I feel good with it (using standard coffee), and can substitute it for breakfast happily, with butter and MCTs from coconut oil as fuel. As that reduces the window for eating protein and carbohydrate it's an appealing idea for a decadent "fast" of sorts.

Very skeptical about the impact of mycotoxins on mental fog and other subjective measures, I think we're into placebo territory. Perhaps there are some people very sensitive, and if so Dave Asprey's one, but his diet is tailored around the risk of mycotoxins which I personally think is taking things too far for the vast majority. He's good on marketing though and I'd wish him all the best with popularising the health effects of coffee. It's supposedly the largest source of antioxidants for the average American, lowers diabetes risk etc.

n=1 on this but I tried it a few times with Chock Full O Nuts Dark New York roast and it made me excessively jittery. I then went out and splurged on some Wet Processed high quality coffee from Gimme Coffee! (a local roaster) and noticed a huge difference in the jitters and mental fog that sometimes comes with too much coffee for me too much at once. I haven't tried the brand that he is selling, but I can confirm that using better coffee gave me better results.

Hmmm...my initial thought is does it have to be either a scam or awesome?

If you are finding that your tummy is handling it better than your regular cup of joe, then great! You'll find skeptics of EVERYTHING on the internet!

The bulletproof exec site is down right now, so I'm not too sure as to what their big claim is, also what the price difference is. Now I'm SUPER curious though.

Mycotoxins in coffee is interesting - and I would think that there is HUGE variability in how much would be in different types of coffee, brands and could also vary greatly from bag to bag.

Did you try regular coffee with grassfed butter yourself and still have the sludge problem? I'm also in the camp questioning mycotoxins being as bad as he says.

Oh, and it's a moot point for me, I can't stand the taste of coffee...

I've been experimenting for a couple of months with going only high end specialty coffee beans (single source, higher elevation, good processing, etc) and can say I do seem to have sharper mental focus without the usual side effects of too much coffee in a day. I suppose it could be placebo, don't know unless I started doing double blind tests on myself.

The butter + MCT oil has been amazing. I used it once to fuel a 4 hour night snowboarding session in 17 degree weather (well plus a couple of egg yolks) and I felt great. Also seems to give me good solid even energy throughout most the day in general, prior to jiu jitsu classes, etc. Recommended.

I call 'hype'. Butter or coconut oil, I want my cream suspended in my coffee, not floating on top.

I can definitely vouch for better quality coffee reducing the jitters and negative side effects of crappy coffee. I roast green beans at home which makes drinking coffee literally the best part of the day. I go to bed at night thinking of how good the coffee will be in the morning.

I've tried Dave's "recipe" with butter and coconut oil, but I can't say I was nuts about it. I definitely prefer pasture-raised heavy cream. You don't get that butter-on-the-lips feeling...

Can't tell you whether it's a scam -- what I -can- tell you is that the coffee smells wonderful and has an amazing flavor, so whether it's got any benefits in terms of health or not, it satisfies on an emotional level -- and that's important, too, isn't it?

I drink coffee and eat 2tbsp of coconut butter every morning. Being a coffee snob, I like to source my coffee direct (no Tim Hortons or Starbucks brands here) and I use my own espresso machine to make a morning Americano. I highly doubt my body can tell the difference between eating them separately or as one unit. The way I see it: I get my coffee, I get my coconut butter, I get butter (cooked my eggs in it). It's not a passcode. The body can't tell the difference between bites (or slurps).

I do like the Bulletproof guy, although I disagree with some of his supplements, I think it's great he continually hacks himself.

I have been super skeptical of Dave Asprey and Bulletproof... been pretty vocal about it with some of my answers here on PaleoHacks.

But F me I dig bulletproof coffee! Ordered the beans and have been drinking it for a week along with the MCT oil and a teaspoon of sugar and I feel incredible. I am 10 days away from shooting my senior thesis film so things are incredibly crazy and non-stop for me with very little opportunity to get a full nights rest (7 hours max)... but the coffee has keep me sharp, energetic, but still able to calm down at night and sleep. I guess I feel bulletproof.... HAA!

On the one hand, I'm in favor of better quality coffee yes. I find his argument about lower mycotoxin coffee to be compelling. But I can get single origin water processed organic coffee from a high quality local roaster (and by local, I mean across the street from my work) for $6 less per 12oz than he's charging.

