OFF-TOPIC: Bulletproof Coffee = Superfood for the Brain?

Earlier, I wrote a series of articles about the keto diet. I don’t want to become a foodie site, but I want to take a moment to talk about “bulletproof coffee”.  Firstly, you’ll find no affiliate linking on my website, which is to say my opinions comes with no strings or hidden agendas. “Bulletproof” is a brand that’s become associated with the product so much so that it’s synonymous with the product name (like Kleenex). The concept is basically a supercharged energy drink to start you day. Does that sound like something you could use?

When you’re on the keto diet, your body burns fat for its energy source as opposed to carbohydrates. Now that I’m on the keto diet, I eat a lot of weird foods and I am still experimenting. One of the crazier concoctions is “bulletproof coffee”. I’ve known about this for years but it took a lot of courage to finally brew up some myself.

What is Bulletproof Coffee?

Whether you buy the brand name stuff or not, the ingredients of bulletproof coffee boil down to 3 simple ingredients:

Coffee + butter + MCT oils

If that sounds gross to you, I don’t blame you. I drink it and it still sounds gross to me every time I make a cup. And regardless of all the claims of deliciousness, I never believed them, so I won’t try to convince you.  I’ll just say this, as a freelancer who wants to start my day productive and full of energy before life turns my well-planned day to chaos, bulletproof coffee does the job!

On the keto diet, your body burns fat for energy, so the high fat (from butter and MCT oils) in bulletproof coffee is precisely why this concoction is so effective. The combination of caffeine, MCT and butter gives you energy, mental clarity and keeps you full throughout the morning!

(NOTE: I have no idea whether this is useful for someone who is not on the keto diet. If you’re eating a standard American diet that is not restrictive of carbohydrates, it’s likely your body is using carbs as its main energy source and it will not look to the MCT for that mental clarity you’d otherwise get.  But I’m no doctor, so hopefully someone out there can verify this.)

How to Make Bulletproof Coffee

There are three components, but there are still a lot of ways this recipe can go sideways. I’m a strong believer in sourcing high-quality ingredients — at least the best I can afford. If this is going to be a daily part of your day, it’s one place that’s worth the extra investment.

Coffee – Get the Good Stuff

First the coffee — start with the beans. Arabica beans are the best grade of coffee you can get. It really does make a difference (whether you can perceive it or not) to buy whole bean coffee and ground it freshly right before you brew your coffee. There are organic coffee beans you can get now too. Experiment and try different beans for taste, but make sure you’re sticking to whole bean arabica coffee.

Grinding beans. Unless you’re making espresso, you can get a spice grinder (reserve it for only coffee since you don’t want your spice and coffee flavors to mingle) and that’ll be sufficient. If you want to brew espresso, you will want to invest in a burr grinder with infinite adjustment so you can control the size of the grind to match the performance of your espresso machine.  The key here is: grind to order. A lot of the flavor for coffee comes from the oils that roasters try very hard to coax out of the bean through the roasting process. Get the most out of your beans. Grind them right before you make your coffee and all the delicious, aromatic coffee oils will be released right in time to drink!

Storing beans is also important. After exposure to the environment, coffee beans eventually go stale. Part of what happens is their oils evaporate and thus they lose their flavor. Whole beans trap a lot of oils inside; whereas, pre-ground beans leave everything exposed. While whole beans will lose some of of their oils (especially darker beans where the roasting process has coerced more of the oils to the surface), they lose it a lot slower than pre-ground beans. Keep your beans in an air-tight container away from the sun, air, heat, etc.

There’s pros and cons to freezing beans until you’re ready to use them. On the one hand, if you’re buying expensive beans sometimes it’s nice to catch a sale and stock up. Freezing coffee can extend the shelf life. However, some people believe that freezing changes the chemistry of the beans, notably the condensation and moisture variable. The coffee bean roasting process is all about carefully drying and roasting the beans. The idea freezing coffee could add unwanted moisture is blasphemous to some coffee enthusiasts.

Finally, the brewing. Pick from a variety of methods to brew your coffee. If you aren’t familiar with any of these, don’t use pods or instant coffee.  At a very minimum, get a basic spice grinder and pick an easy brew method from below. You will truly appreciate making your coffee to order!

• 

  Pour Over Coffee — Smooth, Robust Flavor — Worth the Wait!

  Americano – espresso and hot water. This one requires special equipment — a quality grinder and espresso machine.

