How to Make Bulletproof Coffee - Best Recipes and Tips | Coffee or Bust (2024)

Chances are you’ve heard of it, just under another name: butter coffee. There was a whole thing about it around a year ago and then it kind of petered off, at least social media wise. Bulletproof Coffee is a thing that’s still alive and kicking, though.

While it is a delicious caffeinated beverage, it’s heavily marketed as a tool to use for dieting.

It’s a simple 3-part recipe: coffee, unsalted butter, and MCT (which Asprey calls “Brain Octane Oil). The most dubious ingredient is, obviously, the MCT. Before we delve deeper into the elements here, let’s talk a little bit about why these cups of saturated fat became popular.

We’re all always trying to find a way that’s easy to be healthy, or at least healthier. I mean, who can blame us? I sure as sh*t don’t. If there’s a no-nonsense simple way to drop ten pounds that won’t negatively impact my overall well-being, I’m down for giving it a shot.

Bulletproof Coffee (BPC) is supposed to be one of those. The theory is this: you combine these three ingredients using a blender and sip this creamy concoction every morning, sans solid food. No breakfast. Nada.

Next, it’s supposed to keep you full for a solid 4 hours, meaning you’re not eating until lunch. No mid-morning snacks, no running to the office kitchen when that email about donuts gets sent out, none of that.

You’re supposed to feel aware and full the entire time. Remember, this is a type of intermittent fasting, which can be 12 hours or more, depending on when you last nommed on some food the night before.

Asprey came across this concept in Nepal, where he tried yak-butter tea and then moseyed on back to Silicon Valley and adapted it to our caffeine obsession here in the states: coffee. He has a website where people bicker back and forth about the validity of it and whether adding a raw egg or protein is better for nipping cravings in the bud. Some of it’s funny, but mostly it’s just expensive.

I am not a doctor. I am not a health professional. But guess what? Neither is Dave Asprey! What I am, however, is a writer with two Master degrees and access to the internet. What that comes down to is this: I’m really good at researching and compiling information.

Asprey claims that Bulletproof coffee results in a sharper brain, increased fat loss, and a happier outlook on life. I mean, I believe in magic beans as much as the next coffee aficionado, but that seems like a lot to ask for from a mug containing 400 calories of liquid in the morning. How does this sorcery work?

Do I even need to go over this part? Coffee is delicious and comes with a number of health benefits; we’re pretty much all converted believers here. For those of you that may still be sitting on the fence, though, it’s pretty well-documented that scientists are discovering the multiple benefits of coffee. Coffee can reduce the risk of stroke, provide antioxidants to help reduce the risk of cancer, and quite a bit more!

Now, Asprey claims that all of this coffee we drink is covered in mold. I rolled my eyes, and I hope that you did, too. He touts that his “mold-free coffee process” (which is super-duper top secret) eliminates this pervasive mold problem.

Coffee pickers and roasters have long since known about this coffee/mold thing for, I dunno, hundreds of years, and it’s why most roasters use a wetting process, which rids the beans of mold. Just saying.

Alright. I’m ready. I’ve been prepping to write this section since I began the article and we’re here now, so let’s do this. MCT, or Medium-Chain Triglycerides, are composed of a glycerol and 3 fatty acids, and they’re predominantly in palm and coconut oils.

Why do they matter? Well, a lot of what we consume ends up containing long-chain triglycerides, which take longer to convert from fat to energy. You’ve probably caught the drift here, but, to say it plainly, medium-chain versions take a shorter amount of time to go from fatty acids to usable energy.

You’ll see recipes for BPC that swap out MCT for coconut oil. As per precedent set, Asprey claims that his Brain Octane Oil is better than all of the other MCTs out there.

He explains that his MCT is the most pure, has the best quality, and is tasteless, unlike all of the other options out there. It apparently suppresses hunger, makes you shed weight, provides quick energy, and fuels workouts. Next thing you know, it’ll be driving my car to the gym and running on the elliptical for me!

Just because I think Asprey’s a phony doesn’t mean he didn’t stumble onto something that may work for you on your adventure to attaining a healthy life that fits into your schedule. Maybe I’m also just a sucker for the magical effects of coffea (yes, that’s the real scientific name for coffee) (you really copped out on that one, science nerds).

After all, remember, Asprey took this from some dude in Nepal. I should more rightly say, that dude in Nepal got something right.

Here’s what I’ve compiled.

There are a number of studies that say fasting can help your heart, protect your brain, and reduce the risk for diabetes. It’s pretty easy information to find. Back in the stone ages, our bodies were really great at fasting for long periods of time, largely because they had to. There are arguments that it’s a throwback to those times.

It’s possible that fasting can also fight cancer and lower the risk of heart disease. One of the largest perks is that fasting hasn’t been linked to any actual problems — which is more than can be said about most diet pills or other methods of losing weight [read: trend or fad diets].

Fasting isn’t for everyone. Check with your doctor. Just listen to all of that super fast talk on the background of an idyllic scene in an advertisem*nt for a some medication or other.

I mean, the title kind of states it, right? I also already gave you the “higher in essential nutrients” bit and the nifty factoid about Vitamin K…. hm. That pretty much covers it.

Unsalted Butter from Grass-Fed Cows: the pure fat you don’t have to feel totally bad about eating!

I gave you the low-down on MCT earlier, so I’m just going to tell you which ones you should invest in. They should be high in C8s, which will mean more to you when you start looking at the ingredients.

If you just kind of cursed me out because I’ve spent a lot of this post purely dumping on BPC… you are well within your rights. Listen, I’m more mad about Asprey and his bogus marketing/money-making scheme. BPC is a cool idea and it’s delicious. I want you to try it, just from anywhere but that snake oil site.

Before we go there, though, I have one huge warning for you: start slow on the MCTs. Do not exceed the recommended dosage — even cut it more than recommended to begin with. It can cause serious diarrhea. I’m not joking, I may be smiling, but I’m not kidding. This isn’t the “I just lost ten pounds after that sh*t!” kind of funny dump, this is the not-fun-kind where you may end up with skid marks on your undies in the middle of a work meeting.

These are real comments that I’ve screenshot from reviews. Keep in mind, I literally had to take a ten minute break in writing this because I was laughing so hard that I started crying and couldn’t see.

It’s moments like this that I realize that I am not an adult.

Alright, you’ve been warned.