Who Puts Butter in Coffee? (Solved & Explained!)

Although it is a popular part of the lifestyle culture in 2022 (thank’s Bulletproof Coffee folks!), putting butter in coffee has been around for many hundreds of years.

Coffee was first mixed with butter in Ethiopia over 500 years ago, and today it is still served as a popular treat in Vietnam, Singapore, and India. In the western world, adding butter to coffee is practiced by people trying to boost their mental and physical health.

Which countries put butter in coffee?

Many cultures have a drink that blends coffee and butter. In Singapore you can pick up a cup of nanyang kopi, a rich and creamy drink made with fresh hot coffee served with a piece of butter on the top. Tibetans enjoy po cha, a strong dark tea blended with yak butter.

Similar drinks have been enjoyed for centuries across East Africa and Asia and are as popular as ever.

Is putting butter in coffee a new thing?

Despite the modern trend around butter coffee, the practice has existed for hundreds of years. Brewed coffee is thought to have originated in 6th century Yemen, but coffee plants were growing in Ethiopia centuries before then.

Ethiopians recognized the stimulating effects of the coffee beans, so ground them up with ghee (clarified butter) to create little energy balls for a quick pick-me-up. Once brewing became more commonplace, Ethiopians continued to add ghee to their coffee.

Is it healthy to put butter in coffee?

In the west, butter coffee has become synonymous with health and lifestyle culture. David Asprey, the man who first coined the term ‘bulletproof coffee’ in 2009, promotes the biohacking properties of butter coffee.

But some people aren’t convinced. Coffee contains a lot of caffeine, and butter is full of saturated fats – both of which can be detrimental to the health of someone with high blood pressure, heart disease, or cholesterol issues.

Is bulletproof coffee the same as putting butter in your coffee?

Yes, they are almost identical. Bulletproof coffee is a brand name given to coffee that contains unsalted grass-fed butter, MCT (medium-chain triglyceride) oil, and coffee. Adding butter to your coffee and blending it into a foamy beverage is essentially the same thing. Just add a scoop of coconut oil into your drink to boost the similarity to bulletproof coffee.

Why do people put butter in coffee?

Adding butter to coffee didn’t begin because it was thought to be healthy. It was done to preserve the coffee, to boost the flavors, and for the simple fact that it is delicious! However, in more recent years adding butter to coffee has become something of a health craze.

Fans of bulletproof coffee report that it helps to curb food cravings, boost athletic performance, improve mental clarity, and promote weight loss. Adding butter to a morning coffee is very popular amongst people who follow a keto diet, where the majority of their calories come from fat.

Adding butter to coffee can act as a meal replacement and help dieters to stay on track when consumed in moderation.

What does butter in coffee taste like?

The fat in butter takes the edge off coffee’s bitterness and leaves a pleasant chocolatey flavor behind. If you are worried about drinking melted butter, the strong coffee flavors actually overpower the more subtle butter taste.

When it is shaken or blended with coffee, butter forms a thick and creamy foam which is comparable to a latte. Although putting butter in coffee is practiced by people in the health and fitness world – it also makes a delicious, though indulgent, drink.

Does it matter what type of butter you put in coffee?

This depends on who you ask. In Ethiopia and parts of India, only ghee is used. Ghee is cow’s butter that has been clarified to remove any impurities and give a clean flavor. Tibetans use butter from yaks in their tea and western bulletproof coffee drinkers typically use grass-fed cow’s butter.

Some people don’t eat dairy, so may use coconut, cashew, or almond butter. If you are interested in experimenting with flavors, then see which type of butter you like best!

Do people use butter coffee to lose weight?

Butter coffee, or bulletproof coffee, has been promoted over the last 10 years as a weight management aid. This may seem odd as a single cup can contain as much as 500 calories, but proponents say that it provides a zero-carb energy boost.

Adding butter to coffee is common practice among people who follow a keto diet. On a keto diet, eating almost no carbohydrates encourages the body to switch to fat as an energy source. When this switch happens you enter a state of ketosis which needs to be maintained with a very high fat diet.

People on a keto diet typically report weight loss, which is supported as long as their meals have a high enough fat content. The high fat content of butter coffee, and the absence of any carbs or protein, make it an ideal drink for people on a keto diet.

Do bodybuilders drink butter coffee?

Bodybuilders typically avoid high fat content in their food and tend to favor protein and complex carbohydrates. However, many may use a keto diet to quickly drop some pounds before a competition and adding butter to their coffee is an efficient way to do this.

Butter coffee can be a great form of pre-workout nutrition as it provides calories and caffeine in a way that won’t spike blood sugar, allowing the workout to be more efficient.

How do you make butter coffee?

Adding butter to your coffee can be as simple or as complicated as you like. If you want to try the famous bulletproof coffee then you need to add unsalted grass-fed cow’s butter, MCT oil, and fresh brewed coffee to a blender.

If you want to enjoy butter coffee like they do in Singapore, then pour yourself some black coffee and drop a slice of cold butter on top. If you would like to try a Tibetan delicacy, then get your hands on some yak butter for a truly unique experience.

Of course, if dairy isn’t really your thing, then try some plant-based butters and oils. People who use coconut oil say that it gives their coffee a pleasant tropical flavor, and nut butters add an earthy richness.