Can you put coconut oil, butter, and vanilla extract in your coffee? The answer is a big fat YES!

My friend sent me an article called, The Only Way I Drink Coffee, from WellnessMama.com. The article provides a recipe for a strange coffee drink and an explanation for the curious ingredients. In a nutshell, the purpose of the strange ingredients is to multi-task: get your coffee fix while getting some good nutrients.

Naturally, I had to try this and report my findings.

The Scene

I needed a pick-me-up on Friday afternoon so that I could focus hard and plow through some work before the weekend started. I figured it was the perfect time to try a weird coffee drink and write about it.

The Process

I put a cup of left-over coffee (from earlier that morning) in a blender along with two tablespoons of coconut oil, 1/2 tablespoon of unsalted butter, and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract. It blended well, tasted okay (and noticeably buttery), but did not become very frothy.

Enter: Ice and coconut milk.

I can’t just follow a recipe and not add my own spin; so, I decided to add some ice to make it frappe-like. I also poured about 1/3 cup of coconut milk in the mixture. I forgot to shake the coconut milk before pouring, so the solids in the milk settled to the top of my drink. It made a sort-of-pretty, frothy presentation and actually added a little extra creaminess.

The Findings

All in all, not too shabby. The drink sits light in the belly, has a medium-strength coffee flavor, and a very creamy texture.

But let’s talk about the elephant in the room: fat content.

I put a lot of fat in my coffee drink. Just for fun, let’s tally it all up:

Item	Calories	Fat Calories	Fat Grams
Coconut Oil	240	240	28
Coconut Milk	150	120	14
Butter	50	25	5.7
Total	440	385	47.7

What the heck was I thinking?! Maybe I should done some math before I made my weird drink…

I am actually not worried about the fat content at all. Why, you ask? Because most of the fat is from my beloved coconut drupe.

Coconut fat is very valuable to the human body. It can actually help regulate the metabolism and get rid of unnecessary stored fat, especially around the mid-section. It also has plenty of anti-aging, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial properties and can help regulate hormones and blood-sugar. (This is all based on findings from the general scientific research community, not just some hippie website I found. Promise.)

Now, this does not mean that you can eat all the coconut fat that your taste buds desire. And it does not mean that you should consume a lot of coconut fat on top of all the other fats you are consuming on a regular basis. Coconut fat is an excellent replacement for other types of fat (e.g., fat from beef, dairy, vegetable oil, etc.). Although fat is necessary for the human body, it is very easy to OD on it (obviously) no matter what type.

I learned quickly that my body responds very well to coconut fat, so I do not fret when I consume a seemingly large quantity during a meal or in a drink. Of course, I do not drink 10 cups of coconut fat each day; on average, I consume around 1/3 cup of coconut milk per day and about two tablespoons of coconut oil every two to three days. So basically, my coffee drink took care of my coconut fat allotment for the weekend.

If I try this again, I will likely omit the butter. The purpose of adding butter is to emulsify the coconut oil so that the drink has a creamy texture. Since I added coconut milk to my drink, the butter was no longer necessary (but it was too late at that point).

I am honestly unsure if I recommend this drink. If you are like me and enjoy trying strange-sounding things, then go for it. If you are not so adventurous, forget this article ever happened. If you are somewhere in between, perhaps you can just blend some coffee, coconut milk, and ice together for a yummy, creamy pick-me-up. Whatever you choose, let us know how it goes!