Seattle coffee drinkers may be sipping yak butter tea soon enough
Aug 23, 2015, 12:08 AM | Updated: 12:10 am
Seattle coffee drinkers may soon be celebrating a new kind of blend, and they can thank yaks for the experience. (AP)
(AP)
Seattle coffee drinkers may soon be celebrating a new kind of blend and they can thank yaks for the experience.
Bellevue-based Bulletproof Coffee recently raised $9 million from Trinity Ventures, the same firm that backed companies like Starbucks and Java Juice when they were just getting started.
Bulletproof opened its first shop in Santa Monica, Calif. CEO Dave Asprey says the company is excited about plans to expand to the Northwest.
“How could we not have a coffee shop in Seattle?” Asprey asks.
The inspiration for Bulletproof Coffee came during a trip Asprey took to Tibet more than a decade ago. He wasn’t feeling tip-top, thanks to the elevation.
“At 18,000 feet elevation you feel really awful, normally,” Asprey explains. “I drank a cup of yak butter tea and suddenly felt really good. It just seemed an unnatural thing.”
When Asprey returned to the U.S. with yak butter tea on his mind, he began playing around in the kitchen to figure out what he could do to replicate the good feeling he got from drinking it. He came up with Bulletproof Coffee, which consists of mold-free coffee beans — that’s right, mold-free — grass-fed butter, and an extract of coconut oil called “brain octane oil” that’s about 18 times stronger than normal coconut oil, according to Asprey.
“When you blend those together, you get a mental feeling and complete lack of food cravings,” Asprey said.
The U.S. has no legal limit on mold toxins in coffee, Asprey explains. Most of the rest of world’s governments are protecting people that way, he adds.
“So when coffee is rejected from Japan or Europe because it’s too moldy to drink, it comes to the U.S. where it’s legal to sell,” Asprey said. “This is one of the things that can contribute to the jittery, cranky crash that comes two hours after you drink normal coffee.”
Asprey couldn’t say when we should expect to see a Bulletproof Coffee cafe in Seattle, but for those who can’t wait, you can visit the website and they’ll ship next day.
