Food Logic Volume 3: Butter + Coffee

Premise 1: Butter goes good with toast.
Premise 2: Toast goes along with coffee.

Conclusion: Butter goes good in coffee.

I wrote a while ago about an experiment in which I tried peanut butter in some coffee. It turned out pretty well. I’ve since tried it with all-natural peanut butter, with similar results (I still haven’t solved the sludge- on- the- bottom problem though). So I figure, why not get rid of the peanuts and try it with pure butter? Note: I usually think of things like this when V is at work, and thus not around to tell me not to do stupid things.

I Googled “butter in coffee” first, to see if this is commonly done and/or if any poisonous chemical reactions would take place. I found this dude, who was apparently emboldened to try peanut butter in his coffee after seeing my last experiment’s post. He liked it too. Nice. But apparently butter, minus the peanut, is not commonly put in coffee (though I found one recipe, linked below).

Being brave and manly, I went on and did it anyway. I put just a bit of butter – I’d say a teaspoon or so – in a mug, added sweetener (wouldn’t want to drink anything unhealthy!), poured some hot chocolate-tinted coffee over it, then added cream. It took a moment to melt, then left a bit of an oily film on the coffee. Weird.

How did it taste? Good, of course. The butter gave the beverage an added richness. With the chocolate also in the coffee, I would describe it like drinking a chocolate chip cookie. With coffee. In fact, I’ll call this recipe “chocolate chip cookie coffee”. That’s copyright 2007, me, so if you use it you have to pay me lots of money. Thanks.

I’ll let you have a free trial though, and I do recommend trying it. Unlike the peanut butter coffee, there is no gross sludge to worry about, and it seriously does taste good. And come on, a teaspoon of butter won’t clog your arteries too much.

See also: Food Logic Volume 2: Peanut butter coffee.

Also see also: Hot buttered Jamaican coffee.


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49 responses to “Food Logic Volume 3: Butter + Coffee”

  1. Adorable Girlfriend Avatar

    This is the funniest post.

    Like

  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    This is the funniest post.

    Like

  3. Jason Avatar

    Um… no. I already get too much fat /carbs in my diet.

    Don’t you have a new healthy combo?

    Like

  4.  Avatar

    Um… no. I already get too much fat /carbs in my diet.Don’t you have a new healthy combo?

    Like

  5. sarah Avatar

    wow, my teeth are stinging just thinking of this. Novel idea though… but yeah. wow… You made me feel whoosy by the description.

    (Also, nice use of the word “emboldened”!!)

    Like

  6.  Avatar

    wow, my teeth are stinging just thinking of this. Novel idea though… but yeah. wow… You made me feel whoosy by the description.(Also, nice use of the word “emboldened”!!)

    Like

  7. Phronk Avatar

    You guys don’t know what you’re missing out on.

    And yeah, emboldened is an irreproachable word.

    (my thesaurus assures me that means something)

    Like

  8.  Avatar

    You guys don’t know what you’re missing out on.And yeah, emboldened is an irreproachable word.(my thesaurus assures me that means something)

    Like

  9. Timmy Avatar

    so long as we are talking about REAL butter, then by all means.

    Like

  10. Phronk Avatar

    As opposed to what? Body butter? Yeah, I’d keep that shit out of coffee.

    Like

  11.  Avatar

    As opposed to what? Body butter? Yeah, I’d keep that shit out of coffee.

    Like

  12. Butchieboy Avatar

    Nutella. Hell yeah.

    Like

  13.  Avatar

    Nutella. Hell yeah.

    Like

  14. Brass_Chocolatier Avatar

    I remember two things about butter+coffee.I heard Jesse James drank it like that.I remember reading a story about a man who went to see his in-laws in Africa and he said they drink coffee with a spiced butter in it.

    Like

  15.  Avatar

    I remember two things about butter+coffee.I heard Jesse James drank it like that.I remember reading a story about a man who went to see his in-laws in Africa and he said they drink coffee with a spiced butter in it.

    Like

  16. Skadi meic Beorh Avatar
    Skadi meic Beorh

    Yep. Been drinking butter in my coffee since the 90’s. Nice.

    Like

  17.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Yep. Been drinking butter in my coffee since the 90’s. Nice.