But the other side of it, the whole grassfed butter & MCT oil part, he loses me. When I IF I'm perfectly fine drinking straight black coffee. When I've tried grassfed butter in my coffee it seems to trigger more hunger in me than taking it black. And when I'm not IFing, I eat a very nutrient dense breakfast. So personally, I don't see the point in replacing my nutrient dense breakfast with butter filled coffee nor do I see the point in screwing up my IF by throwing calories in my coffee. Especially since I happen to enjoy a good cup of black coffee, and adding butter just adds minutes of fuss to my morning routine (I'm more inclined to IF on mornings I'm running late).

Who came first, Tim Ferriss or Asprey?

I'll add to the sentiment here, though most have covered it. After reading his theories, I discovered that my friendly neighborhood roastery carries wet-processed, single-origin coffee and I've been using it at home in our espresso maker for morning lattes (so I'm not doing the whole protocol). About 80% of the time, my morning is brighter, happier, and more productive (gee, aren't I an addict?!). Sometimes, not as much or just less noticeable of a pick-me-up. I attribute this to natural variation in supply.

However. When I consume regular crap coffee? It's bad. Jitters, anxiety, unable to get full thoughts out of my mouth, acid reflux, and a weird empty tummy feeling for the rest of the day no matter how much I eat. These are the reasons I gave up coffee years ago, so as far as I'm concerned, Bulletproof Exec gave me my coffee back. Thank gawd.

I wouldn't say it has the potential to be a scam because he clearly tells you how to make it without obligation to buying his coffee. I do believe it is in how you prepare it, and the quality of the coffee makes a huge difference. Also, be sure to use UN-SALTED butter. When I do skip breakfast, it works wonders for me. Could be that it's not everyone's "cup of tea".

Scam or awesome? More like totally irrelevant. I can get great quality organic dark roast coffee in town, and our local organic dairy, with grass-fed Jersey cows, has fantastic heavy cream. I find the idea of a pool of grease floating on top of my coffee unappealing.

You are in luck because if you blend it there will be no pool of grease of any kind.

Here is my roundabout confirmation of the benefits of wet-processed coffee. I noticed 30 years ago that regular coffee made the muscles in my neck and back tense. That's when I switched to organic coffee (which, as you may guess, was a bit more difficult to find back then.) My speculation back then was that the chemicals used on regular coffee affected my muscles. Several years ago I noticed that, even though I drank organic coffee, it was disturbing my system in some undefined way, enough for me to consider dropping coffee. Then I tried the (local to me) Goshen coffee. It's what I've been using ever since, except for the occasional disappointing attempt to use another brand. I see there's a thread on Marks Daily Apple forum where the participant called Goshen who said that most of their coffees are wet-processed.

I have tried using pastured organic butter in my coffee, but I can't discern any functional difference between using butter and cream, other than taste. Anybody know why butter would be better than cream, given that cream is used to make butter? (I suppose there's already a thread on that somewhere.)

I began incorporating a lot of butter and heavy cream into my diet late last year, and I must say I have been converted to a 'purist'. I have no immediate reaction to dairy, but after months of heavy cream and butter usage my gut just felt 'wrong'. I would say to try this, as many find cream and butter to be fine, but I would also cut it out completely for a few weeks to see if anything changes.

If you want your coffee to taste absolutely wonderful, put it in a powerful blender with your butter & coconut oil. I add cinnamon and blend it high speed for over a minute. You get a frothy layer- like a latte. Delicious!

The coffee community is skeptical because he makes a bunch of unsubstantiated claims about quality and provides none of the transparency required to back it up. Coffee is a crop that grows on the side of mountains and is harvested under incredibly varying conditions. Even at the most progressive farms in the world the end result is a product that changes every season. The idea that he's found some magical farm that is resistant to mold is total nonsense. That said, in order to be classified as Specialty Coffee it has to score an 80+ on a 100 point scale. Mold is considered a defect resulting in lower grade. In other words, bad coffee you shouldn't drink anyway. No high quality coffees have mold damage, by definition. The Specialty market is only about 20% of the overall market, so it's easy to drink bad coffee. But this guy is not operating in that 20%, and instead seems to be focused on hacking the marketing instead.

If you drink a coffee that makes you feel bad, I'd respectfully suggest that you've been sold a low grade coffee (80% of a $9 billion market).

Melissa since you're now in Chicago (or nearabouts) I'd recommend getting to know some folks at Intelligentsia. Just as you have with your new meat purveyors. They're operating at a legitimately high level and are helping to make that chain smaller. There are others as well of course, but Intelligentsia is one of the best and in your area.

