes a coffee enema like a purification dialysis cleaning process of the blood.

Coffee enemas work because the hemorrhoidal veins in the descending colon dump into the portal system via the hepatic portal vein. The coffee uses the hepatic portal vein as a direct connection to the liver. The caffeine and choleretics present in coffee cause the liver and bile duct system to release bile into the colon and increases the flow of bile. This allows your body to use the bile created in your liver to get rid of toxins.⁸

Bile takes a lot of energy to create, so your body likes to reuse it. But the problem is, your bile contains toxins, so when you body does recycle it, it recycles the toxins as well… possibly leaving you feeling fatigued and ill. The solution? Take binders both before and after your coffee enema (for information on exactly what to take, hop into our Ultimate Coffee Enema Program). This will help ensure the toxins are grabbed and transported out of the body. Coffee enemas encourage your body to produce new, clean bile.

Anyone with a chronic illness, or parasites (which is almost everyone!), could use help optimizing their drainage and cleaning out the liver and gallbladder. Parasites of all kinds love to live in the bile duct, and when it’s clogged, you’ll start noticing you don’t feel well. You might have bloating, constipation, abdominal pain (especially the upper right quadrant), diarrhea, loss of appetite, and other symptoms similar to gallbladder attacks. Coffee enemas help get the liver and bile working optimally.

Along with clearing out the bile duct, coffee enemas also boost some key antioxidants in your body. Glutathione S-transferase, an enzyme produced by the liver, has  been shown to increase by 600-700% after just  one coffee enema, according to research  from the University of Minnesota. Your liver uses  palmitic acid as the chemical base to  manufacture glutathione S-transferase, and palmitates are found in unfiltered coffee.⁹

Because of these two detoxification aids (clearing of the bile duct and production of glutathione), coffee enemas can be extremely helpful for anyone experiencing a die-off, or Herxheimer, reaction.

What Kind of Coffee Do I Use?

Air- roasted or lightly roasted, organic coffee is the  recommended form for coffee enemas  because it has the most palmitates. More  heavily roasted coffee beans have less  palmitates. This is the substance that helps produce antioxidants, like glutathione, so it’s important to retain as many palmitates as possible.

So why not use green (unroasted) coffee beans? First, green coffee beans don’t blend into a powder form very well. However, the main concern is that green coffee extract has been shown to shunt the methylation process in the body. While it is not proven whether green coffee beans have the same effects as green coffee extract, I am not comfortable suggesting their use.

Additionally, the study that promoted green coffee bean extract as a supplement and made it massively popular for weight loss has been retracted. The original study was published in 2012 in Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy. It claimed to study green coffee bean extract in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

In a news release, the Federal Trade Commission said that, “The study’s lead investigator repeatedly altered the weights and other key measurements of the subjects, changed the length of the trial, and misstated which subjects were taking the placebo or [green coffee antioxidant] during the trial.”¹⁰

It’s so important to get the right type of coffee! Using organic, air-roasted coffee beans is the safest option.

Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Benefits of Coffee Enemas

Coffee has a high number of antioxidants, like kahweol and cafestol, which are the palmitate compounds that boost your body’s natural detoxifying abilities. Even drinking coffee can increase your blood glutathione a small percentage–the less roasted, the better in this case.
During roasting, even if caffeine remains the same, changes occur in the composition which degrades all of coffee’s innate benefits. According to a study published in 2017 in The Journal of Medicinal Food, to get the most anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect, make sure the coffee you’re using for enemas is less processed and air-roasted.

Coffee has also been found in studies to have anticarcinogenic effects.¹¹ In fact, in a 1999 study by Scott Matsen, PhD, scientists fed green coffee beans (unroasted, to maintain the beneficial cafestol and kahweol) to female rats and hamsters. Their tumors reduced up to 40%.¹²

The palmitates in coffee are responsible for the body increasing glutathione, but drinking coffee with palmitates is not the same as administering it via an enema. The palmitates get used up and broken down during the digestive process. Likewise, the caffeine you ingest while drinking coffee can be hard on your adrenal glands. The caffeine has no effect on your adrenals when it is administered rectally in an enema.

Coffee has been proven in studies to have hepatoprotective properties, meaning it can protect against the progression of liver diseases, like cirrhosis and hepatitis.¹³

Because of all of these protective properties, coffee in enemas should also help you minimize your discomfort if you struggle with chronic pain.

Basic Supplies Needed for a Coffee Enema

The coffee enema procedure is best to do in the morning after you have a normal bowel movement. Coffee enemas have the potential to disrupt sleep if done at night because of the caffeine in the coffee. Morning time is also when the colon is in an expelling mode versus at night when it is in an absorptive mode. There are always exceptions to this, however.

