Coffee shop becomes a haven for 'biohacking' movement
Kimiya Manoochehri, USA TODAY 9 p.m. EDT August 9, 2016
(Photo: Bulletproof)
LOS
ANGELES — At a futuristic new coffee shop here, chairs emit an
electromagnetic field, the lighting changes by the time of day, and a
panel on the floor is specially designed to discharge guests’ static
electricity.
Even
the coffee will strike many as a little strange, coming with a pat of
butter and teaspoon of what the shop calls "brain octane oil."
And here's what it is all about: Bulletproof Coffee is home to the biohacking movement.
Dave
Asprey, author, tech investor and podcast host, says he's on a mission
to bring the concept of biohacking — "the art and science of
manipulating your environment to get the best results possible from your
body" — to the masses.
As fans of the podcast know, Asprey vows to live up to 180 years by practicing biohacking.
Asprey says he has spent over $300,000 to "hack his own biology," which includes a cryotherapy lab at
his home in Canada. He has built a large following online. His podcast
has over 20 million downloads, and he has over 300,000 likes on Facebook
and 142,000 followers on Twitter.
Coffee,
not exactly cheap at $4.25 for a cup, is the main star of his mission.
Bulletproof Coffee, with locations in downtown Los Angeles and Santa
Monica, Calif., are the result of Asprey’s aim to repurpose coffee with
the intention of turning it into a “performance-enhancing substance.”
Asprey says he found ways to eliminate the parts of coffee that didn’t
benefit him, including the jitteriness and the “crash,” as well as
maximizing the potential goodness of the brew.
His beliefs are controversial, and not shared with some in the medical community.
"For
him to make that claim (that he’ll live to 180) isn’t based on any
evidence because he can’t point to any one or any group of people who
have done what he’s talking about, and it’s not testable," says Steven
Barrett, a physician who founded Quackwatch.com, a website devoted to calling out on questionable medical claims.
Patron waits for coffee at the Bulletproof Coffee location in Santa Monica. (Photo: Jefferson Graham)
Yet
Asprey's operation has some serious funding behind it. Venture capital
firm Trinity Ventures, investors in Starbucks and Jamba Juice, gave
Asprey $9 million to help him bring his Bulletproof-biohacking vision to
the masses.
Dan
Skolnick, a partner at Trinity, says that no one has impacted his
health and life in general more in the last 10 years than Asprey.
“I
always grab a cup of Bulletproof coffee when I go in there, and I
couldn't tell you if it's the coffee I'm feeling the most or the
lighting or the electromagnetic waves. One thing you'll notice once you
get into biohacking is that people feel things in very different ways,”
Skolnick said.
Asprey says the coffee recipe took him six years and tens of thousands of dollars to perfect.
To
every cup he adds a pat of butter from grass-fed cows and a dash of an
oil derived in part from coconuts, which Asprey calls “brain octane
oil." He says it provides ketones — or fat-energy — to the brain.
Brain Octane Oil and other products sold at Bulletproof Coffee in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo: Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY)
Asprey,
who is a former entrepreneur-in- residence at Trinity, has no medical
training, but credits his computer-programming background as a big
motivator in finding ways to elevate the "hardware" behind human health.
At his stores, coffee is just the start. Consider:
• The
couch and chairs emit a gentle electromagnetic field. Asprey
says magnets influence the way cells make energy, and the fields
released from the café’s seats are designed to increase the blood flow
in the body. “So you’re sitting in a chair and going 'I don’t really
know why but I feel really good'," Asprey says.
T-shirt on sale at Bulletproof Coffee in Los Angeles. (Photo: Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY)
• The
lighting changes with the time of day. “If you’re in a brightly lit
café at night with those blue LED lights everywhere, you’re not going to
make melatonin for four hours and your sleep quality will be diminished
very meaningfully.” (Asprey’s iPhone has a protective screen on it that
mimics this effect.)
• A
long metal panel that’s been electrically grounded on the floor of the
café is specially designed to reduce inflammation that builds up from
the rubber soles in most shoes, as found in another National Center for Biotechnology Information study.
• The
“Bulletproof Vibe,” an elevated square pedestal right by the cash
register that guests are invited to stand on as they wait for their
drink to be prepared. Asprey claims that the Vibe tricks the body into
thinking it’s moving at 30 times the rate it actually is, making it an
ideal spot to assume a quick lunge or yoga pose while waiting around for
a drink.
Patrons at Bulletproof Coffee enjoy their java at a grounded table, which is said is like walking barefoot on the beach. (Photo: Jefferson Graham)
When
some of the features are described to Quakewatch's Barrett, he notes
his doubts. “There’s absolutely no evidence, not the slightest, that
exposure to static magnetic fields has any health value,” he says. “Most
of this has been marketed on magnetic devices. The body isn’t
particularly magnetic so you’re not likely to have any effect."
But
Asprey isn't deterred. His unique coffee, along with biohacking, have
had a huge impact, he says: “It’s completely changed my life.”