He doesn't even tell us where it's from. Would you put anything else in your mouth whose origins you couldn't verify?

i buy fazenda aurea from burmancoffee.com It is supposedly dry processed. It is one of the cheapest green coffee beans available from that site and I've found a world of difference in roasting it at home--controlling the roast and not going much beyond first crack results in a very mild bean that is welcome to the more tender stomachs in the household (I am a phillistine and roast in a wok outside.)

this is the first thing I read regarding mycotoxin in coffee: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7451391 "study not continued as 70-80% of toxins studied were eliminated in the roasting process)

I've also switched from using a french press to melitta #2 brown filters in a single-serve funnel. The press seemed necessary to get flavor out of the semi-stale stuff you end up with (yes, even at the local roaster that people seem to idolize) but now that I have control over the whole process, this method preserves just enough.

I use my one-cup espresso machine to make my americanos. When I make it bulletproof, I use the steamer to really work the butter into the coffee, plus it makes a nice foam. I understand from a Tibetan source that the film of butter on top of yak butter tea actually works to coat the lips and prevents chapping in high-altitude cold climates. I have to say it's working great for me here in wintery Massachusetts.

I do just fine with my Peets mocha java, I haven't tried the magic beans.

He's dead on regarding salted butter, though, yick. I'm using Danish grassfed unsalted with great results.

In my own experience, my cholesterol jumped when I started consuming bulletproof coffee (66 points! in 1 month!). Other relevant lifestyle changes included beginning calcium-d-glucarate supplementation, a slight decrease in workout intensity, and changing fish oil brand to Green Pastures. I find the bulletproof coffee to be the most likely culprit, though I haven't ruled out calcium d-glucarate or a this being a temporary spike as my body fights inflammation. I will retest to insure accuracy on these numbers, but I would (gasp!) consider keeping an eye on cholesterol for a while with BP Coffee, if you are at all concerned about cholesterol. And of course, perhaps I'm idiosyncratic in my response to BP coffee and these concerns may not apply to you after all.

All other things put aside, I can't think of any reason someone would benefit from scamming people into putting butter in their coffee.

i agree with melissa.. i just broke a 40 hour fast wiht it.. Oh, man.. amazing! :D

Seems to me that a stimulant addiction is a scam no matter who the dealer is. They should make coffee that you can snort off of a mirror for the full 80s club scene effect.

I noticed coffee always made me feel like crap, after several hours. I figured this was due to, too much caffeine. I, then switched to organic swiss process decaf ( Dave said decaf has the highest concentration of mycotoxins) and still felt like crap. I gave up on coffee and caffeine for a long time. Just recently, I came back to caffeine in the form of 5 hour energy shots. I noticed none of the same crappy feeling that coffee gave me. I found Dave's website and his post on mycotoxins. I put this altogether and realized these mycotoxins are a real threat to performance and need to be avoided. I took the plunge and bought Dave's expensive coffee and wow is all I can say. A profound difference in how I feel after this coffee vs cheap crap. Mycotoxins have been researched for sometime, and the data doesn't look good for those consuming them.

Wait, so if I put my coffee beans in my magic bullet with some butter then put the buttered grinds on my coffee maker (old school drip) I get a latte???

Here's my response, and it echoes what others have said.

I'm a fan of Dave Asprey. A big fan. However, like anything, Bulletproof coffee is something you have to try if you're a regular coffee drinker. Those who are, like daily, it's very easy to incorporate and test. Like others, I'm always looking for a new edge to my morning/after coffee.

The stuff is legit. At least N=1. I feel great when I use MCT Oil + Butter. I also use Cinnamon + Stevia and blend it for a minute. The result is a fabulous, filling and creamy drink that can last a few hours (I generally make 32-40 oz at a time and carry it in a thermos).

I have a pretty demanding job, at least one that requires a cognitive function on-point most of the time. I've definitely seen benefits not only getting started in the day, but maintaining a high-level performance for a longer period of time. Maybe some of it is placebo, thinking I'm consuming this great stuff that should make me perform higher.

However, if this isn't enough for me to buy-in, I've tried a few other things with it. Using it DURING a heavy strength/Crossfit workout. I'm not sure if it's the MCT Oil (most have tried this as a pre-workout in the past) or the caffeine (or a combo), but it works. It's works great. After letting it cool, I've sipped on BPC for an hour and been able to complete things I've never done before. Again, maybe there is some natural progression going on here, but in-comparison to previous stuff, it's seemed to work better.

So in conclusion, maybe it's not magic, but for two things I take very seriously (work and fitness), I've seen serious benefits both physically and mentally since I started making BPC (or some personal variance) everyday.

As an upset I have run out of Bulletproof coffee and replaced it with other expensive Intelligensia and Crop to Cup coffee and I feel the same. And the Intelligensia tastes better.