Butter in My Coffee? 5 Reasons Why I Love It!

This is either insanely behind the times or mindblowing… I’m not sure which! A number of my friends have been touting the glories of butter in their coffee, and I always balked at that idea. Butter? Coffee? No no no no. Butter should probably be reserved for biscuits and Barefoot Contessa recipes.

But then I started reading a little bit more about butter in coffee. And a little bit more.

And each time I read something about butter in coffee, I got a little more intrigued.

See, up until recently, I was a die-hard cold brew coffee fan. It was super easy to drink, super portable, and I didn’t freak out if and when it got cold (pro tip: if it came up to room temperature, I just dropped more ice cubes in there, and I was ready to roll again!). What I didn’t realize, though, was that this habit was causing me to be obstinate and a little lean in the pocketbook. Here’s what I mean by that.

I was obstinate insofar as there were two places I liked getting cold brew coffee from. And if I had cold brew coffee from other coffee shops or retailers, they were consumed begrudgingly. I knew what I liked, from where I liked it, and that was that. It made it difficult for my husband to be nice to me when he wanted to go and get coffee on the weekends.

Hey, I’m gonna go grab a latte. Do you want something?

Where are you going for coffee?

Probably Shop X or Shop Y. [Note: Names have been removed to protect the innocent.]

Ugh. Their cold brew is terrible. No, thanks.

So my weekend mornings were coffeeless until my husband would come home so I could run out or I could convince both children to load up and come with me.

Which leads me to being a little lean in the pocketbook!

I know that you can make your cold brew coffee at home and doing so can be such an economic advantage! But you have to wait 24 hours for the brew to, well, brew. And if I spaced out on it, then I was without… unless I went to one of my favorite haunts. And there I was in these favorite haunts, spending anywhere from $3-5/cup a day! I’m no math major, but my credit card seems to tell me that adds up!

And the aforementioned weekend with the kids? Bribing them to come with me often included the purchase of two drinks and two breakfast items so $3-5 easily became $20-25 for one trip.

If you need to pause to do calculations, don’t worry. I’ll hold the spot for you.

I needed something that would be a little more cost-efficient but also give me the same jolt and alertness that cold brew coffee did. And the more I heard from friends that swore by it, the more intrigued I got.

Off to Google I ran, and I was able to go into the vortex of different recipes and anecdotes. Some people touted that it was a wonderful addition to their morning routines, others said how terrible it was. The reviews were decidedly mixed, but I remembered that I really liked Danielle Walker’s pumpkin spice latte recipe, and it seemed to have some of the same basic functionalities of butter coffee so… off I went to the races.

I’ve been drinking butter in my coffee for at least a month now, and I could say with relative certainty that I’m a convert. I wake up, get some hot water going in my electric kettle, put my grounds into my French Press (I use a smaller one because I’m the only one that drinks coffee made at the house… and an 8-cup French Press just begs for more coffee to be brewed!), and get to waiting. And this past morning, while I was waiting the 5 minutes for my coffee to brew, I started to think of the 5 reasons why I am loving butter in my coffee:

1. I am totally satiated until lunch time… at least.

Normally, when I’d have my cold brew coffee in the morning, I started to feel hungry before lunch. And oftentimes, my cold brew was my only breakfast because our mornings were nuts. But instead, when I took the time to make butter coffee before heading out the door for the day, I found that I was pretty full until lunchtime.

All of that being said, I do attempt to be mindful of how much I eat after that. The below recipe contains a decent amount of fat, and the protein from collagen peptides help to keep me satiated for a long time, too. It’s definitely not a carte blanche you can eat whatever you want sort of deal.

 2. My energy levels feel relatively consistent.

OK, this one is probably more anecdotal than you would like. A thousand years ago, I enlisted the help of my friend, Susie, over at Nourished and Grounded. When she did the work-up off of my meals throughout the day, one of the first things she told me was, “You’re not eating enough fat. No wonder you’re so hungry!”

Thanks to Susie’s direction and advice, I started finding ways to consume healthier fats more consistently. And once I did that, I noticed a marked improvement in my energy levels. I was able to feel more stable in my energy levels, in part because my glucose wasn’t all over the place. So adding that boost of fat to start my day really helped set the tone for my energy levels.

#wednesdaywisdom | Wednesday is not Friday. But at least I had coffee to power me through the day because, after all, coffee is love and life. ☕️

A post shared by Coby Nathanson (@anourishedmom) on Sep 13, 2017 at 9:13pm PDT

3. I wake up a little perkier and readily.

Sorry Mel Robbins, but when my alarm goes off at 6:00 am, I typically hit snooze a couple of times and/or play around on social media before I absolutely have to get up. But that hour has always been a ridiculously begrudging hour. And I typically have an elbow or knee of a kid in my face or back. So my mornings aren’t the best if you will.

But since starting drinking butter coffee, I feel a little bit more jazzed when I wake up. I think it helps that, if I can sneak away downstairs and make a mug before anyone else wakes up, I have a solid 6 minutes to myself, which in the grand scheme of motherhood is super fantastic.

4. It’s a lot cheaper than my previous out-of-the-house cold brew fix.

Remember how above I mentioned that it was costing me about $3-5/day for a cup of cold brew coffee? Now that I’ve switched to butter in my coffee, it comes out to a fraction of that per serving. I grab my Kerrygold butter, coconut oil (I really like this brand), and coffee grounds (another brand that I like… more on that below!) and am saving money… which is always appreciated!

5. It tastes pretty darn good.

This last one is really what works for you, and the below recipe is what I’ve found to work for me. Some people add stevia, others add vanilla, some people can do ghee instead of butter… whichever floats your boat!

It absolutely does sound a little strange to mix butter and oil and coffee together and think it’s going to taste good… but I’m actually enjoying it. After I blitz it in the Vitamix, I really can’t tell the difference between the lattes I used to get from commercial stores.

So without further adieu… my protein-packed butter coffee!

What do you think? How do you take your coffee? Tell me below!

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Quick aside about Java Momma: I’ve recently joined Java Momma, a new direct sales company whose catalog includes a wide variety of coffees and teas, including fair trade and organic! For a limited time, you can join for the low price of $5 to get some pretty good brew at a pretty awesome discount. If you’d like to learn a little more about Java Momma, drop me a comment below, and if you’re ready to join, please fill out this form and tell them A Nourished Mom sent you!