Adding coconut oil to your daily cup of joe may make you smarter, give you a longer-lasting energy boost and it may even help you lose weight. Coconut oil coffee is a modern spinoff of a Tibetan breakfast coffee tradition. Many Tibetan natives add grass-fed yak butter to their coffee or tea in the morning for an extra kick of energy and mental clarity. And health-savvy consumers took that a step farther, switching the butter for coconut oil, which is an excellent source of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). Here’s everything you need to know about the history and benefits of this modern morning staple steeped in Tibetan tradition.
The History of Keto Coffee
Butter coffee, coconut coffee, keto coffee, MCT oil coffee, fatty coffee–the act of putting some type of fat in your morning brew goes by many names, and it was popularised by a traveler who encountered the traditional, yak-butter blend while hiking through Tibet. It's often consumed in place of a morning meal there and gives hikers and mountain-dwellers a long-lasting, clean-burning supply of energy while suppressing hunger and boosting mental clarity. When news of the concoction made it back stateside, it started a buzz. Soon after, butter coffee, and many variations thereof, were showing up in coffee shops across the world.
Coconut Coffee Benefits
Adding coconut oil to your morning coffee might sound a little odd, but it’s actually pretty delicious. It adds a light, nutty flavour that isn’t overwhelming and the texture is smooth. But what are the benefits and how does it work?
Provides Clean, Long-Lasting Energy If you try keto coffee, the first thing you might notice is that it evens out the caffeine-fueled energy boost. If you are sensitive to caffeine and coffee makes you feel a little jittery, this may help. Instead of a jolt of energy followed by a crash, adding coconut oil to your coffee gives you a get steadier, longer-burning energy.
Keeps Hunger at Bay Another benefit of coconut oil coffee is that it keeps you feeling satisfied for longer and gives you even more energy because of the unique combination of fatty acids in coconut oil. More than 50% of the fats in coconut oil are MCTs, which are absorbed in the intestine and go straight to the liver to be used for energy or converted to ketone bodies. Studies also show that MCT oil may enhance weight loss and help you lose fat.
Enhances Mental Clarity Feeling a little foggy-headed? Medium chain triglycerides in coconut oil enhance your body’s production of ketones, which is a preferred source of energy for the brain, and ketones may help activate proteins in the brain called brain-derived neurotrophic growth factors (BDNF)3 which work to protect brain cells and stimulate the growth of new, healthy neurons.
Ghee vs. Butter in Your Coffee
Ghee is a type of clarified butter that is very common in Indian and Southeast Asian cuisines. It's made by first heating butter until it separates–milk solids start to float to the top, and liquid butterfat (clarified butter) stays on the bottom. When it's heated even longer, the milk solids begin to caramelise and the liquid butterfat loses some moisture. After that, it's strained to remove the milk solids and the result is ghee–a nutty-flavored fat with a high smoke-point that doesn't need to be refrigerated.
What's the benefit of ghee versus butter? They are similar when it comes to calories, and many of the nutrients are the same, but ghee doesn't contain casein or lactose since the milk solids are filtered out.
Do you drink keto coffee? Share your favorite keto coffee recipes in the comments and tell us about the benefits you’ve gained from adding healthy fats to your diet.
Looking for Keto Coffee in Delhi? Come visit our flagship store NYC Queens Cafe.
Sources:
1 Coconut oil and palm oil's role in nutrition, health and national development: A review. US National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5044790/ (Accessed 3/08/2018)
2 Weight-loss diet that includes consumption of medium-chain triacylglycerol oil leads to a greater rate of weight and fat mass loss than does olive oil. US National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18326600 (Accessed 3/08/2018)
3 Mechanisms of Ketogenic Diet Action. US National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK98219/#masino.s15 (Accessed 3/08/2018)
4 Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2504526/ (Accessed 3/08/2018)
5 Fatty acids in bovine milk fat https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2596709/ (Accessed 3/08/2018)
6 Dairy consumption and patterns of mortality of Australian adults. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. https://www.nature.com/articles/ejcn201045 (Accessed 3/08/2018)
7 Increased concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids in milk and platelet rich plasma of grass-fed cows. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7905466(Accessed 3/08/2018)
8 Conjugated linoleum acid content of milk from cows fed different diets. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10531600/ (Accessed 3/08/2018)
9 Omega-3 fatty acids. University of Maryland Medical Center. https://www.umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/omega3-fatty-acids (Accessed 3/08/2018)
10 Yak Butter Tea Is a Traditional Tibetan Drink with a Practical Purpose. The Eater. https://www.eater.com/2016/8/25/12624068/butter-coffee-tea-tibet-yak (Accessed 3/08/2018)
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
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