Urine Drinker's Cocktail Guide: What Does Pee Taste Like?
What does pee taste like? People who've tried it describe it as salty and bitter, which is nothing like a cocktail. Yet people have drunk it for centuries, from an Indian prime minister to film stars and a world champion boxer.
Drinking your own urine even has a technical name: urophagia, often sold as "urine therapy". So we've rounded up the strangest stories, the famous urine drinkers, what the science says, and five tongue-in-cheek urine cocktails. No, we're not taking the pee. Well, only a little.
Safety: Please don't drink urine, whether it's your own or someone else's. It isn't safe or recommended. Your kidneys put waste products into your urine to get them out of your body, as the NHS explains. Drinking it puts that waste back in. There's no evidence it does you any good. The British Dietetic Association told the BBC there is "no evidence or advice which would encourage anybody to drink their own urine." Enjoy the cocktails on the page, not in a glass.
How common is urine drinking?
Drinking urine isn't as rare as you might think. Plumbworld ran a "Bathroom Habits" survey that The Spirits Business reported in February 2016. It went to 28,000 past customers and 4,287 of them answered. Of those, 3.8% said they drank their own urine regularly.
Respondents cited its supposed health benefits. Bear in mind that's 3.8% of the customers who replied, not 3.8% of everyone in the UK.
Urine as an ingredient: cooking with urine
Before we get to drinking it, here are two ways people have eaten or drunk things made with urine.
Virgin boy eggs
NBC News reported in 2012 that, every spring, street stalls in Dongyang, in eastern China, sold "virgin boy eggs". The eggs are soaked and boiled for most of a day in urine collected from young boys, often from local schools.
Local officials have even listed them as part of the area's cultural heritage. Cracking.
Solar-powered urine beer
Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium built a solar-powered machine that turns urine into drinking water. They set it up at a music festival in Ghent and collected 1,000 litres of water from festival-goers' pee.
The machine uses solar power to run a boiler that heats the urine. The membrane process recovers water and nutrients that can be used for fertiliser, including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
The plan was to use the water to brew beer. As researcher Sebastiaan Derese put it to Reuters, "We call it from sewer to brewer."
Urine drinking throughout history
Drinking your own urine isn't a modern health fad. Ancient Chinese medicine books list urine as an ingredient to stop bleeding and treat bruises. In India, urine therapy (sometimes called shivambu) still has followers today.
Its fans have claimed it treats everything from allergies to cancer. There's no scientific evidence that it treats any of them.
In ancient Rome, the poet Catullus used urine to insult a rival. He mocked a man called Egnatius for grinning all the time. Egnatius came from Celtiberia (in what's now Spain), where, Catullus joked, people scrubbed their teeth and gums with their own urine. So the whiter his smile, the more pee he must have drunk.
In 2014, members of the China Urine Therapy Association claimed that around 100,000 people practised urine therapy in mainland China. In 2014, one member, 79-year-old Bao Yafu, said he drank three cups of his own urine a day. He claimed he hadn't caught a cold in 22 years.
What about space? Astronauts on the International Space Station drink water recycled from their urine, sweat and breath.
But as NASA points out, "The crew is not drinking urine." NASA says the water is cleaner than what we drink here on Earth. In 2015, Layne Carter, who managed the station's water system at NASA, said: "It tastes like bottled water."
Back in the UK, couple Bex Long and John Dixon went on ITV's This Morning to talk about drinking their own urine. John said it had calmed his emotions, and the couple said it made their teeth whiter and their eyes brighter.
They're not the only ones. In fact, they've got some fairly famous company.
Famous urine drinkers
From athletes to film stars, here's a quick round-up of famous people who have drunk their own urine, or at least used it.
| Who | Who they are | Drank it? |
|---|---|---|
| Juan Manuel Marquez | Mexican boxer | Yes, in training |
| Bear Grylls | Survival TV presenter | Yes, on television |
| Sarah Miles | British actor | Said she drank a cup a day |
| Morarji Desai | Indian prime minister | Yes, for his health |
| Madonna | Pop star | Claimed to drink it in 2019 |
| JD Salinger | Author | Yes, says his daughter |
| Lyoto Machida | UFC fighter | Said in 2010 he drank it every morning |
| Moisés Alou | Baseball player | Reported use: on his hands |
Juan Manuel Marquez
Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez said in 2009 that he drank his own urine while training for his fights. He told reporters it replaced vitamins and nutrients his body lost, and that he'd done it for six or seven fights.
