Recipe: Protein iced coffee

This protein iced coffee makes a great pre- or post-exercise drink with all the benefits of coffee and protein in one tasty beverage.

As seen in the article Coffee and health, coffee may improve many aspects of health. When it comes to exercise, these potential benefits including metabolic, bone and neurological health.

While a cup of coffee usually doesn’t contain enough caffeine to enhance athletic performance, it can certainly increase your alertness before a workout. It also has the potential to help with post-exercise muscle glycogen recovery.

This recipe uses both milk and protein powder to achieve a great combination of protein content and taste. The protein will help counteract the muscle breakdown when taken prior to exercise and promote muscle tissue synthesis when taken post-workout. Protein is also important to help preserve bone mass.

Creatine monohydrate has been shown to enhance athletic performance and body composition. Most importantly, it can help with brain health – in the context of sport it has a potential role in the mitigation of concussion symptoms.

Try to keep your coffee consumption before lunchtime to avoid interfering with your sleep unless you absolutely know it does not affect you. If you train in the afternoon or evening, a decent decaf coffee is a great option.

A few notes on ingredients:

• Milk: the recipe calls for skim milk because to accommodate for most people’s requirements of easily absorbed post-workout nutrition that will not upset their digestion after an intense workout and does not contribute too many kilojoules to their total intake for the day. Feel free to substitute full-fat milk or a plant-based alternative (fortified with calcium) as desired.
• Protein: I recommend whey protein isolate (WPI), but you can also use whey protein concentrate (WPC) or a plant-based protein powder. Flavour-wise, you can use natural (unflavoured) or any flavour that goes well with coffee, such as vanilla, salted caramel or chocolate. Use batch-tested if you get tested for your sport.
• Creatine monohydrate: any brand will do as long as it’s from a reputable manufacturer to avoid contamination with other (potentially banned) substances. Use batch-tested if you get tested for your sport.

Protein iced coffee

This protein iced coffee makes a great pre- or post-exercise drink with all the benefits of coffee and protein in one tasty beverage.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Course Drinks

Ingredients

  

• 60 ml cold brewed coffee or espresso
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 30-40 g protein powder see type and flavour recommendations in the notes below
• 5 g creatine monohydrate
• several ice cubes

Instructions

 

• Pour coffee and milk in a protein shaker, add the powders (the order is important!), close shaker and mix vigorously.
• Pour in a glass over ice and enjoy.

Notes

• Milk: Feel free to substitute full-fat milk or a plant-based alternative (fortified with calcium).
• Protein: I recommend whey protein isolate (WPI), but you can also use whey protein concentrate (WPC) or a plant-based protein powder. Flavour-wise, I recommend natural (unflavoured), vanilla, salted caramel or chocolate. Use batch-tested if you get tested for your sport.
• Creatine monohydrate: Use batch-tested if you get tested for your sport.

Keyword beverage, coffee, drink, protein, protein powder

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