Enemas can seem like an incredibly complicated process, but the truth is, there are just a few vital supplies you’ll need to get started. At the top of that list includes the following three items:

Coffee Enema Coffee: Ideally organic, shade-grown, air-roasted, whole bean (not decaf, and not regular coffee you drink for breakfast!)
Coffee Enema Bucket Kit
Distilled or filtered water

There are many other supplies that can be helpful to include to get the most out of your enemas and make the process more comfortable, such as coconut oil for lubrication or a specific catheter to make inserting the hose much smoother.

Basic Instructions:

1. Boil 4 cups of filtered water.

2. Add 4 Tablespoons coffee to a French press, then top with boiling water.

3. Let steep for 20 minutes, then press down your French press or strain with very fine strainer.

4. Cool down the mixture to in between room temperature and body temperature, then add the coffee mixture to your enema kit.

5. Lie down. Add coconut oil to enema kit hose and insert hose into anus. Allow coffee to flow in slowly, about 2 cups or until you feel full.

6. Hold for 15 minutes, then gently expel the liquid into toilet. Optional: Repeat a second enema right away with the additional 2 cups of coffee mixture.

If you want to maximize your results and take it to the next level, be sure to check out my Ultimate Coffee Enema program. I’ll walk you through step-by-step, showing you how to prepare your enema, perform it, and more. You’ll receive a full supply list, tips, recommended brands, and detailed instructions. I’ll even give you add-ons for how to supercharge your coffee enema with essential oils and herbs to get the most out of it, which is great for the seasoned coffee enema expert.

As an added bonus, I’m teaching you my Advanced Parasite Punch, which includes supplements to kill parasites while doing the enemas, and what binders to take to mop up what’s released in the process: mycotoxins, bacteria, viruses, metals.

If you know you’d like to use coffee enemas to support your drainage pathways, help manage pain, give you gentle energy, clear out parasites, and detoxify the body, but you’re feeling apprehensive, then my Ultimate Coffee Enema program is a great place to start.

Coffee Enema Frequently Asked Questions

1. What if I feel worse after the enema? A small number of people may have an adverse reaction, usually just for a few minutes after the enema. If you’re very toxic, or your liver/gallbladder is extremely clogged, you may feel worse for a short amount of time when the toxins are being released. If this happens, you can reduce the amount of coffee to a comfortable amount for next time (ie: prepare the enema with just 1 tablespoon), and work your way up. You can also hold it for less time, but you really want to reach the magic 15-minutes if at all possible.
2. I can’t hold the enema nearly long enough! Any tips? Every enema is different. Some people find they can hold it the full fifteen for the first few sessions, then suddenly they need to expel the enema after just a few minutes the next time. You can gently massage your colon during the enema to relieve gas. You also want to make sure you’ve cleared the air out of the hose before inserting it. Another tip that works very well is to perform a water enema to evacuate the colon before doing the coffee enema. If you’re doing a parasite cleanse, it’s likely it will become more difficult to hold the enema because the dying parasites are irritating and your body wants to get rid of them!
3. How often should I replace the stainless steel bucket or hose? As long as you’re cleaning the bucket well, you should only have to replace the bucket if you see any visible wear and tear, rust, or mold. The hose should be replaced every 3-6 months, just to ensure it’s clean and safe to use.
4. I have trouble inserting the hose. How can I make it easier? It’s easiest to lay on one side, in a fetal position, to insert the hose.
5. How do I clean the tools after I use them? Washing the hose and bucket is very important, so mold and bacteria don’t build up. You can use a very gentle, unscented soap (like Dr. Bronner’s), and a bit of hydrogen peroxide on the end of the hose where it enters you. Make sure to rinse very well with warm water and hang the hose to dry, so no water is trapped.
6. I’m very sensitive to caffeine. Will coffee enemas give me those same symptoms? No. It’s very different to ingest coffee as compared to performing a coffee enema. Clinically, we have not heard of anyone reacting to the caffeine in the enemas. If you’re worried, you can start with a small amount of ground coffee and judge your reaction, but you cannot use decaf coffee for enemas. The caffeine is necessary.
7. Is there a specific kind of diet to follow to enhance the benefits of coffee enemas? Just eat real food. Eating lots of organic vegetables will ensure your body is getting enough fiber to keep bowels moving regularly on their own. Juicing helps replace any lost minerals. Avoiding processed foods and refined sugar is very helpful to make your coffee enema routine the most effective.
8. What else can I do for my liver/gallbladder? Castor oil packs and infrared heating pads are great additional liver support. Use the code “drjay” on Therasage to get 5% off your order of infrared products.

If you enjoyed this article, you’ll also love Removing Parasites to Fix Lyme and Chronic Illness. Want to read more about liver support? Check out Tudca and Lyme Disease: The Lymphatic Connection.

Maximum Blessings,

Jay

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