Wednesday 26 February 2014

Fancy a buttery brew? My first sample of bullet proof coffee



This bizarre cocktail of coffee, butter and concentrated coconut oil was invented by the self titled 'bullet proof executive' Dave Asprey, who makes some very bold claims indeed. 

He states on his website "It’s the creamiest, most delicious, highest octane cup of coffee you’ve ever experienced. People who use this precise recipe experience a kind of mental clarity and focus that is hard to express in words. You owe it to yourself to try it made perfectly at least once before showing yourself that changing the ingredients doesn’t work very well. This exact recipe works for Billboard musicians. Professional poker players. MMA fighters. CEOs. Entrepreneurs. World champion athletes. And hundreds of thousands of people like me who just want to be in control of their energy and focus all day. I live this. For more than 7 years, I have started the day with a cup of Bulletproof coffee, using the extra energy to hack my body and build this blog while blowing the doors off my career in Silicon Valley”.

Apparently it originated from a remote region of Tibet, where our inventor (whilst wandering around in freezing temperatures) happened upon a cup of yak butter tea which made him feel so rejuvenated he came up with this bonkers mixture. 

As a coffee lover I couldn’t deny I was curious. 

I am relieved I didn’t read his website in any further detail prior to making this, as the rest of his back story is thoroughly off putting and smacks of ‘preying on the vulnerable’. I cannot even bring myself to go into more detail on here. It reminded me of all those irritating celebrities who congratulate themselves on losing a bit of weight and think they can preach to the rest of us how to do it. He virtually says that if you follow his various methods of diet, ethos and exercise then your body will actually repel bullets and any other items hurled at you at high velocity. View THIS at your peril. 

I have no interest in any purported slimming benefits here and I cannot help but feel that consuming spoonfuls of oil and butter on a daily basis in the name of weight loss is beyond mental, but what attracted me were the claims about energy levels. Browsing the various forums where those who had sampled ‘bullet proof’ coffee were people who had now made it part of their day because of improved  energy levels and mental agility.

Of course I was unsure about drinking coffee, butter and oil but after a night from hell with 2 poorly children requiring my attentions on an hourly basis last weekend, I would have eaten solidified lard had it promised an energy injection similar to the above, and I most definitely needed building up for my professional poker match.
Having found numerous recipes online, I didn’t follow Mr Asprey’s ingredients exactly to the the letter as they required purchases of 'bullet proof upgraded’ items such as the alarmingly labelled ‘brain octane’. THIS RECIPE seemed a little simpler for a dubious first timer with a sleep deprived brain matching the consistency of mashed potato.

I brewed up the usual morning 6 cup Bialetti and poured the equivalent of 1 espresso cup of my usual morning elixir into a bowl and added the butter and oil.

I then blended it using my stick blender. I was slightly concerned it wouldn’t be powerful enough, as everything I read reinforced the importance of a strong blender, otherwise the oil and butter would separate. However, within seconds I had beautiful looking pool of liquid coated in golden foam. I cannot deny it smelt incredible. 



I’m going to sound very simplistic and lacking in creativity when I describe the taste like buttery coffee but that’s exactly how it tasted. I prefer a short shot of espresso to a mug of cafetiere coffee which is probably why I found it relatively easy to drink as it’s quite a small amount. It’s by no means normal though. You can feel the butter throughout to the point it almost films your teeth. I wasn’t sure about it at all. 


However, I cannot deny that drinking it, afterwards I felt like I’d had a very satisfying breakfast and definitely felt slightly sharper through my sleep deprived haze. Usually at times of exhaustion anything sugary is my sustenance, it’s quick and you don’t have to think about it to get a boost, yet drinking this coffee I didn’t feel this urge. There was something about it that also felt very warming and perhaps the sort of thing that, had you access to all the paraphernalia to make it, you would have on an arctic expedition or before running a marathon. 

I said this to my partner and insisted that he try it however, he felt very different indeed. He didn’t feel energised in the slightest nor did he feel like he’d had a filling breakfast. He generously proffered the suggestion that I might be wasting my time but using slightly fruitier language. 

Nevertheless I sampled it again this week before one of the more vigourous yoga classes I attend at my local studio, to see if would assist my flexibility. I have to say that on this occasion I was disappointed. I didn’t get that feeling of satisfaction at all. After my class I came home and devoured a fridge full of yoghurt followed by several biscuit chasers.

Regarding mental agility I have to confess this coffee did not assist me in any way here. I still managed to forget my shopping list in the supermarket, I ran out of my yoga class early, convinced I had to get home for the window cleaner (which I didn’t) and then nearly got my car key jammed in my front door, having mistaken it for my front door key. This was all just in an afternoon. 

So will I be making this bullet proof coffee part of my morning routine? Well yes, definitely. Only if I happen to be running a marathon that day though. 

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