• French press – submerge coarsely ground coffee in hot water, press and strain out the coffee. For this, you just need a french press.  These can run $20-50.
• Pour over – coarsely ground coffee is put into a special funnel lined with a filter. Hot water is poured over the beans slowly allowing the coffee to drip through the funnel. Again, you’ll need the pour over “funnel” (maybe about $20) and filters.
• Cold brew – coarsely ground beans are brewed overnight at room temperature or in the refrigerator before being strained/filtered and then mixed with water.  When you make a batch of cold brew, you have a concentrate. You can actually add hot water to your cold brew concentrate to get hot/warm coffee for your bulletproof coffee. There’s actually no cost to this. There are contraptions on the market, but you don’t need to buy specialized equipment. You just need a big container.

Don’t add any milk or creamers to your coffee.

Butter – Happy Cows = Good Butter

Grass-fed butter is a must! Not only does it taste better than regular butter (I did my own blind taste test versus a pretty high quality organic butter — hands-down the grass-fed tastes so much better!), it’s healthier for you too. As the name implies, it comes from milk from cows that are fed a healthy diet of grass – no hormones, grains, etc.  Farmers raise grass-fed cows with care and humanity. Healthy cows produce healthy milk, which makes healthy butter that’s high in healthy saturated fat with more vitamins and minerals than your standard butter.

You may be able to find local farmers who can supply this but even grocery stores have them.

Kerrygold Irish Grass-fed Butter is a common brand that you can even find at Safeway. And what’s even better is that it’s available at Costco!  On the keto diet, I use a lot of butter and I try to buy the best quality of the things I eat often.  Grass-fed butter is one of them! I’m sure I raise eyebrows when I go to Costco and load up on 3 packages of Kerrygold butter (each package has 3 bars of butter!) and a ton of heavy whipping cream (another staple of mine).

MCT Oils

MCT stands for medium chain triglycerides. The “chain” is the carbon length of the molecule There are a variety of MCTs — C6, C8, C10 and C12 — the larger the number, the longer the carbon chain. Coconuts are a natural source of MCT’s and coconut oil itself contains about 60-70% MCT (mostly C12). Carbon length effects how easily your body can breakdown the fat and convert it to energy… the longer the chain, the harder it is to break down.

C6 – fast to digest but tastes bad and upsets your stomach

C8 – fast to digest, easy to extract, has anti-microbials to keep your gut happy. Your body can process C8 into energy quickly.

C10 – easy and less expensive to extract/distill (so cheaper for you to buy). Your liver doesn’t need to break down C10’s either so this is another fast energy source.

C12 – requires a pass through your liver to digest it before it can be converted to energy, so this is a slower energy source.

When you’re looking for MCTs, C8 is the one to get. Most of the products you find will be some combination of C8, C10 and C12. When products list a blend, unless they are transparent about amounts, it’s likely you’re getting a lot of the cheaper C12 than you are C8. Because this market is on a little bit a trend right now, producer are charging a lot for it, so careful inspection of labels will help you know what you’re getting.

If you can get 100% C8, that’s the optimal (but could be cost-prohibitive). C8 is the fastest to metabolize so you’ll get that quick source of energy to start your day. Bulletproof coffee is actually the only brand I’ve found that is 100% C8. Everything else I’ve found on the market is a blend (or worse undisclosed). If anyone has found a high-quality C8 MCT, please share!

Now Mix It All Up!

Once you have your coffee brewed (about 8 oz), slice about a tablespoon of grass-fed butter (14g), and pour yourself a serving of MCT (1 tablespoon) all into a small blender or magic-bullet.  Buzz buzz for a few seconds and you’ll see your dark coffee turn into a milky, foamy latte. Pour and drink!

I miss pouring my morning latte, complete with art and all, but this is fine way to start the morning!

What’s great about this blend is you get whatever effect caffeine would normally give you. Plus, instant source of energy from the MCT and sustained energy source from the butter fat. This one drink in the morning will bring you lots of energy, mental clarity from ketones, and keep you full and give you energy throughout your day.

And, yes, it really does taste good.  Not just “drinkable”, but actually good. I still can’t get over drinking butter, but there you have it!

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DISCLAIMER: I’m not a doctor, nutritionist, dietitian or a health professional of any sort. The information and advice I offer on this site are 100% from my own experience, understanding and independent research. I encourage you to discuss any diet/nutrition changes you’re considering with a trained health professional.