What Is Bulletproof Coffee Made Of?

Bulletproof coffee is made of three ingredients: black coffee, unsalted grass-fed butter, and MCT, short for medium chain triglycerides, a fat extracted from coconut oil. The name comes from its inventor's idea that the drink guards against weight gain the way a vest stops bullets, not from any group.

MCT is metabolized into ketones, which the brain releases during fasting and which push the body to burn fat. The drink is meant to reduce cravings for sugar and carbohydrate foods, keeping the body in a fasting state. Founder Dave Asprey said the idea came from butter tea drunk in Tibet.

Bulletproof coffee has remained a hot topic in fat-loss circles in recent years, but what exactly is it, why is it called "bulletproof," and is there any scientific basis behind it? This article will focus on the three core ingredients of bulletproof coffee—black coffee, unsalted grass-fed butter, and MCT—and sort out its origin story, how to make it, and its real fat-loss mechanism. At the same time, it will also objectively analyze the health risks it may bring, helping coffee lovers make a more rational judgment before trying it. The article also includes a hands-on demonstration and store information from Front Street Coffee for those interested.

What exactly does bulletproof coffee mean?

Hold on—the "bulletproof" here has nothing to do with any group names, and it certainly doesn't mean it can stop bullets. It was given the name "bulletproof" because the inventor believed this drink could help people fend off weight gain the way a bulletproof vest protects the body. So how exactly does it perform this "protective" function?

That brings us to the three main ingredients of bulletproof coffee: black coffee, unsalted grass-fed butter, and MCT.

Unsalted grass-fed butter refers to butter made from the milk of cows that eat only grass, and it is said to have a fat-burning effect.

MCT is short for Medium Chain Triglycerides, a type of easily digestible fat extracted from natural coconut oil. After the body ingests and metabolizes it, it produces a large amount of ketones. Ketones are a cognition-related substance secreted by the brain during starvation; when the body lacks sugar and carbohydrates, they prompt the body to burn fat to partially relieve hunger.

From this, it's clear that the ingredients used in this cup of coffee will, after drinking, reduce a person's desire to consume sugar and other "filler-type" carbohydrate foods. During this period, because no food is eaten, the body remains in a fasting state, and fat continues to be burned, thereby achieving the goal of fat loss.

According to the account of Dave Asprey, the founder of bulletproof coffee, his inspiration for inventing this drink came from Tibet, China. While traveling in Tibet, he drank a cup of butter tea and immediately felt energetic and extremely full. After returning home, inspired by butter tea, he developed bulletproof coffee.

So how exactly do you make bulletproof coffee?

It's actually quite simple—just prepare an espresso, hot water, butter, and coconut oil. Coconut oil is chosen here because it's easier to buy than MCT. Now let Front Street demonstrate the specific process of making bulletproof coffee.

First, extract an espresso (Front Street uses 20g of coffee grounds here, extracting 40ml of espresso within 30 seconds), then pour in 200ml of hot water to make an Americano (you can also substitute any black coffee), then add 15g of butter and a spoonful of coconut oil (about 10ml), put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until uniform, and it's done.

It doesn't taste as greasy as you'd imagine; instead, on top of the coffee's own flavor, there's an added layer of coconut freshness and a rich mouthfeel from the butter.

Can bulletproof coffee really keep the weight off?

Objectively speaking, bulletproof coffee does indeed have a fat-loss effect as advertised. But the real effect doesn't come from the coffee—it comes from the two fats in the recipe. Even if you replace the coffee with tea, you can achieve the same fat-loss goal. So essentially, drinking bulletproof coffee is just drinking oil.

However, Front Street does not recommend trying it rashly. That's because drinking bulletproof coffee requires being paired with a reasonable diet. If you normally eat high-sugar, high-calorie foods but expect bulletproof coffee to eliminate fat, the result will only be counterproductive—after all, it is itself a high-calorie drink. Moreover, for some people with sensitive stomachs, these two fats can easily trigger a series of uncomfortable reactions. For the sake of your health, please treat it with caution.

Front Street Coffee

No. 10, Bao'an Front Street, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.