I love my morning coffee and am always looking for ways to maximize its flavor and health benefits. I like to coarse grind whole coffee beans and then use a french press and add just shy of boiling water to extract super fresh and tasty coffee from the beans. You can absolutely taste the difference, its relatively simple to prepare and it makes me look like some high brow coffee aficionado when I offer it to guests – which I am not! I am more like a low brow coffee connoisseur.
Try This Super Healthy Combo
Kick up the health benefits of your coffee with the potent one-two punch of adding coconut oil and cinnamon to your morning lifer’s juice. The health benefits of coconut oil and cinnamon are legendary ranging from boosting your metabolism, immunity and memory to serving as powerful antioxidants, regulating your appetite cravings and studies indicate they may play a role in preventing cancer and premature aging.
Sounds like a good deal to me and coconut oil and cinnamon taste pretty good to boot when they take a swim together in your coffee!
I can’t take credit for being the first person to try this combo, but it is has been a staple in my coffee creations for a good while since I simply enjoy the taste and am sold on the health benefits.
Here’s What to Do
Take approximately one tablespoon of coconut oil and sprinkle in some cinnamon and stir/ dissolve it in your coolest coffee mug. I find it best to sprinkle the cinnamon over the spoon full of coconut oil, then place the spoon in your mug and then slowly pour the coffee over it. I find they mix better like this, but experiment for yourself and see what works for you. Since I am not a huge fan of eating a lot of dairy, I will put a nice splash of coconut milk in to add more health to the mix and finish the process.
Coconut oil is solid at room temperature so you can scoop it out of the jar or container like you are spooning peanut butter. I eat a good amount of coconut oil, so I buy it by the tub since I use it for a lot of cooking and healthy eating applications. I will throw it in my smoothies and just eat a tablespoon here and there as I actually like the taste.
Everything Starts With A Solid Foundation
I am a big advocate of staying rooted with the basics in fitness training and doing them well in order to have a solid fitness foundation to position you for great progress and results.
I apply this to making my morning coffee also. Making a great cup of coffee is really no different in that you want to pay attention to the basics in order to get the best cup of coffee. The basic foundation for making a great cup of coffee is not at all complicated.
The biggest factors with the most impact on creating tasty coffee is using quality, filtered water and fresh, quality coffee beans ground to the appropriate coarseness depending on how the coffee is brewed. There are a ton of other considerations advocated by coffee gurus, but I like to keep things uncomplicated and incorporate and concentrate on the fewest steps that will achieve maximum results or in this case maximum taste and nutrition.
That’s why I pay attention to making a good cup of coffee first, so you are not starting off with something that tastes like it was scooped out of the La Brea Tar Pits or filtered through a pair of ripe, sour shoes! Unfortunately, there is a lot of bad coffee out there. That’s why most people have to jazz up bad coffee with chemical laden commercial sweeteners and calorie dense, empty nutrient flavored creamers to mask the taste and help get that caffeine in their system as pleasantly as possible.
Whether you add the dynamic duo of cinnamon and coconut oil to your coffee or not, do yourself a favor and at least endeavor to start with a solid, basic good tasting cup of coffee as your foundation. A really good cup of fresh coffee tastes great by itself, which may help you to wean yourself off of loading it up with laboratory sweeteners and sugary syrups and creamers that will contribute to a fatter you.
My Observations as a Barista
I used to help a great friend out who owned a gourmet coffee business. I would ditch my suit and tie I wore all week and fill in weekends when he would need some extra staff to make the coffee products and make sure the customers were served well. I learned a lot about coffee and people there and drank way too much of it, but I absolutely enjoyed myself honing and learning new skills and knowledge from industry experts.
My friend was on the cutting edge of making coffee dessert drinks. These drinks were either espresso or coffee based loaded with chocolate, caramel and syrups topped off with tons of whipped cream and more chocolate shavings and drizzled caramel on top served with a spoon.
People went bananas over these drinks, especially the ladies and I would often see people coming up for seconds. There had to be easily at least 1500 calories floating around in each of these dessert drinks.
Consuming these dessert coffee drinks would be the health equivalent of drinking a huge melted hot fudge or caramel sundae with powdered No-Doze pills sprinkled in for a pick me up! A lot of coffee dessert drinks are like this today – some even more calorie intense from what I see!
We made and sold so many of these dessert drinks, I can still remember how to make them all in my sleep even though this was almost 20 years ago.They tasted awesome and they had a siren -like effect on the customers as they lined up at the register 20 deep like you were selling tickets for a 500 million dollar powerball jackpot the day before a drawing.
I don’t think it was any coincidence that a lot of people who I noticed habitually sucking down these drinks were a far cry from their ideal body composition – they were simply fat. I don’t know how much these drinks added to the size of their butts or guts, but I would say it was a relevant factor.
Beware Of Ass Expander Drinks
So be careful with your consumption of these coffee dessert drinks and realize how they can add to your waist line. I classify these drinks as “Ass Expander Drinks” because that is exactly what they will do for your precious Ass if you don’t reign in your consumption of these tempting treats masked as your morning or anytime coffee.
The next time you are about to order one of these concoctions with a name like “Caramel Chocolate Nirvana”, mentally substitute this name with “Ass Expander” since this is really what you will be ordering. Imagine yourself bellying up to the counter and telling the server “I would like the double chocolate ass expander.” You may think twice if you are concerned with the size of your butt or packing on the pounds!
Here’s The Takeaway From All This
Start with a great basic cup of coffee and you may find that it is easier to enjoy without resorting to loading it up with empty, nutrient deficient calories and artificial sweeteners.
Throw in some coconut oil and cinnamon to supercharge the health benefits of your coffee while still preserving great taste.
Beware of those tempting coffee dessert drinks with all those hidden empty calories AKA the “Ass Expander” menu of drinks. Go easy on them and resign them to occasional treat status within your healthy eating plan.
Stay on track with your healthy eating and use a Food Activity Journal to reach your desired goals.
Stay Well! Take Action! Be Consistent! Train and Eat Smart! Get Rid of the Drains and Pains in Your Life! Value your loved ones and friends and get out and have some active, safe fun!
Your Pal
Mark “Mr. Coffee” Mellohusky
I Eat T-Bone Steaks, Lift Kettlebell Weights And Make A Hell Of A Cup Of Coffee!
Seven Stars Fitness