While writing about health hacks recently, we started thinking about additional quick-and-easy ways in which we can add a dash of wellness to our daily life without sacrificing a ton of time or money. This led us to think about the one thing we consume every single day—coffee—and how we could make it do double or even triple duty for us each morning. Bonus: These tips make you feel less guilty about your addiction. Here, seven ingredients you never thought to add to your coffee (but should!).
It took us a while to get onboard with adding butter to our coffee, so you'd be forgiven for balking at the idea of tossing a raw egg into the mix. Such a thing exists, however, as Swedish Egg Coffee, and how you make it is as follows: Add a raw egg to coffee grounds, toss them into boiling water and then strain the results into your cup. This supposedly neutralizes the acidity and makes coffee less bitter.
Now that you've added raw egg to your coffee, it's time to take things a step further by throwing the eggshell in, too. This is known as Cowboy Coffee, which sounds about right. It's made in the exact same way as the pot above, with the same results, so you might as well just throw your entire egg in and see what happens.
Also good for reducing the bitterness of your beans? Salt. Add a pinch or two to your grounds before brewing to neutralize or mellow out your coffee. Afterward, you can probably use this as a scrub of some sort, too. Actually, we'd add salt to the egg-and-coffee concoction and smear that all over your face for the ultimate in morning multi-tasking. Some people also add a pinch of salt to their cup once the brewing is done.
Honestly, vanilla-flavored creamer always seems like a good idea until we add it to our coffee. Then, our previously hot beverage becomes a lukewarm, sugary mess that tastes more like a Frappuccino than a good old-fashioned cup of joe. If you like the vanilla flavor but don't want all the added "yuck," try adding vanilla extract to your coffee grounds before brewing and/or add a dash to your cup once it's ready to go.
Cardamom coffee is popular in the Middle East and is said to make you less jittery than a traditional American cup. Here is a recipe using cardamom pods, though you can also just add a dash of cardamom spice to your cup if the full-on "cooking" experience seems a bit intense for you first thing in the morning.
Mushrooms are big in the wellness world right now, but don't worry if you're scratching your head as to how you're going to add the fungi to your coffee at 6am. Companies like FourSigmatic sell pre-made mushroom coffee for easy consumption. We also love these Lifehouse Tonics powders, which can be sprinkled into your cup of joe once it's been brewed.
Just kidding, but the world in 2017 is pretty stressful, so we won't judge.
