Hi all,
Well it’s all the rage with coffee aficionados and health fanatics, and if you do it properly there’s no going back to that boring flat white!
Bulletproof coffee is basically black coffee blended with unsalted butter and MCT oil (produced by refining coconut oil), with the health benefits of sustained energy without the coffee crash as well as increased mental alertness and energy well beyond what a standard cup of coffee would provide. It is also generally well tolerated by those who normally feel queasy after a milk heavy grande latte. However like all culinary experiences the quality of the ingredients as well as the techniques of production are everything. You should use organic coffee (did you know that coffee plantations are one of the most heavily pesticide sprayed crops?) as well as organic butter from grass fed cows which gives a creamier consistency once blended. And yes, you must blend the coffee and not just stir it with a spoon so that you properly emulsify the fats – unless of course you enjoy a thick film of pure butter sitting on top of your black coffee.
I use the ‘Mini Porlex’ ceramic burr grinder to grind my beans fresh – this is the best way to preserve the natural antioxidants found in vast quantities in coffee beans, and ceramic grinders do not produce the antioxidant destroying heat an electrical blade grinder would. The quality of the bean is also very important – please throw out the instant freeze dried floor scrapings you may have stored in your cupboard and invest in some quality java. I love the ‘BUN’ brand of coffee and choose the locally produced variety grown in the lush sub-tropics of Byron Bay.
I also use an ‘Aeropress’ coffee plunger, which is basically an extremely high tech french coffee press. The difference is that the quality seal on the Aeropress produces a huge amount of pressure for extracting the liquid coffee goodness from the beans. Have you noticed how expensive a high quality coffee machine can be, and that the cost usually correlates with the bar pressure capability the machine can produce? The Aeropress basically produces this same extreme pressure, and you don’t have to take out a second mortgage to afford one!
So here is the process (watch the video above for a visual blow-by-blow):
- Grind your beans (or use pre-ground beans that are as fresh as possible)
- Place one tablespoon of organic unsalted butter into the bottom of your mug (or blender jug)
- Place between 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon of MCT oil into the mug / blender (I recommend starting with the teaspoon and building up to the tablespoon over a week or so to avoid what Dave Asprey, Mr Bulletproof himself, refers to as ‘Disaster Pants’)
- Pour your extracted coffee onto the butter and MCT oil
- Blend away!
- Enjoy the creamy and health promoting goodness
That’s it. Please try it out for yourself and leave a comment below so that we can all share the love of bulletproof coffee (and hopefully not stories of ‘Disaster Pants’).
In wellness,
James
