What is ghee coffee and is it actually good for you?

Thanks to wellness culture, the internet has seen a number of diet and food trends come and go—Keto, Paleo, kale, tiger nuts, bone broth, among others. Even our once sacred tea and coffee rituals have seen a rebrand, with matcha tea replacing regular tea bags and, now, clarified butter or ghee going in coffee.

Health enthusiasts and multiple celebrities swear by bulletproof coffee, a concoction also known as butter coffee. For those unaware, bulletproof coffee was invented by American entrepreneur, author and “biohacker” Dave Asprey around 2009 as part of the bulletproof diet, which involves high quantities of protein and fat.

Asprey came up with the idea for bulletproof coffee after a “transformative experience” he had when he tried yak butter tea on a trip to Tibet.

Bulletproof coffee or ghee coffee is essentially coffee to which one has added organic, grass-fed butter or ghee, and MCT oil extracted from coconut oil. This recipe is claimed to provide “the synergistic benefits of sustained energy, increased satiety, metabolism support and support to cognitive function”.

Multiple Indian nutritionists and celebrities have been posting “ghee coffee” and “ghee tea” on their social media this year, calling it an “old Ayurveda recipe” or a drink they had grown up drinking. They drink a simplified version of the bulletproof coffee recipe, adding only a spoonful of ghee to their drink.

Indian influencer Prerna Nigam shared the recipe on her Instagram and claimed that it helped “boost the body’s metabolism”, reduce swelling, flush toxins from one’s body, and even improve joint health.

Dr Shilpa Arora, a health and nutrition influencer whose bio says she is a registered nutritionist, shared her recipe for ghee tea for those suffering from constipation.

Celebrities like Shailene Woodley, Harry Styles, Bhumi Pednekar and Shilpa Shetty are also fans of the trend. Peter Thomson, writing for The Independent, tried incorporating bulletproof coffee into his daily routine, and found that while “the science is still a bit fuzzy and has been somewhat controversial, but the combination of caffeine, protein and oil certainly seemed to provide a sustained source of energy”.

Superman Returns star Brandon Routh too swears by this concoction. “My energy levels are through the roof compared to what they used to be,” he said. “My lines just kind of sink in and they’re there when I need them.”

However, several dieticians and nutritionists dismiss the claims made by these celebrities.

“What you don’t need is to be having a stick of butter. It shouldn’t displace a breakfast that would be of food, like grains and fruit,” Joan Blake, clinical associate professor of nutrition at Boston University, told Healthline.

What most nutritionists agree on is that the fats in ghee coffee, just like all fats, prolong the feeling of fullness, which helps those consuming it eat less during the day. But the ghee in your tea or coffee isn’t going to actively result in weight loss or a detox, or provide any significant benefits to your brain.

A 2021 study revealed that while “there may be no benefit of bulletproof coffee over black coffee for improving cognitive performance”, it does “appear to increase feelings of fullness and result in a reduction in perceived prospective food consumption after three hours”.

“At best, having a breakfast that consists of coffee with butter and MCT oil is a missed opportunity to fuel your body,” Brittany Markides, dietitian and founder of the Choose Food nutrition counselling service, said.

“Although the bulletproof coffee diet makes claims that this fat-only breakfast stimulates your body to burn more fat during the day, there is no evidence to back this up.”

As far as feeling more productive, nutritionists have said it comes from the coffee and has nothing to do with the ghee or butter added to it.

Joan Salge Blake, a clinical associate professor of nutrition at Boston University, told The New York Times that it’s actually carbohydrates which are brain food, not fats.

“This is not a breakfast of champions,” she said.