Waking Up To Buttery Brew

June 12, 2014 Nicole Urso Reed

You're hip to Kippy's ice cream cleanse. You've moved beyond bread shaming. But have you started your morning with a buttery brew? It's a power-packed cup of premium Handlebar coffee Vitamixed together with organic, grass-fed butter, and coconut oil, and it's believed to be a healthy alternative to milks and sweeteners, keeping you fueled longer without the afternoon crash.

Living in Venice, we are spoiled with the freshest, healthiest, tastiest abundance of food choices by some of the most talented, knowledgeable and innovative chefs. And now we have Lela Buttery to add to the list – Buttery and her buttery brew. Yes, that's her real name. And yes, butter coffee is worth a shot. The food-biologist-turned-personal-chef recently took over Another Kind of Sunrise, a cereal-centric takeaway bar tucked behind Abbot Kinney that was opened last September by Venice muralist Diana Garcia and fiancé Greg Rogove. The well-intentioned concept of whole grains served with healthy milk options as well as acai bowls, paleo granola, porridge, and cold-pressed juices will be updated with Buttery's additions of baked goods (gluten-free options, naturally), frittata, and Another Kind of Sunrise will now be the first coffee bar in town to serve up butter coffee.

Buttery explains that there's already a demand for butter coffee among Venice's bodybuilders, techies, and anyone embracing a paleo diet. What do they all have in common?

"They all embrace the butter brew because it promotes weight loss and the good fats sustain you over long periods of time," says Buttery.

Healthy fats in organic, grass-fed butter provide sustained energy, minus the spike and crash of carb-heavy milks and sweeteners. Buddhists and Sherpas have been adding yak butter to their tea centuries before Bulletproofing our a.m. brew became a thing, but we're only seeing the beginning of this larger food movement, debunking myths about butter and natural fat overall, and Buttery is on the frontlines, educating others and demonstrating how important it is to take control of what you eat while cutting through the hype with basic biology.

We Can Do Butter by Lela Buttery

In her book "We Can Do Butter" she talks about her experience working for the Department of Agriculture and how she found herself thrown into food rights activism after moving to Venice and joining Rawsome, a local raw food club on Rose Ave. When it was raided by the FDA, USDA and the California Department of Agriculture over raw goat milk (with loaded guns, she adds) she knew that it was time to take a stand and do her part to raise awareness. She shares this knowledge through all of her talents – as a writer, as a chef, as a member of the local Paradiso CrossFit Gym, as a diving instructor for LA County, and now, as a business owner in the Venice community.

"This is a place that anyone if anyone talks to me for more than a few minutes, they will get a lot more than a cup of coffee," she says. "It’s a soapbox for me to teach and communicate everything that I've learned, and I hope other people will share their experiences with me so that I can learn from them too."

Last week we stopped in for a "Bulletproof" coffee, and she very kindly (never condescendingly) explained that Bulletproof is simply a brand of butter coffee made with a specific type of oil, but anyone can make butter coffee at home, and then she explained how, with the grass-fed butter being the most important element, but coffee is also key. The Handlebar beans are roasted by a couple in Santa Barbara for Another Kind of Sunrise and delivered every four days. Then Buttery happily lists every other local coffee bar in town with the great roasts. As the only place in town serving up a premium cup of buttery brew, wouldn't this be bad for business? Nope. Buttery says that it's all about empowering others to make healthy choices. That's her number one goal, and as a chef, she'll constantly be switching up the menu at Another Kind of Sunrise giving us all plenty of reasons to keep coming back for a fill-up.

With her many, many talents, Buttery's dream is to open a local bed & breakfast with eco tours and adventures. In Maui, she takes groups out spearfishing and then cooks it up for dinner. This weekend, she's heading out to Catalina to teach a group of teens how to dive. If you ask, she'll happily give you recommendations on what to order, or what to do this weekend. Stop in for your first buttery brew and tell her we say hello.

Another Kind of Sunrise // 1629 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Venice CA 90291

How To Make Butter Coffee