Bear Grylls
In a 2012 NPR interview, Bear Grylls discussed drinking his own pee on Man vs. Wild. In one memorable scene, he stores his urine in a snakeskin and then drinks it. In the interview, he said, "I'm all for cocktails, but snake innards and pee..."
Sarah Miles
British actor Sarah Miles is best known for films such as Blowup and Ryan's Daughter. In an undated Sussex Life interview, she said she drank a small cup of her own urine every day. She said it started at a Californian clinic, where it was given as an injection, and that it cured her allergies.
Morarji Desai
India's fourth prime minister was a long-time fan of urine therapy. He drank his own urine and talked about it in a 1978 interview with American TV journalist Dan Rather. He also said it was the perfect treatment for people who can't afford medical care.
Madonna
On the Late Show with David Letterman in March 1994, she asked the host if he'd ever peed in the shower. She claimed it was an antiseptic that fought athlete's foot. Then, in 2019, Madonna posted an Instagram video in which she appears to drink her own urine after an ice bath. She claimed drinking her own pee was good for her health.
JD Salinger
The reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye kept his private life private. But his daughter Margaret wrote in her 2000 memoir, Dream Catcher, that he drank his own urine.
Lyoto Machida
Japanese-Brazilian fighter and former UFC champion Lyoto Machida said in 2010 that he and his father both drink their own urine every morning. His father said it "helps clean out your system".
Moisés Alou
Moisés Alou was an American baseball player and six-time All-Star. He batted without gloves and was reported to urinate on his hands to toughen them up.
Is drinking urine safe?
Quick answer: No. Drinking urine isn't safe or recommended, and there's no scientific evidence that it has any health benefits. Urine is waste your body is trying to get rid of. Stick to water from the tap.
Many of the famous faces above swear by it, but doctors don't.
Urine is your body's way of getting rid of waste. In a healthy person it's about 95% water. Dr Andrew Thornber told the BBC that the other 5% is waste the body is trying to get rid of, such as potassium and nitrogen. Too much of that can cause problems.
There's a reason your body is designed to send it down the toilet. Dr Thornber also warned that drinking urine means it comes back out much more concentrated, which could lead to gut problems. Your kidneys then have to work harder to filter it all out again.
Urine isn't sterile either. A 2014 study found living bacteria in the urine of most of the women it tested, straight from the bladder. And once urine leaves the body, it can pick up more bacteria that can make you unwell, Dr Zubair Ahmed told the BBC.
What about survival situations?
Even in an emergency, the advice is don't. The US Army's survival manual says plainly: "Do not drink urine." It's salty, so it can leave you more dehydrated, not less.
People have still done it. In 2003, climber Aron Ralston drank his urine after running out of water. He was trapped for five days, with his arm pinned by a boulder in a Utah canyon. His story became the film 127 Hours.
A reader writes in about the "midstream" rule
One reader got in touch with a comment. Urine therapy fans, they said, drink only a small amount, about a cup, and only the middle of the stream. The idea is that the first and last parts carry more impurities.
The reader also said a small amount works "in a similar way to biofeedback (maybe even like homeopathy)". That's their view. Nothing in the sources above shows that a small amount helps.
Collecting midstream is real: doctors ask for midstream samples to reduce contamination by bacteria from your skin. But it doesn't make urine safe to drink. Your kidneys still put the same waste into it.
So is a small amount fine? The advice stays the same. There's no evidence it does you good, and you're still putting the waste back in.
What if you've already swallowed some?
If you feel unwell afterwards, or are worried, get medical advice. In England, NHS 111 online can tell people aged 5 and over what to do next if they need medical help right now. Call 111 for a child under 5. For a life-threatening emergency, call 999.
What does urine taste like?
If you've made it this far, you probably still have a burning question: what does urine taste like?
Whether you call it urine, pee or piss, the taste is much the same. Accounts describe it as tasting like salty, bitter water. That's because it's mostly water with salts and waste products dissolved in it. When you're short of water, your pee gets darker and stronger-smelling, as the NHS notes, because it's more concentrated. That explains changes in colour and smell. It doesn't establish how the taste changes.
