Proffee = Protein Powder + Coffee

The coffee at my work is mediocre and not correspondingly inexpensive, so as a means of caffeinating myself regularly I mostly drank instant coffee + sugar + coffee whitener. I premixed these and added boiling water, and the resulting concoction was... fine (OK, an abomination if you are a coffee snob, but as will become apparent, I am not). However, one day I was idly reading the nutrition label on the coffee whitener and realized I was drinking a mixture of modified corn syrup and hydrogenated vegetable oil (= saturated fat). This finding did not spark joy so I jumped online and searched for "alternatives to coffee whitener". The first thing that popped up was protein powder, and the combination of this with coffee is called "proffee". I loved that (my occupation is professor, so some nice synergy there), and immediately tried it out. It turns out there are some tricks to making a decent beverage, and I will share these here.

1. Coffee (I use instant coffee, the pictured flavor, but any coffee works)
2. Protein powder (I use the pictured mocha latte flavored protein powder)
3. A microwave OR a temperature controlled kettle

The critical thing when making proffee is to make sure your water temperature is well below boiling. At work I use a temperature controlled kettle; at home I use a microwave. In both cases I heat the water to 70°C (160°F). Boiling water will denature the protein (proteins are chains of amino acids folded into a particular shape; "denaturing" is unfolding the chain into an amorphous mass), and results in a mostly insoluble sludge. This mess is not bad for you - indeed, it makes the protein slightly easier to digest - but it looks bad and tastes gunky. I suspect a lot of people try proffee at too high a temperature and think "ugh, gross" and abandon it.

I use a 1:1.2 mixture of instant coffee and protein powder. Both quickly dissolve at 70°C (160°F) and it is basically ready to drink. It does not whiten the coffee very much but does create a nice crema.

Most protein powders contain artificial sweetener so sugar is not necessary unless you have a really sweet tooth. Appropriately flavored protein powder tastes better, and dairy-based protein is whey tastier than vegan (pea-based) protein powder (scarcely drinkable in a smoothie, truly horrible as proffee).

Iced proffee is also good - just blend with cold water and ice.

Obviously one cup of coffee is not going to make any significant difference to your health, but because I have 3 largish mugs a day I was curious to see what the dietary consequences were of this change over a year. I drink the same amount of coffee but have substituted ~20 g of sugar and ~20 g of coffee whitener for ~20 g of protein powder each day. Your mileage will vary of course, depending on how much you drink and the ratio you find palatable.

Fat: 3.65 kg = 8 lb less per year (coffee whitener is 50% saturated fat)

Sugar: 11 kg = 24 lb less per year (coffee whitener is 50% corn syrup-derived carbs)

Protein: 7.3 kg = 16 lb more per year (protein powder is nearly 100% protein)

In terms of calories: 32,850 less calories from fat, 44,000 calories from sugar, 29,200 more calories from protein. Overall 47,650 calories less per year = 130 calories less per day.

So this dietary change adds up! What about cost? Sugar is cheap; 16 lb of sugar is about $20. 16 lb of coffee whitener is about $50. 16 lb of protein powder is about $300 (all approximate prices in $US in 2025 from Walmart, buying in large sizes). So the cost implications are appreciable - 3 large mugs (my intake) of proffee a day will cost you about $1 in protein powder alone, compared to only about $0.23 for the sugar/whitener mix.

Side note: instant coffee costs about $1/oz, so the coffee will also cost you about $300/year for 3 mugs/day.

So is the extra cost of proffee worth it? Definitely a personal decision but I am happy to be consuming 90 less calories per day from fat,* 120 less calories a day from sugar,* and adding 20 g of protein per day to my diet, so an extra $0.77/day for an incremental nutritional improvement seems a decent trade.

* I'm actually not, or I would have lost a noticeable amount of weight in the last year! My weight is the same so presumably I am compensating elsewhere in my diet. I have also got fitter but that can more likely be attributed to a new gravel bike than to my beverage choices.