From Coffee Shops to Clean Caffeine

There is nothing like sipping on a hot, steaming mug first thing in the morning. I enjoy a cup of joe.

However, I typically try to avoid this sneaky little drug because of the vicious, addicting cycle it creates. For me, life with coffee goes a little something like this:

1. My preferred cup consists of 1/2 cream, 1/2 sugar & a drop of coffee.
2. This sugar overload causes a roller coaster of highs and lows throughout the day.
3. Lunch rolls around and I'm in need of my second dose. Must. Have. More.
4. I have two options: Tim Hortons or Starbucks.
5. I make it through the day, but by evening I feel jittery and restless.
4. I spend the night tossing and turning, trying to force my eyes to shut.
5. My alarm goes off the next morning and it is as though the coffee is calling my name.
6. Repeat.

Once I jump on the coffee train it feels like there is no getting off! Even so, considering the time of year, I have been experimenting with different coffee combinations to see if I can achieve that morning energy boost without disrupting the rest of my day.

Unfortunately, this weekend I learned something that I cannot ignore. For those of you who don't want your beloved Starbucks to be completely ruined, stop reading now, but for those of you who are interested in learning what you're paying for the simplified answer is sugar.

Starbucks: The Sweet Truth

Over dinner this weekend, a friend was telling a group of us about the frightening amount of sugar that Starbucks puts in their specialty coffees. He said something along the lines of, "a grande Caramel Macchiato has around 16 grams of sugar."

We happened to be eating out, and I had just ordered a coffee. The waitress brought out the usual coffee fixings, sugar and cream, and after pouring two sugar packets into my coffee the truth dawned on me: 1 sugar packet = 1 gram of sugar.

I thought to myself, so you're telling me that I put 2 grams of sugar in my regular coffee, but I'm taking in at least 8x that much sugar in a Starbucks latte!?

Oh. My. Lord.

But wait, it gets worse! After visiting the Starbucks website, I learned my friend wasn't bang on with his facts.
Here is what I found:

If you don't believe me, visit the Starbucks website to see for yourself.

Can you imagine putting 15, 23, 32, or 40 sugar packets into your coffee each morning? No thanks.

Tim Hortons: The Sweet(er) Truth?

Okay, so now we know that Starbucks is feeding us all unnecessary amount of sugar, but I can think of hundreds of better ways to spend $5.00 anyways. On the other hand, I'm a serious sucker for a Tim Hortons French Vanilla, or at least I was before dipping my nose in the nutritional information.

According to Tim Hortons nutrition calculator my drink of choice, a medium french vanilla, contains a whopping 40 grams of sugar. The extra large tops out at 70 grams!

I kid you not.

This really was the tip of the iceberg for me. It was time to say goodbye to the overpriced coffee shops and hello to home brewing.

Clean Caffeine 

Coffee does have its benefits when you leave out all the cream and sugar. In a nut shell, it is actually the caffeine that increases energy levels, burns fat, improves both brain and physical performance, curbs appetite, etc. I'm not about to make this post a scientific lesson, so for a detailed description of the benefits of coffee click here. 

The truth of the matter is I can't handle black coffee. I need a little something to take away the bitterness, so simply ditching the sweeteners and cream wasn't the solution I was looking for. 

I dabbled in a few alternatives before finding my preference. One of which included replacing sugar with honey and cream with almond milk. 

This tastes good, but I wasn't satisfied. Honey may not be refined white sugar, but it is still a sweetener which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place. 

The Secret Recipe

Yesterday I finally found my saving grace. Frankly, I am surprised I didn't think of this, considering my obsession with both of these products.

1 cup of coffee + 1 green tea bag + 1 tablespoon of coconut oil

No sugar, no dairy, no bitterness, no mid-day crash, no problem.

Try it for yourself. Not only are you receiving the benefits of caffeine, but you are also getting an extra boost from the green tea and coconut oil. Personally, all the green tea I had on hand was mint, but this really made for a nice flavour and took away the bitterness that I dread so much.

There you have it, clean caffeine.

L.