Butter Coffee
Butter and MCT oil blended into black coffee until it looks like a latte. The method is straightforward; the claims made for it are worth separating from the evidence.
At a glance
- Coffee, no milk
- 1:0
- Active time
- 3 min
- Total time
- 4 min
- Makes
- 1 mug
- Serve
- Hot, blended
- Kit
- Stick blender
Ingredients
Note: Ghee emulsifies more cleanly than butter because the milk solids have been removed. Either works.
Method
-
Brew the coffee strong and hot
Two hundred and fifty millilitres at about 1:15, so slightly stronger than usual. The fat will mute it, so a weak brew disappears entirely.
-
Blend, do not stir
Everything into a tall jug and run a stick blender for twenty to thirty seconds until it is uniformly pale with a thick foam on top.
A spoon cannot do this. Without emulsification the fat separates within a minute and floats as a slick, which is both unpleasant to drink and the reason people who try it with a spoon give up.
Blend 20 to 30 seconds -
Drink it hot
It should look like a latte and hold its foam for several minutes. As it cools the emulsion breaks and the fat re-forms on the surface, so this is not a drink to leave standing.
Why this works
Mechanically this is an emulsion and nothing more mysterious than that. High-speed blending shears the melted fat into droplets small enough to stay suspended in the water, and the result looks and feels like milk because that is what milk is: fat droplets suspended in water. It holds while hot and breaks as it cools.
On the claims, which are the reason most people arrive at this drink, it is worth separating three different things.
What is established: medium chain triglycerides are absorbed differently from longer chain fats, going more directly to the liver and converting to ketones faster. That part is real and well documented. A high-fat, near-zero-carbohydrate breakfast will also keep insulin low, which is the point of it within a ketogenic diet.
What is not: the specific claims about sustained mental clarity, enhanced focus and appetite suppression lasting hours are not supported by good human trials on this drink. Studies on MCTs exist but are generally small, short, and conducted at doses and in contexts that do not map onto a mug of coffee. Fat is also slow to digest and genuinely satiating, so people often do feel full, which is a simpler explanation than any of the rest.
What is worth knowing: a tablespoon of butter plus a teaspoon of MCT is roughly 150 to 200 calories, almost entirely saturated fat, and it is usually eaten in place of breakfast. That displaces protein, fibre and micronutrients, and saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol in many people. None of that makes it a bad drink; it makes it a thing to be deliberate about. If you are managing your cholesterol or your heart health, this is a question for your doctor rather than for a coffee site.
On MCT dosing: start at a teaspoon. Larger amounts cause stomach cramps and urgent diarrhoea in a lot of people, and the tolerance builds slowly.
The drink was popularised as Bulletproof coffee by Dave Asprey in 2011 after he encountered butter tea in Tibet. The Tibetan original, po cha, is a genuinely different thing: yak butter and salt whisked into brick tea, drunk by the bowlful at altitude where the calories and the salt both matter.
Variations
- Salted: a pinch, which is closer to the Tibetan original.
- With collagen powder, which is the common addition.
- Coconut oil in place of MCT, which is cheaper and milder but roughly half MCT by content.
- Iced: blend hot, then pour over ice. It will separate as it chills.
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Questions
Does butter coffee actually give you more energy?
The caffeine does, as in any coffee. MCTs do convert to ketones faster than other fats, which is established, but the specific claims about hours of enhanced focus are not supported by good human trials. Fat is slow to digest and filling, which likely explains much of what people notice.
Is butter coffee healthy?
It is 150 to 200 calories of mostly saturated fat, usually replacing a meal, which displaces protein, fibre and micronutrients. Saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol in many people. Whether that matters for you depends on your overall diet and health, and that is a conversation for a doctor rather than a recipe page.
Why does my butter coffee separate?
It was stirred rather than blended. You need a stick blender or similar to shear the fat into droplets small enough to stay suspended. It will also separate naturally as the drink cools.
How much MCT oil should I use?
Start with a teaspoon. MCT oil causes cramps and urgent diarrhoea in a lot of people at higher doses, and tolerance builds slowly. A tablespoon is a lot for a first attempt.
Can I use normal butter?
Yes. Unsalted is standard. Ghee emulsifies a little more cleanly because the milk solids are gone, but the difference is small.