I get asked a lot about the things my family eats. Here’s the breakfast Greg usually has. Lucky for me, he’s happy to have the same thing day in and day out. On occasion, I rotate other things into his breakfast options, but I’d say the one he gets most often is his Coffee Shake, and he LOOOOOVES it. I love it because (it’s easy and) I can make this hours before he wakes up and it’s sitting in the refrigerator for him.
I made this recipe based on Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof® Coffee (hear my interview with Dave Asprey here). We love that stuff and often drink it just like Dave recommends. But, Greg really likes this crazy twist on it.
You’ll see that Greg’s Coffee Shake has a lot of ingredients, and although I usually make it like this (plus sometimes adding raw egg yolks and Upgraded Collagen), there are times when I simplify it (Upgraded Coffee, organic coconut oil, grass fed butter, raw chocolate powder, (occasionally) cinnamon, and grass fed whey).
That being said, I feel a bit like a witch mixing up a special brew when I add all the extras. Plus, since he often doesn’t eat for many hours after having his Coffee Shake, I like to load it up with lots of stuff.
Coffee Shake (Inspired by Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof® Coffee)
Yield one serving (about 3 cups)
- 2 cups fresh brewed organic coffee (best with Upgraded beans; we usually do the regular and decaf mixed or all decaf because we’re limiting caffeine to help fertility)
- 1 tablespoon organic coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon MCT oil
- 1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted grass fed butter
- 1 teaspoon High Vitamin Butter Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground organic cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon Upgraded Vanilla
- 1 1/2 tablespoons raw organic chocolate powder
- 1 to 2 cups ice
- 2 to 4 tablespoons Upgraded Whey grass fed protein
- Blend all of the ingredients, except for the ice and whey protein, until smooth. The reasons you add the grass fed upgraded whey later is because a) you don’t want to blend it much… only very briefly to mix it in and b) you want to add it after the mixture is cooled by the ice to avoid mixing heat into the delicate whey.
- Blend in the ice. (Sometimes I add raw pasture-raised egg yolks and/or grass fed collagen powder at this time, too. It’s quite the kick-ass concoction.)
- Then, only very briefly blend in the upgraded grass fed whey.
Here is how I make the version I usually drink.
My version is a bit simpler…
- 2 cups brewed Upgraded coffee
- 1/2 to 1 tablespoon organic coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon MCT oil (I also like the Brain Octane MCT oil)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons grass fed butter
- 1 teaspoon high vitamin butter oil
- 1/4 to 3/4 teaspoon Upgraded vanilla
I blend up those wonderful ingredients and pour the magical concoction over ice (on hot days, but if the weather is cold, then I keep the coffee mixture hot). If there are days that I don’t have the MCT oil, then instead I just do the organic coconut oil.
When I jazz it up because I want an extra protein punch and/or choline brain boost, I add Upgraded grass fed collagen and/or raw pasture-raised egg yolks. It just depends on my mood and what I have planned for the day.
Update: I’ve been giving Kamea, my 3.5 year old, some of the upgraded collagen stirred into her water and tea.
But that’s not all. Here are two more important variations for a Tonic Herb Coffee Blend, which are perfect for days I want to feel more balanced, less stressed, or when I want added immune benefits. Enter: Reishi and Chaga. I blend either one of both of those into the hot coffee (before adding ice).
- Add 3 capsules of Duanwood Reishi (from Dragon Herbs) This adds a slight bitter note, which I don’t mind but some people might like to add a bit of sweetener.
- Add 2 capsules Chaga (from Dragon Herbs) is another amazing to blend into the hot drink before icing (or drinking hot if desired). Chaga has incredible immune health benefits.
Extra Notes:
- Greg prefers his unsweetened as made above, but it’d be delicious with a few drops of liquid stevia, raw honey, or USA birchwood xylitol.
- On occasion, we also use the Upgraded Brain Octane in place of the MCT oil for extra brain power days.
- This truly is made best in a high powered blender to get a nice frothy foam on top, but if you don’t have one, don’t let that stop you from making this. Get one! They’re life changing.
- I imagine that as the weather gets colder, we’ll go back to drinking our coffees hot, which means no whey protein for Greg’s. We can use the upgraded collagen though and Greg can have his whey protein in a good ol’ water based protein shake. The reason is that the whey shouldn’t be put into anything hot.
- Cayenne pepper can be really fun.
- Bottom line… Bulletproof Coffee is awesome as detailed on Dave Asprey’s website (simply: upgraded beans, MCT oil, and grass fed butter). To have diversity and add extras, we play with it as noted above.
When we went on our month long road trip to Michigan, I packed all of my coffee components but instead of taking the big ol Vitamix I took an immersion blender. It worked pretty well, not ideal, but acceptable and yummy. While on the road we drank our coffees hot instead of iced, and without the whey. You’ll see that we brought a lot of things including our Breville Burr Grinder and Technivorm coffee pot. What can I say? I like quality coffee, and coffee is about so much more than just the beans.
