The Unexpected Benefits Of Cacao Butter In Coffee

If you are looking for small healthy changes you can make each day adding cacao butter to your diet is a great option. While cacao butter will add a creamy texture to your cup of coffee and a light chocolate flavor there are also several great and unexpected benefits of adding cacao butter to your coffee.

What Is Cacao Butter?

Cacao butter is a healthy fat made from cocoa beans much like cocoa butter. The major difference is how the two fats are processed. Cacao butter is created by processing cocoa beans low and slow not exceeding 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

This process creates an uncooked raw version of cocoa butter with the same cocoa flavor. Cacao butter is considered a vegetable fat used for body products and cooking. Cacao butter is a healthy plant-based fat perfect for feeding your body the necessary fats it needs to thrive.

Is raw cacao butter good for you?

While you may have heard of it from being on an ketogenic diet, even those not looking for a keto coffee can benefit.

Raw cacao butter is great for the human body. When we cook saturated fats we break them down changing their overall makeup and the quality of fat we ingest is important. By using cacao butter rather than cooked cocoa butter you are providing yourself with the original source of fat unaltered and still packed with nutrients.

Along with providing you with plenty of healthy fats, cacao butter is packed with essential minerals and has proven health benefits such as:

• Improving blood sugar levels
• Improving bone health
• Boosts your immune system

Cacao butter versus cocoa butter: What’s the difference?

Cacao butter and cocoa butter come from the same cocoa beans. The difference between the two products is how the product is derived from the cocoa beans.

Cocoa butter is made by roasting and pressing the fats from cocoa beans. The high heat process is done quickly and the remaining parts of the bean are ground into cocoa powder.

Cacao is made through a similar process that uses a lower range of heat to help preserve the raw oils in the cocoa beans rather than cooking the oils. This leaves you with a raw unaltered fat that holds well at room temperature perfect for body products and low-temperature recipes.

Does cacao butter go bad?

Cacao is a stable chain fat that can last for 3 to 5 years on the shell without going rancid. This is an important distinction as some plant-based fats can turn rancid rather easily when left to sit for long periods of time. If your cacao butter has gone bad it will hold an unpleasant odor when you open the container. Over time you may notice changes in the texture of your cacao butter, but this is a sign of fluctuating temperatures, not reduced quality. Natural cacao butter has a varying texture that is not uniform.

Does cacao butter need to be refrigerated?

Cacao butter does not need to be refrigerated. When storing your cacao butter in a cool dark spot away from direct sunlight for the longest shelf life. While your cacao butter will arrive wrapped in plastic or in a plastic bag you should move it to an air-tight glass jar for the longest shelf life of your cacao butter.

Is Cacao butter Keto approved?

If you are on the keto diet, finding variety or a plant-based alternative to the often used butter can be a bit of a challenge. The good news is that cacao butter is pure healthy fat from the cocoa bean and the perfect addition to any keto diet. To fuel, your energy on keto you need to add in extra fats and cacao can help you do that while giving a subdued coca flavor that can be satisfying along with plenty of vitamins and minerals.

What Are The Benefits Of Raw Cacao Butter?

Reduce heart disease

Cacao butter is packed with healthy fats that help the body properly metabolize fat and help to protect against heart disease. Often people forget the true value of healthy fats for the overall function of the body and spend too much time trying to avoid all fats. One of the fats in cacao butter that are so good for the heart is Oleic Acid found in healthy fat sources like avocados, olive oil, and eggs.

Lower blood sugar levels

Studies have shown that people that regularly eat chocolate, which contains cacao butter can lower the risk of diabetes by as much as 34%. Studies have proven that healthy fats help to naturally lower blood sugar levels by boosting the metabolism helping to fight insulin resistance issues often leading to weight loss.

Improve heart health

Stearic Acid is a saturated fatty acid found in cacao butter that has been proven to help lower LDL cholesterol. This helps improve overall heart health while reducing blood pressure.

Cacao butter contains Omega-3 Fatty Acids that have been shown to help control the triglycerides in the body helping to lower blood pressure and improve the function of the heart.

Improve mental health

Often when feeling low or depressed people will often crave chocolate. Likewise, women that ate near their cycles and dealing with hormone fluctuations that mess with their emotions often mention intense cravings for chocolate. This is because the healthy Omega-3 fatty acids in cacao butter found in chocolate have the ability to raise serotonin levels helping to reduce depression and improve overall mood.

Helps with cognitive support

Our brains need fats to fully function. This means if we are eating healthy fats like cacao butter on a daily basis we can help improve and sustain overall brain function. For those at risk of memory issues and cognitive impairment, cacao butter can be a valuable resource for reducing your risk factors and helping your mind stay healthy longer.

Lower your cancer risk

Studies of those living in the Caribbean region where cacao is grown and consuming a diet high in cacao have shown to have a lower cancer rate than other communities. Studies have shown connections between chocolate and cancer risk. This is likely due to a combination of healthy fats and the large number or antioxidants including vitamin E found in cacao.

How To Use Cacao Butter

Cacao butter is often found in skin care products due to the moisturizing and skin healing fatty acids and vitamin E. The most common place you will find cacao butter outside of quality chocolate will be in skin care products. 

Cacao butter is great for cooking due to the high smoke point of this oil. Thanks to the hint of chocolate flavor in cacao butter it is best suited for making your own chocolates and for sweet baking in place of butter or other oils. Cacao butter makes a great dairy-free and vegan butter substitute for baking.

Cacao butter is a popular addition to bulletproof coffee because unlike regular butter it has a slightly sweet chocolate flavor that makes a great addition to coffee.

How To Make Homemade Bulletproof Coffee

Making your own bulletproof coffee is easy. Because water and oil do not mix it is normal to find your cacao butter floats on the top of your coffee. A great way to fight this is to blend your cacao butter into your coffee.

Cacao butter is a great addition to homemade frozen coffee drinks as the cold helps to keep it solid and well mixed. Cacao butter can leave your drink smooth and help you reduce or even eliminate your need for higher carb creamer options in your coffee.

• Brew your favorite coffee.
• Add in 1 to two tablespoons cacao butter
• Add in your desired sweetener
• Blend win a personal sized blender or a stick blender until your coffee is smooth and creamy

The Best Cacao Butter To Put In Your Coffee

Navitas Organics

Navitias Organics is a wonderful brand providing quality fair trade natural ingredients for your cooking and body care products. Navitias cacao butter is cold-pressed with cacao beans obtained from small family-owned farms in Peru.

Organic Traditions

Organic Traditions is a popular and easy to find brand of cacao butter that is certified organic, gluten-free, and kosher making it a great option for those with dietary concerns that need to have foods that fit a higher standard and are not processed on shared equipment that could become an issue for food allergies.

Wildly Organic

You can find Wildly Organic a small independently owned brand at local sites like Kroger along with several other grocery chains as well as on Amazon Prime if you find yourself in need of a quality organic responsibly sourced cacao butter in a hurry.

Adding Raw Cacao butter to your coffee is the perfect morning pick me up!

When it comes to adding value to your morning routines you can not go wrong with adding more nutritional value to your morning coffee. Adding raw cacao butter to your coffee is a great way to increase your healthy fat intake, improve overall heart health, improving your sugar metabolism, and giving your body an energy boost that is particularly helpful with the Keto diet.