The Secret to Better Bulletproof Coffee

Drinking bulletproof coffee (or other beverages) is a popular thing on the Keto lifestyle, and there are dozens of recipes. Sometimes the recipes need to be adapted a bit, either to improve the taste or to improve the ketogenic effect.

The base recipe for Bulletproof coffee calls for a cup of coffee, a tablespoon of butter, coconut oil, or MCT oil, a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream, and, if desired, 1-8 drops of stevia sweetener (Sweetleaf brand is recommended.) I personally also add a pinch of Himalayan pink salt (or other sea salt.) The Keto lifestyle can shrink your salt consumption radically overnight, and that can cause symptoms. And even when you’ve been doing Keto for a while, a dose of quality salt won’t hurt you. AND it can help you reduce the amount of sweeteners you use in your coffee! 

The Butter or oil

I think that the earliest bulletproof coffee used butter. Kerrygold butter, from grass-fed cows, is really good for this use if you can afford it. MCT oil is a kind of oil that is derived from coconut oil. It is the best thing for putting your body into ketosis (the whole point of the Keto lifestyle.) WARNING: do NOT put MCT oil in a styrofoam cup. Use a paper disposable coffee cup if you can get it, or a real coffee cup and wash it.  Coconut oil is another alternative for this ingredient. If you get coconut oil that is liquid at room temperature, don’t put it in styrofoam, either. Because coconut oil has MCT oil in it, and the kind that’s liquid at room temperature has even more MCT oil in it. If you like coconut flavor, ‘extra virgin’ coconut oil has that flavor, regular coconut oil does not. Amounts used are 1-2 tablespoons. If starting with MCT oil, use 1 or 1/2 tablespoon at first and work your way up. For that matter, if you are unused to any kind of butter or oil in your coffee, start small and work your way up. Note: If you save your bacon fat, you can also add that to bulletproof coffee. 

Heavy Whipping Cream

This is what people used before there was ‘creamer.’ Be sure it says ‘heavy’ whipping cream and not just whipping cream. And of course don’t use a ‘creamer’ with sugar, artificial sweeteners, or other ingredients. Creamer should come from milk which comes from cows. Or goats. Or yaks. If the store is out of heavy whipping cream, you can use other milk products such as half-and-half or even whole milk, but don’t use much. 

If you can’t have dairy, the best solution is to just omit this ingredient. Otherwise, you might try a bit of canned coconut milk. If you like the taste, that is. I thought for quite a while I couldn’t drink coffee without a little cream. I ran out of cream and found out that bulletproof coffee is good without it.

Amount is usually 1-2 tablespoons.

The Coffee

You can use brewed coffee from a coffee machine, or instant coffee powder. Decaf or full caf. Just don’t get a coffee powdered mix like International Coffee which has sugar, sweetener or flavorings in it. I’ve never been a coffee fiend so I get by with instant. I switch off between caffeined coffee and Sanka decaf. 

Sweetener

If you’ve used an artificial sweetener, you probably did it for the wrong reasons. It’s not about saving ’calories.’ After all, we can eat a plate of bacon on Keto and not count a calorie of it. The reasons we don’t like sugar or sweeteners are these: there could be carbs, and even a zero-carb sweetener could raise our blood sugars by provoking an insulin response. I use Sweetleaf brand liquid stevia, and I use only a few drops— 2 or 3. And some days I use no sweetener at all. Though when I do get generous with the Sweetleaf, it doesn’t seem to affect my blood sugars any.

Salt

A pinch (1/8 teaspoon) of Himalayan pink salt or a good sea salt really makes a bulletproof coffee. If you are worried about salt, know that Dr Eric Westman doesn’t take salt away even from patients with high blood pressure— the Keto dietary lifestyle does the job of lowering blood pressure. And the salt and other minerals in sea salt are beneficial.

Other Bulletproof beverages

You can make bulletproof beverages with tea, herbal tisanes (‘herb tea’), home-made bone broth and cocoa drink (1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder in hot water, usually with some Sweetleaf drops.) Just add the other bulletproof beverage fixin’s to the beverage in question. 

Other flavorings

Sweetleaf stevia sweetener comes in various flavors as well as plain, and you can use any flavor. You can also add a bit of cinnamon or other spice for flavoring. I mostly only use cinnamon in bulletproof hot cocoa, and then only some of the time, as I’m not sure I like it, but cinnamon is good for diabetics.

When fasting

When fasting, we mostly consume water, or plain black coffee or tea. But Dr. Jason Fung in The Complete Guide to Fasting allows one cup of ‘semi-bulletproof’ coffee or drink while fasting. Use about 1 teaspoon of the butter/oil, or 1/2 t oil and 1/2 t cream. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Learn more about Keto and/or Fasting

I find it helps to read books about these subjects so I have all the information I need. It's also inspiring to know I'm not doing this alone.

 The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body through Intermittent, Alternate-Day and Extended Fasting  This book, by Dr. Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore, really changed my life. Fasting, added to my keto diet, helped me start losing weight again after I got 'stuck' at a certain too-high weight and wanted to lose more.

Dr Atkins Diet Revolution This was the first ketogenic diet that recommended measuring ketones--- at the time with urine test strips.

The Obesity Code: Unlocking The Secrets of Weight Loss - I haven't finished reading this book yet, but it is by Dr. Jason Fung, who also is co-author of the The Complete Guide to Fasting.