Adding butter to your morning coffee is nothing new. The trend started way back in 2009 but surprisingly hasn’t slowed down one bit. Does butter make your coffee better? Can this butter coffee replace your morning breakfast? Before answering all that, let’s take on a simpler question.
Why do people put butter in their coffee? Adding butter and MCT oil to your coffee provides long-lasting energy and keeps you full for an extended time. A large amount of fat in butter coffee slows digestion and reduces appetite making it a good choice for people looking to lose weight. It is also a good choice for those practicing a high-fat and low-carb diet.
Health Benefits Of Butter In Coffee
With butter coffee, you are getting a horde of health benefits. We discuss some of them below.
Keeps You Full
One of the biggest benefits of adding butter to your coffee is that it suppresses hunger.
Butter coffee comes with a tablespoon each of butter and MCT oil. This means your cup of joe will have a large amount of fat.
The fat in your coffee is known to slow your digestion process and keeps you full for a longer period.
Thanks to the feeling of fullness, you will be eating a lot less than usual and this will reduce your caloric intake thereby propelling your weight loss.
Butter coffee is also a nice addition to your menu if you are practicing a keto or any other high-fat and low-carb diet.
Improved Metabolism
Thanks to the addition of coconut oil, you will notice your metabolism getting better every day.
Why coconut oil? Coconut oil is rich in medium-chain triglycerides which are a group of fatty acid chains.
These medium-chain triglycerides are consumed by the body at a faster rate which means the energy you get from this coffee is used up by the body rather than being accumulated as fat.
Reduces Caffeine Sensitivity
Caffeine jitters are real. If you have ever had one, you know it is not something you want to go through early in the morning.
Adding butter to your coffee helps in reducing these caffeine jitters. The fat in this drink forms a lining on your stomach and prevents any acidic activity that can lead to the jitters.
If drinking coffee on an empty stomach is a problem for you because of the acidic effects, you can try butter coffee and see how it works out for you.
More Energy and Mental Clarity
With butter coffee, you get a steady supply of energy without any crashes.
With caffeine, you get energy crashes that will make you tired and confused. But with butter coffee, energy is gained consistently over time so you feel energized for a much longer period.
The MCT oil (coconut oil) is the chief architect of this behavior.
Butter coffee is also said to improve your mental clarity and cognitive function. If you feel like you’re having a sluggish day, then go for a cup of butter coffee. You will feel sharper with more mental clarity.
Better Alternative to Sugar & Whipped Cream
Adding butter and MCT oil to your coffee is a much better alternative to sugar and whipped cream.
You can get a creamy texture on your coffee with butter without adding any whipped cream. With whipped cream, you get a nice texture and a heavy drink that makes you full with no health benefits.
With sugar, the results are even worse. You will gain weight over time with a regular intake of sugar. If you’re not sure of the ill effects of refined sugar, you can find them all over the internet. Here’s a helpful link.
With butter coffee, you get a heavy coffee with a creamy texture. The good news is that you avoid all the problems associated with sugar and whipping cream and still have a delectable cup of coffee at your disposal.
Is Butter in Coffee Keto?
If you’re following a keto diet, there is a good chance that you might have been suggested the ever famous butter coffee. So naturally, the question arises.
Is butter coffee keto? Adding butter to your coffee is keto. With the right amount of butter and MCT oil in your coffee, your keto diet will be spot on. A keto diet is one where you eat a high-fat diet to invoke ketosis. This metabolic phase helps to burn more stored fat thereby helping in weight loss.
Mistakes In Making Butter Coffee
The butter coffee recipe is one of the easiest ones to follow and yet you see people complaining about how they messed up the preparation.
Here are some common beginner mistakes when it comes to butter coffee.
Not Using The Right Amount Of Butter or Oil
To make a butter coffee, you’re going to start with a tablespoon of unsalted butter and a tablespoon of MCT oil. You can increase these amounts if you’re not happy with the taste.
A common mistake beginners do is to add too much butter and oil to their coffee. This will not only make the taste much worse but will also add an ungodly amount of fat to your drink. That’s not great for your health.
It is better to start with a small amount at first and slowly increase it in subsequent cups to figure out what is the right level of butter and oil for you.
Do not go for more than 2 tablespoons of each as you might start doing more damage than good.
Using The Wrong Butter
For making butter coffee, you need grass-fed unsalted butter. Since not all have access to grass-fed butter, you can use regular unsalted butter to make your butter coffee.
Just make sure that you’re not cheating when it comes to the quality of the butter used.
Using poor quality unsalted butter will not only impact the taste of your coffee but will also make you spend a long time in your toilet. Or worse, you could be adding unhealthy fats to your body without even knowing.
