"MCTs . . .  travel directly to the liver where they’re processed into powerful energy particles called ketone[s]."

I tried buttered coffee several months ago.  It just didn't do it for me.  I was not impressed neither with the taste or with the health benefits.  Then I tried it again last week, using instant coffee and raw butter.  I added four tablespoons of raw butter.  I could not believe the difference.  And by difference I mean the effects this time versus the non-effects last time several months ago.  This time I felt remarkable energy.  I had a cup in the afternoon.  And I like the effects so much that I took a second cup of this buttered coffee toward the evening.  Big mistake.  I was wired beyond belief.  Could not sleep.  I've never had any coffee so strong that it interrupted my sleep.  I was wired all night long.  That was the first night.  So I thought I would try it again the following the day and I did.  The energy rush was less but I noticed a tightening of the muscles under my arms and around my rib cage.  I'd read that buttered coffee works as a weight loss and energizer, apparently because it kick starts your metabolism.  It's been a week since I first tried it.  I had a cup this morning and this afternoon and I continue to get both the energizing kick and a tightening effect.  And I wanted to know why--what is it about butter when blended with hot coffee that it provides this synergistic energy that the two of them separately don't?  And I wanted to know whether these effects were healthy for one's tissues--heart, brain, liver, etc.--or not.  Here's what I found.  Laura Jeffers explains in "Can Buttered Coffee Give You a Better Body?"

There’s a lot of hype lately about the most recent coffee trend. Take your morning cup-of-joe, add two tablespoons of butter and some oil, and call it Bulletproof Coffee. No doubt it’s an interesting flavor, but it’s the claims of increased energy and weight loss that seem to be giving this morning jolt traction.

It’s not just any butter and coffee. Those supporting this idea say it has to be unsalted, grass-fed butter and medium-chain triglyceride oil (MCT) added to low-toxicity coffee beans. But can a mixture like that really live up to what proponents are saying?

What happens to butter in your body?

There’s no real research into whether butter-spiked coffee is good for you, but we do know some things about how butter affects your digestion.

According to existing research, fat in butter contains glycosphingolipids, fatty acids that ward off gastrointestinal tract infections, especially in very young children and older adults.

Its omega-3 and omega-6 fats also slow down your body’s metabolism of caffeine, so you hold on to energy longer and avoid the crash that comes when the stimulant wears off.

More about MCT

MCT, most commonly found in coconut oil, is also good for our bodies and brains. When it comes to our bodies, we don’t store MCT in our adipose tissue, the fat around and inside our muscles, like the other dietary fats we eat.

Most of those fats are long-chain triglycerides, but MCTs are shorter. They travel directly to the liver where they’re processed into powerful energy particles called ketone bodies.

In addition, if your brain loses the ability to break down its primary fuel source, glucose, due to cognitive impairment or some other disorder, it can use ketone bodies as an excellent, alternative source. Research shows that people with cognitive impairment who ingest MCT experience an almost immediate improvement in mental function.

My verdict

So, do the health benefits of butter and MCT mean you should add them to your morning coffee? To begin with, if you don’t already drink coffee, I don’t recommend you start. If you do, though, I still don’t endorse your adding butter and oil to it, and I have no plans to do it either.

Healthy fats and oils do have a place in our daily diets, but I’m not convinced that enhancing our coffee with them is the best way to incorporate them.

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That's odd.  Jeffers doesn't really answer her question of whether buttered coffee builds a better body.  She isolates the benefits of the fat in butter and how that fat wards "off gastrointestinal tract infections, especially in very young children and older adults."  Minimally, her message might be to consume more butter.  But what about butter in one's coffee?  Does the butter emulsify the tanins and caffeine in coffee and render them more absorbable, and if it does is this what is causing the energetic and tightening effects?  She doesn't say that it does.  

And though I have yet to use coconut oil in my coffee, it this ingredient that Jeffers claims provides the greatest health benefit of the buttered coffee.