Encanto: How to Introduce Coffee to Children

Disney tends to stay true to local traditions and consequently, they included various scenes in Encanto of children drinking coffee. This subject is a hot take. Allowing children to drink coffee is for many considered a risky move, but in all reality it’s been done for a very long time. Not too long ago, coffee was ordered by doctors as medicine for various conditions even to treat children. Let’s not forget that Teddy Roosevelt drank coffee as a child under his doctor’s recommendations.  Apparently the caffeine was utilized as a supplement for a shot of adrenaline which help his asthma and heart development. He also used to drink it in order to complete his strenuous workouts, which were also a doctor's recommendation. Who could've known that the man known for his large mental and physical stamina was once a frail child on a strict workout and coffee regime. 

While over-caffeinating is a matter of concern among adults and children, coffee has benefits beyond that, and that may be enough reason to give coffee to your children. 

Child-Proof Latte,

Ingredients: 

1 cup of milk (any kind will do)

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

Espresso, instant coffee, or a percolator brew to taste. 

Instructions: 

You can either foam, steam, or simply boil the milk. If you are boiling, you could serve it simply like that or prepare everything in a blender. Then add the two tablespoons of sugar. You can do more or less, but two tablespoons is usually a good amount to balance as it makes the drink sweet, but it doesn’t overpower the taste of the coffee.  At last, add the coffee. It is important that this is a concentrated form of coffee such as espresso, instant or a percolator brew. Brews higher in water will drastically change the drink and lower its quality. 

In Encanto, the children are shown drinking black coffee, but usually children will drink it black after they are already accustomed to the flavor of coffee. This recipe is perfect to achieve that! I would recommend you avoid flavored syrups as they are a distraction from the pure taste of coffee and part of the point in trying this recipe is introducing children to good coffee. Nonetheless, if you’d like to add flavors for the fun of it, go for it!

If you are unsure about children consuming caffeine, you can always make this recipe with decaf coffee. Notice that there is no required amount of coffee in the recipe as you can make it with very little coffee. Make it seem more like coffee flavored sweet hot milk, instead of our well known cup of coffee.