Not Using A Blender
The emulsification of fats in your black coffee is the most important step of making butter coffee.
To achieve this emulsification, you have to use a blender to blend coffee, MCT oil, and unsalted butter. You have a butter coffee only when you have blended them together using a blender.
If you are going to make a butter coffee using your protein shaker, then prepare to be disappointed. You will end up with a lot of fat floating on the surface and it will not look or taste good.
Does Butter in Coffee Taste Good?
All right. Bulletproof is great for people on a keto or paleo diet. It comes with a lot of health benefits, but does its taste match up with that of regular, freshly brewed coffee? If you’re love drinking your cup of joe, this question should have come to your mind by now.
Does butter in coffee taste good? Adding butter and MCT oil to your coffee provides a rich, nutty texture. It almost feels like a latte, thanks to the heaviness brought by unsalted butter and oil. It does give you a greasy aftertaste which isn’t ideal. Some people love it after the first sip, but for some, it is an acquired taste that takes its time.
If you don’t like the taste of it but still want to reap the benefits, you can always add a flavoring agent like honey or vanilla syrup to improve its taste. But once you drink a couple of butter coffees, you will develop a liking for it.
Who Started Putting Butter in Coffee?
Dave Asprey started the trend of using butter in coffee with his bulletproof coffee. Dave was inspired by the yak butter tea he drank in Tibet and from that, came the idea of Bulletproof coffee. After quitting coffee, he found this to be his new favorite drink.
Though Dave is the pioneer of modern butter coffee, we do have evidence that suggests that butter coffee is not a 21st-century discovery.
People in Ethiopia have been making creamy, butter coffee ever since the 9th century. This traditional practice is still alive in the Kaffa and Sidamo regions of Ethiopia.
Ethiopians also add clarified butter to their coffee which is considered an improvement by some coffee lovers.
Why Butter Coffee is Bad?
While there are many proponents of butter coffee, you have to make sure if it is a good choice for your health.
Is butter coffee good for health? Butter coffee comes with a ton of saturated fats, thanks to those 2 tablespoons (or just one) of butter and a tablespoon of MCT oil. This is a fat-rich drink that can easily increase your cholesterol levels. If you have cholesterol problems, then it would be wise to stay away from butter coffee or bulletproof coffee.
Who is butter coffee good for? Butter coffee is perfect for those who are looking to follow a low-carb diet. If you’re on a paleo diet, then butter coffee is perfect for you. Just replace your breakfast with butter coffee, and you should get enough energy to last till your next meal.
Do make sure that butter coffee replaces your morning breakfast. You do not want to consume butter coffee along with your breakfast as it can take your caloric intake to very high levels. This can result in a weight increase in just a few days and might also improve your cholesterol levels.
Does Adding Butter To Coffee Burn Fat?
One of the main reasons why people like the idea of butter coffee is that it can assist in weight loss. Though Bulletproof coffee is marketed with such a high promise, does it really succeed in doing so?
Does adding butter to coffee burn fat? Adding a tablespoon of butter to your coffee along with a tablespoon of MCT oil (like coconut oil) is believed to help in weight loss. The resulting coffee is rich in fat and can keep you full for long hours. This fullness helps in curbing your appetite and cutting your caloric intake thereby helping in weight loss over some time.
However, you need to make sure that you are adding both butter and MCT oil in your oil to get the desired effect. If you’re going to try butter coffee with just butter, then you might not get the entire banquet of benefits.
Can I Put Regular Butter in My Coffee?
You can use regular unsalted butter for your butter coffee. Most people want to use grass-fed unsalted butter as that’s the one used in the recipe of Bulletproof coffee. But you will make a fine cup of butter coffee with regular unsalted butter. You can also use ghee which is a type of clarified butter.
If you’re interested in learning about using ghee in coffee, you can find a detailed post on that topic below.
Related Read: Ghee In Coffee
Is It Okay To Have Butter Coffee Every Day?
If you’re on a low-carb or paleo diet, then you might find butter coffee very attractive. It provides you with a ton of energy and makes you full for the time being. But there is one lingering question.
Is it okay to drink butter coffee every day? It is not advisable to drink butter coffee every day especially if you have elevated cholesterol levels. Butter coffee comes with a lot of saturated fats and very few other nutrients. Regular intake of such a high-fat coffee can raise your cholesterol levels, increase the risk of heart problems and reduce your nutritional input by one-third.
If you are a perfectly healthy individual, then there shouldn’t be a problem with drinking butter coffee every day.
Even then, keep in mind that replacing your morning breakfast with butter coffee also robs you of your morning nutrient intake. So you will have to supplement the missed nutrients in your other meals.