Coffee shop becomes a haven for 'biohacking' movement
Kimiya Manoochehri, USA TODAY 9 p.m. EDT August 9, 2016
(Photo: Bulletproof)
LOS
ANGELES — At a futuristic new coffee shop here, chairs emit an
electromagnetic field, the lighting changes by the time of day, and a
panel on the floor is specially designed to discharge guests’ static
electricity.
Even
the coffee will strike many as a little strange, coming with a pat of
butter and teaspoon of what the shop calls "brain octane oil."
And here's what it is all about: Bulletproof Coffee is home to the biohacking movement.
Dave
Asprey, author, tech investor and podcast host, says he's on a mission
to bring the concept of biohacking — "the art and science of
manipulating your environment to get the best results possible from your
body" — to the masses.
As fans of the podcast know, Asprey vows to live up to 180 years by practicing biohacking.
Asprey says he has spent over $300,000 to "hack his own biology," which includes a cryotherapy lab at
his home in Canada. He has built a large following online. His podcast
has over 20 million downloads, and he has over 300,000 likes on Facebook
and 142,000 followers on Twitter.
Coffee,
not exactly cheap at $4.25 for a cup, is the main star of his mission.
Bulletproof Coffee, with locations in downtown Los Angeles and Santa
Monica, Calif., are the result of Asprey’s aim to repurpose coffee with
the intention of turning it into a “performance-enhancing substance.”
Asprey says he found ways to eliminate the parts of coffee that didn’t
benefit him, including the jitteriness and the “crash,” as well as
maximizing the potential goodness of the brew.
His beliefs are controversial, and not shared with some in the medical community.
"For
him to make that claim (that he’ll live to 180) isn’t based on any
evidence because he can’t point to any one or any group of people who
have done what he’s talking about, and it’s not testable," says Steven
Barrett, a physician who founded Quackwatch.com, a website devoted to calling out on questionable medical claims.
Patron waits for coffee at the Bulletproof Coffee location in Santa Monica. (Photo: Jefferson Graham)
Yet
Asprey's operation has some serious funding behind it. Venture capital
firm Trinity Ventures, investors in Starbucks and Jamba Juice, gave
Asprey $9 million to help him bring his Bulletproof-biohacking vision to
the masses.
Dan
Skolnick, a partner at Trinity, says that no one has impacted his
health and life in general more in the last 10 years than Asprey.
“I
always grab a cup of Bulletproof coffee when I go in there, and I
couldn't tell you if it's the coffee I'm feeling the most or the
lighting or the electromagnetic waves. One thing you'll notice once you
get into biohacking is that people feel things in very different ways,”
Skolnick said.
Asprey says the coffee recipe took him six years and tens of thousands of dollars to perfect.
To
every cup he adds a pat of butter from grass-fed cows and a dash of an
oil derived in part from coconuts, which Asprey calls “brain octane
oil." He says it provides ketones — or fat-energy — to the brain.
Brain Octane Oil and other products sold at Bulletproof Coffee in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo: Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY)
Asprey,
who is a former entrepreneur-in- residence at Trinity, has no medical
training, but credits his computer-programming background as a big
motivator in finding ways to elevate the "hardware" behind human health.
At his stores, coffee is just the start. Consider:
• The
couch and chairs emit a gentle electromagnetic field. Asprey
says magnets influence the way cells make energy, and the fields
released from the café’s seats are designed to increase the blood flow
in the body. “So you’re sitting in a chair and going 'I don’t really
know why but I feel really good'," Asprey says.
T-shirt on sale at Bulletproof Coffee in Los Angeles. (Photo: Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY)
• The
lighting changes with the time of day. “If you’re in a brightly lit
café at night with those blue LED lights everywhere, you’re not going to
make melatonin for four hours and your sleep quality will be diminished
very meaningfully.” (Asprey’s iPhone has a protective screen on it that
mimics this effect.)
• A
long metal panel that’s been electrically grounded on the floor of the
café is specially designed to reduce inflammation that builds up from
the rubber soles in most shoes, as found in another National Center for Biotechnology Information study.
• The
“Bulletproof Vibe,” an elevated square pedestal right by the cash
register that guests are invited to stand on as they wait for their
drink to be prepared. Asprey claims that the Vibe tricks the body into
thinking it’s moving at 30 times the rate it actually is, making it an
ideal spot to assume a quick lunge or yoga pose while waiting around for
a drink.
Patrons at Bulletproof Coffee enjoy their java at a grounded table, which is said is like walking barefoot on the beach. (Photo: Jefferson Graham)
When
some of the features are described to Quakewatch's Barrett, he notes
his doubts. “There’s absolutely no evidence, not the slightest, that
exposure to static magnetic fields has any health value,” he says. “Most
of this has been marketed on magnetic devices. The body isn’t
particularly magnetic so you’re not likely to have any effect."
But
Asprey isn't deterred. His unique coffee, along with biohacking, have
had a huge impact, he says: “It’s completely changed my life.”
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