Keto Iced Power Mocha

Iced coffees are perfect pick-me-up drinks for hot summer days. This Keto Iced Power Mocha takes this refreshment to the next level: it provides instant energy — without spiking your blood sugar as it has practically zero carbs — keeps you cool, and thanks to caffeine, it rejuvenates you and makes you more alert. Naturally, for those who cannot or don’t want to use caffeine, a caffeine-free coffee is a perfect option. Coffee is rich in antioxidants, so it actually does good for you. Read on and find out why I chose these ingredients and why it’s entitled to include the word “power” to the name!

And don’t forget to check the exciting variations at the end of the post: you’ll find recipes for Keto Power Mocha Frappé, Instant Keto Power Mocha Granita, Creamy Keto Iced Power Mocha, and Iced Power Café con Naranja — naturally with photos included!

Why is this recipe “Power” Mocha? Where’s the power?

First of all, I want to explain why I call this “power” mocha. Below you’ll find my reasoning why I chose these ingredients and why I think it’s entitled to add the word “power” to the name of this refreshing drink.

Benefits of coffee

Let’s start with coffee. Since coffee is known to increase your energy levels and make you feel less tired, it’s a real power ingredient. Coffee improves brain function as well as physical performance. It actually may fight against depression and make you happier!

Moreover, coffee contains antioxidants and essential nutrients, like some minerals and B vitamins. Indeed, coffee is the most significant source of antioxidants in the western diet. Coffee might also lower your risk to certain chronic diseases, like type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.

By the way, did you know that we Finns are the most coffee consuming nation in the world? Personally, I have to get my cuppa joe every single morning to get my day running smoothly. Nowadays, I add collagen powder and this turmeric latte mix to my morning coffee.

Benefits of raw cocoa powder

I’ve chosen raw cocoa powder for this drink. As the cocoa is not heated, it has more benefits than the Dutch-processed cocoa powder that we usually use in baking. Like coffee, also cocoa powder is rich in antioxidants and essential nutrients. Cocoa may improve your brain function as it contains polyphenols that improve blood flow to your brain. And because of that, it also may reduce your risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia. Moreover, as polyphenols are potent antioxidants, they have numerous health benefits. They can reduce inflammation, improve blood flow, lower blood pressure, and improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

Cocoa also fights against cancer and might prevent you from getting a stroke or heart attack. Also, it’s not a coincidence that chocolate makes you feel happy: cocoa indeed can improve your mood and make you less prone to depression, thanks to polyphenols and the ability of cocoa to boost serotonin release. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that helps you calm down. And cocoa works as an aphrodisiac, too!

Also, for those who want to control their weight, cocoa is great news. It might suppress the appetite and make you feel longer satiated. It also can increase fat burning and prevent fat storage. In addition, cocoa contains a hefty amount of fiber — that helps with constipation.

Cocoa is one of the richest sources of polyphenols, however, processing (especially with alkaline) and heating cocoa decrease especially the antioxidants, so that’s why I strongly recommend raw cocoa powder to get the maximum benefits out of this decadent delicacy.

Benefits of MCT oil

I admit I’ve never been a huge fan of MCT oil because I’ve always thought it’s just a factory-processed version of coconut oil. However, lately, I’ve included this colorless, odorless, and neutral-tasting oil to my regular regimen. Personally, the taste of coconut oil is a bit turn-off for me — and it makes my heart race, too — but neutral MCT oil works anywhere tastewise and doesn’t cause heart palpitations for me.

MCT oil actually has a vast amount of benefits. First of all, MCT oil promotes weight loss in several ways. Even you are not on a keto diet, MCT oil boosts your ketone levels and causes your body to burn fat. On a keto diet, the ketone bodies (aka ketones) indeed are made from your body fat! That is one reason why the keto diet works wonders for weight watchers. Moreover, MCT oil suppresses hunger and promotes the feeling of fullness.

And now comes the actual “power” part: MCT oil provides you with instant energy. As it contains medium-chain triglycerides (hence the name MCT), they are quickly absorbed actually already from your stomach. The longer-chain fats (like butter) take a much longer route to get digested. The longer-chain fats need bile to be broken into smaller pieces so that your body can absorb them, but as MCT oil consists of shorter chains, your body can absorb this fat immediately, and no bile is needed.

Therefore, MCT oil gives you almost instant energy — and the ketones that your body produce from the MCT oil in just a few minutes after you have consumed it, are a great source of energy for your brains, so both your body and your brains will get an energy boost from MCT oil. So, in case you want to have a surge of instant brainpower, grab some MCT oil! MCT oil is perfect for athletes, too: it can help you exercise longer and may improve your stamina.

MCT oil is also shown to have antimicrobial and antifungal effects. It also supports gut health by blocking unhealthy toxins and bacteria from entering the bloodstream, especially if you have a leaky gut (a huge problem nowadays).

One important note, though: it’s better to start using MCT oil little by little. If you are not used to using it, it might cause stomach discomfort and work as a very effective laxative. Increasing the dosage gradually is a good idea. Start, for example, with 1 teaspoon per day for a few days, and increase by 1 teaspoon every few days. I don’t recommend more than 2 tablespoons of MCT oil per day. MCT oil doesn’t contain nutrients, so it’s not a good idea to consume only fats and forget to eat your meats and greens for the essential nutrients. Even MCT oil has about 10% fewer calories than, for example, olive oil and nuts, it’s still a very high-energy substance.