    Like

  18. Mark Avatar

    Just a few minutes ago I made myself a cup of coffee and THEN discovered I was out of milk in the fridge. Rather than run to the store I thought, okay, what’s the best approximation to cream in my apt. right now.Peanut butter occurred as a possibility – and I see that people DO use this in coffee – but butter, being a dairy product, seemed even closer, so I tried it.The melted butter rises to the top so it seems like you’re mainly drinking butter at first, but it’s pretty good. Still prefer milk or cream though.

    Like

  19.  Avatar

    Just a few minutes ago I made myself a cup of coffee and THEN discovered I was out of milk in the fridge. Rather than run to the store I thought, okay, what’s the best approximation to cream in my apt. right now.Peanut butter occurred as a possibility – and I see that people DO use this in coffee – but butter, being a dairy product, seemed even closer, so I tried it.The melted butter rises to the top so it seems like you’re mainly drinking butter at first, but it’s pretty good. Still prefer milk or cream though.

    Like

  20. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    My Sicilian grandmother always put a pat of butter and eggshells in the grounds before brewing. Never understood the why but loved the outcome. According to “highly reliable” internet sources (see google) the eggshells either remove bitterness or settle the grounds (in the event your grounds are riotous). I highly recommend this but not with the grind-n-brew variety of coffeemaker.Cheers

    Like

  21.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    My Sicilian grandmother always put a pat of butter and eggshells in the grounds before brewing. Never understood the why but loved the outcome. According to “highly reliable” internet sources (see google) the eggshells either remove bitterness or settle the grounds (in the event your grounds are riotous). I highly recommend this but not with the grind-n-brew variety of coffeemaker.Cheers

    Like

  22. Phronk Avatar

    Wow, never heard of eggshells (and not sure why grounds need settling), but maybe it’s worth a shot. Thanks for the input everyone!

    Like

  23.  Avatar

    Wow, never heard of eggshells (and not sure why grounds need settling), but maybe it’s worth a shot. Thanks for the input everyone!

    Like

  24. Alejandro Erickson Avatar

    riotous coffee hahahaa. I’ve heard of salt in coffee too. Anyway, I just tried added half teaspoon of butter, half teaspoon of golden sugar to a glass and pulled two shots of coffee into it too. It was rich and delicious and I think (as a coffee enthusiast) that it should be an official coffee drink.

    One should note that a half teaspoon of butter is surely much less than the amount of fat in a large specialty coffee.

    Like

  25.  Avatar

    riotous coffee hahahaa. I’ve heard of salt in coffee too. Anyway, I just tried added half teaspoon of butter, half teaspoon of golden sugar to a glass and pulled two shots of coffee into it too. It was rich and delicious and I think (as a coffee enthusiast) that it should be an official coffee drink.One should note that a half teaspoon of butter is surely much less than the amount of fat in a large specialty coffee.

    Like

  26. Alejandro Erickson Avatar

    I should mention that in the beginning of your post the logic you refer to is transitivity of the relation “goes good with”. Let # be “goes good with”, you are saying that if a#b and b#c then a#c. This falls apart with things like honey, ham and iced cream, since ham doesn’t mix well with iced cream. Nevertheless it was a cute opener 😀

    Like

  27.  Avatar

    I should mention that in the beginning of your post the logic you refer to is transitivity of the relation “goes good with”. Let # be “goes good with”, you are saying that if a#b and b#c then a#c. This falls apart with things like honey, ham and iced cream, since ham doesn’t mix well with iced cream. Nevertheless it was a cute opener 😀

    Like

  28. Phronk Avatar

    Mmm, with golden sugar sounds wonderful. I’ll have to try that.

    I went into the logic a bit < HREF="http://phronko.blogspot.com/2007/09/food-logic-volume-5-coffee-maple-syrup.html" REL="nofollow">here<>. No, the transitivity doesn’t ACTUALLY hold true, but it looks reasonable enough on the surface that it can lead to tasty food experiments. 🙂

    Like

  29.  Avatar

    Mmm, with golden sugar sounds wonderful. I’ll have to try that. I went into the logic a bit here. No, the transitivity doesn’t ACTUALLY hold true, but it looks reasonable enough on the surface that it can lead to tasty food experiments. 🙂

    Like

  30. Alejandro Erickson Avatar

    heh, since you are so active, I submitted your post to tastespotting.com with a picture of some coffee, butter and sugar :). if they approve you’ll get extra traffic.

