Bulletproof’s Butter Coffee Fad Hits South Lake Union

Bulletproof Coffee, the Bellevue-based company known for butter coffee and other wacky “biohacked” food, drinks, and supplements, is finally opening a cafe in South Lake Union today, more than two years after it was announced. It’s the company’s first in the Pacific Northwest; two others are located in Los Angeles. Tech entrepreneur Dave Asprey is behind the brand and its associated Bulletproof Coffee Diet, which makes big promises about health benefits but apparently doesn’t deliver; a Gizmodo investigation found that the hype is “almost entirely bullshit.”

Nevertheless, the cafe at 307 Westlake Ave N will serve the company’s signature Bulletproof coffee, into which it blends “Brain Octane” oil and a heap of grass-fed butter to aid weight loss and mental clarity. Customers can also add collagen protein “for vital amino acids and skin, nail, hair and joint health,” cacao nibs, or Bulletproof ghee butter.

Other menu options are just as bizarre and convoluted, like the “Bulletproof Vibe whole body vibration plate that allows you to hack your strength and hormone balance in just minutes every day.” The cafe will also sell the company’s array of bottled coffee drinks, supplements, whole bean coffee, teas, bone broth (naturally), collagen protein bars, and Bulletproof ice cream. Should anyone be at all confused about how to thoroughly hack their health with the help of Bulletproof, the cafe’s experts are there to help with a “science-based approach.”

The high-flying promises of health benefits extend to the cafe’s very construction, which includes “circadian-complaint lighting to support improved sleep patterns,” an HVAC system “upgraded with Homebiotic™ spray to create a natural barrier against potential environmental mold,” and an electrically grounded floor that claims to reduce static charge and inflammation. The entire space promises to be toxin-free.