One woman who tried urine therapy was quoted by the BBC saying she noticed straight away that she'd taken in "too much sodium". Not exactly a glowing review from piss drinkers.
What does healthy urine taste like?
Don't taste urine to check your health.
But here's a historical oddity: before modern tests, sweet-tasting urine was a classic sign of diabetes. In 1674, English doctor Thomas Willis described the sweet taste of urine in diabetes. That's why its full name is diabetes mellitus: "mellitus" means honey-sweet. If you're worried about diabetes, see your GP.
Willis was far from the first doctor to taste urine, according to the Science History Institute. In a paper published in 1776, Matthew Dobson described experiments that went a step further. He evaporated a patient's urine and found a white, granulated powder that smelled and tasted like brown sugar, which showed the urine contained sugar. Urine test kits existed before insulin treatment. The Science Museum holds one made around 1900. Today, use medical tests, not taste, to check your health.
What colour should pee be?
Aim for a clear, pale yellow, says the NHS. It gives 6 to 8 cups or glasses of fluid a day as a guide. You may need more in hot weather, during prolonged exercise or when unwell. Dark yellow, strong-smelling pee can be a sign of dehydration. The NHS suggests water or diluted sugar-free squash to help you stay hydrated.
If your pee is dark yellow or you're peeing less than usual, ask for an urgent GP appointment or call NHS 111. The NHS says these can be signs of serious dehydration. Cloudy pee can also be a symptom of a urine infection, according to the NHS.
How to make pee taste better
Masking the flavour, or making it taste sweet, can't make pee or piss safe to drink, so the honest answer is: don't drink it. Better taste doesn't mean better for you. The joke cocktails below play on that idea, with alcoholic and alcohol-free versions. Use apple juice if you make one. Keep reading for our top urine-based cocktails.
Examples of urine cocktails
These urine cocktail recipes are a joke, so please read them rather than mix them. If you fancy making one, swap the "fresh urine" for the same amount of apple juice. It's the right colour and a lot less salty.
Urinegasm
The Urinegasm is the list's rich, Baileys-based joke.
The original joke recipe listed:
- 15ml almond extract
- 22ml coffee syrup
- 22ml Baileys Irish Cream
- 18ml fresh urine
- Ice
For the apple-juice version, replace the urine with 18ml apple juice. Shake the ingredients with ice, then strain into a glass with ice. Add cream if you like.
Golden Shower
The Golden Shower is the list's fruit-and-liqueur joke cocktail.
What does it contain?
- 50ml orange juice
- 30ml apple juice
- 50ml fresh urine
- 15ml Galliano
- Ice
For the apple-juice version, replace the urine with another 50ml apple juice. Stir the ingredients with ice and serve.
Yellow Russian
The Dude, the hero of the film The Big Lebowski, drinks White Russians almost non-stop. But what if his drink of choice had been a Yellow Russian instead? It would have been a very different film, for one thing.
The Yellow Russian gives the White Russian an unfortunate name and a joke ingredient. This list has been quite boozy so far, so we've made the Yellow Russian non-alcoholic. Here are the ingredients:
- 37ml fresh urine
- 25ml coffee syrup
- 15ml cream
- 15ml milk
- Chocolate powder
- Coffee bean
- Ice
For the apple-juice version, replace the urine with 37ml apple juice. Shake the juice, cream and milk with ice for 10 to 15 seconds. Strain over ice, then add the coffee syrup. Sprinkle on the chocolate powder and garnish with the coffee bean.
Pee and Tonic
The Pee and Tonic, or P&T, is the list's gin-free joke. The original amounts were:
- 100ml tonic water
- 20ml fresh urine
For the apple-juice version, replace the urine with 20ml apple juice. Pour the juice and tonic into a glass and serve with ice.
Buck's Piss
Buck's Piss gives the celebration cocktail an unfortunate twist. This joke piss drink is the party piece of the list. Save the drinking for the version made with apple juice.
Here are the ingredients:
- 100ml champagne
- 30ml orange juice
- 20ml fresh urine
For the apple-juice version, replace the urine with 20ml apple juice. Pour the apple and orange juices into a champagne flute. Float the champagne on top using a bar spoon, then stir lightly.
Find out more
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If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
- Pissoirs: the history of public urinals in Paris
- Alternative words for toilet and where they come from
- The history of toilet paper
- Why do we need to wash at all?
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