    Like

  31.  Avatar

    heh, since you are so active, I submitted your post to tastespotting.com with a picture of some coffee, butter and sugar :). if they approve you’ll get extra traffic.

    Like

  32. Phronk Avatar

    That’s very kind! Thanks!

    I actually have a whole other blog on this topic, < HREF="http://www.puttingweirdthingsincoffee.com/" REL="nofollow">Putting Weird Things in Coffee<>, if you’re curious about other coffee explorations.

    Like

  33.  Avatar

    That’s very kind! Thanks!I actually have a whole other blog on this topic, Putting Weird Things in Coffee, if you’re curious about other coffee explorations.

    Like

  34. stib Avatar

    I love the way you shlep in a coupla' teaspoons of fat, but then wimp out about adding some sugar: “wouldn't want to drink anything unhealthy!” What's healthy about artificial sweetener?

    Anyway you're a bit off the pace – looks like they were doing this in the fifties:
    http://www.archive.org/details/VerySpecialCoffee

    Like

  35.  Avatar

    I love the way you shlep in a coupla' teaspoons of fat, but then wimp out about adding some sugar: “wouldn't want to drink anything unhealthy!” What's healthy about artificial sweetener?Anyway you're a bit off the pace – looks like they were doing this in the fifties:http://www.archive.org/details/VerySpecialCoffee

    Like

  36. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I saw this done on a Korean tv show called Iris. While in Akita (Japan), a Korean man drinks and gives a Korean woman coffee with butter. And not like a teaspoon but more the size of 4 teaspoons cut in one piece from a block of butter.

    Like

  37.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    I saw this done on a Korean tv show called Iris. While in Akita (Japan), a Korean man drinks and gives a Korean woman coffee with butter. And not like a teaspoon but more the size of 4 teaspoons cut in one piece from a block of butter.

    Like

  38. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Same with anonymous…

    But I saw this in earlier Korean Dramas/movies…

    So I searched google and tried to find posts with people drinking coffee with butter in it…
    None but this blog! But when I searched through Korean websites, I found quite a few.

    Like

  39.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Same with anonymous…But I saw this in earlier Korean Dramas/movies… So I searched google and tried to find posts with people drinking coffee with butter in it…None but this blog! But when I searched through Korean websites, I found quite a few.

    Like

  40. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Just today on What Do You Know (on NPR), the guest was Andrew Zimmern (the host from that show where he eats really gross foods all over the world), and when asked what the grossest thing he'd ever had was, he said coffee with butter, and described that it was unexpectedly horrible, etc etc. It seemed odd to me that it would be so terrible, but maybe he had it without cream and sugar, or maybe he's just not a coffee guy.

    Like

  41.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Just today on What Do You Know (on NPR), the guest was Andrew Zimmern (the host from that show where he eats really gross foods all over the world), and when asked what the grossest thing he'd ever had was, he said coffee with butter, and described that it was unexpectedly horrible, etc etc. It seemed odd to me that it would be so terrible, but maybe he had it without cream and sugar, or maybe he's just not a coffee guy.

    Like

  42. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    Hey, and there's this guy:

    http://www.bulletproofexecutive.com/how-to-make-your-coffee-bulletproofand-your-m

    I feel more manly just reading his description!

    Like

  43.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Hey, and there's this guy:http://www.bulletproofexecutive.com/how-to-make-your-coffee-bulletproofand-your-mI feel more manly just reading his description!

    Like

  44. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Butter in the coffee is a tradition in some parts of northern Sweden.

    Like

  45.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Butter in the coffee is a tradition in some parts of northern Sweden.

    Like

  46. chronyx Avatar

    Just tried it with salted butter and a tiny sprinkle of cocoa. Amazing!

    Like

  47.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Just tried it with salted butter and a tiny sprinkle of cocoa. Amazing!

    Like

  48. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    It is common in Asian areas, with cold winters, to use butter in their coffee, as the oils in the butter along with the warmth of the coffee help maintain body heat and lengthen the amount of time moisture is held in the body.

    Like

  49.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    It is common in Asian areas, with cold winters, to use butter in their coffee, as the oils in the butter along with the warmth of the coffee help maintain body heat and lengthen the amount of time moisture is held in the body.

    Like

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