How to prepare the Keto Iced Power Mocha

To get enough flavor to your drink, be sure to use strong enough coffee. Try to use organic coffee as the regular coffee might contain some residues of pesticides and herbicides. Moreover, organic coffee is higher in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals than regular coffee.

Even the tap water here in Finland is excellent, I always use filtered water. Well, there is some smell of chlorine in the tap water, and as I don’t want to have that chlorine in my system — and I also prefer pure taste in my water — I use filtered water both as drinking water and as water in cooking, also for my coffee. So, to get the best taste (and to avoid nasty residues), use good-quality water for your coffee.

You can use your favorite non-caloric sweetener to sweeten this keto power drink – that you can actually call as a keto energy drink, too. I chose powdered erythritol because, as it’s powdered, it dissolves better in cold liquids, and erythritol is quite neutral in taste. It actually has a slight “cooling effect” in your mouth, so also because of that, it’s a perfect sweetener for cold drinks.

Instead of erythritol, you can use monk fruit (aka luo han guo), stevia, or allulose. Don’t use xylitol or other sugar alcohols as they tend to cause stomach upset and raise blood sugar levels, unlike erythritol that is the best-tolerated sugar alcohol.

That’s it! Let’s take a look at how to prepare this revitalizing drink:

Take a blender jar and add 1 cup (240 ml) brewed strong cold coffee…

…2 tablespoons powdered erythritol (or your preferred sweetener to taste)…

…1 tablespoon MCT oil…

…and 1 tablespoon raw cocoa powder.

Blend…

…until smooth. I simply use a smoothie program in my blender to prepare this drink and it works well.

Place 1 cup (240 ml) crushed ice into a serving glass. Pour in the drink.

Enjoy!

So good!

How I came up with this Keto Iced Mocha recipe

The hot weather continues here in Finland. Usually, I don’t tolerate heat that well, but this year, I have been enjoying a lot of the long-lasting heatwave. Well, I wish I had more time to spend outside and enjoy the weather, but having two full-time jobs, this blog, nutrition therapy clients, and writing two books keep me inside of the house most of the time. Anyway, that doesn’t prevent me from enjoying refreshing summer treats. And I’m a sort of workaholic, so I always have to work on something anyway…

This week’s recipe was again born on an extempore basis. I was pondering icy treats and came up with ideas for keto granitas. I was actually pretty close to posting three keto granita variations, but then thought that granita is super-complicated and time-consuming to make – even it requires just a few ingredients. I simply don’t have time for all that mixing and scraping that the preparation process involves. And it takes many hours to make a simple granita!

Moreover, there is no space in my freezers to freeze huge amounts of granita. They are filled with previous experiments (like this Crustless Tiropita and the frozen cubes of this slush). And I still have plenty of elk meat and organs left that should be used asap.

Next, I was planning to make 3-ingredient Keto Frappé. However, it sounded too lame. I wanted something more exciting — maybe a jazzed-up version of keto frappé. I actually could make butter coffee — ketoers’ favorite coffee! — as frappé or iced coffee version. Butter frappé actually sounded damn delicious.

An die Gewehre, as my German husband always says, meaning that it’s time to get down to it. So, I started planning my first Keto Butter Frappé experiment. The ingredients were quite clear from the beginning: brewed coffee, butter, MCT oil, sweetener, and crushed ice. Well, for a genuine frappé, you use instant coffee, but for this version, I wanted to use ready brewed coffee.

As I was planning to make iced coffee, I was hesitating a bit about adding butter. It might get lumpy in cold coffee. Then, I realized grass-fed ghee would be a much better option. It has a soft consistency — plus, it’s lacking the proteins that are the most problematic part of butter.

I brewed plenty of strong coffee and let it cool until ice-cold. Then, I poured 1 cup (240 ml) of the coffee to the blender. I also added 2 tablespoons powdered erythritol, 1 tablespoon MCT oil, and 1 tablespoon grass-fed ghee. Excitedly, I blended all these using the smoothie program into a smooth drink.

To my big surprise, everything blended well — except the blender had created a big heap of whitish foam on top. The foam was very thick and rich, yet velvety and extremely airy. This foam was definitely an idea to develop further!

However, the ghee lent a toasted, almost burned note to the drink. And that wasn’t to my taste. So, I decided to drop the butter and go only with MCT oil. Then, I realized I could create an iced mocha by adding some raw cocoa powder for a delicious chocolaty note.

As it was already late in the evening, I wanted to make this experiment quickly, so I used instant coffee. And because it was late, I used caffeine-free coffee. For the experiment, I placed 1 cup (240 ml) cold water, 1 teaspoon instant coffee, 2 tablespoons powdered erythritol, 1 tablespoon MCT oil, and 1 teaspoon cocoa powder into a blender and blended until smooth.

The ingredients blended together beautifully. I poured the drink over crushed ice and took a sip. The taste was otherwise excellent, but it was too bland. Lesson learned: the coffee needed to be strong. With instant coffee, 2 teaspoons would do the trick. I also wanted more chocolate taste, so I needed to increase the amount of cocoa powder, maybe even double or triple it.

The next morning, after doing some new experiments with those small modifications (and using coffee with caffeine!), I was super happy with the drink. It actually gave me lots of energy so that I had the endurance to carry on my work-filled day.

Actually, this drink is perfect for lazy summer days as well. When you don’t feel like eating anything but want to get your refreshment and some energy anyway, just whip up a glass of this Keto Iced Power Mocha and feel the invigorating effect and energy surge!

Here’s the recipe for you to enjoy: