A co-worker has been very confused of late by the notion of “oily” coffee. Her point is this: diet books say coffee has zero calories, but coffee nuts talk about the “oil” floating on a good cup of coffee. Since she doesn’t know of any calorie-free oils, she’s confused.
This is putting a big damper on her fantasies of owning a coffeeshop/bookstore. She’s worried that she’ll fulfill her dreams but baloon up on all those high-grade coffee oils.
So what’s the deal with coffee, oil, and calories?
Yes the oils have calories put is negligable compared to the amount of water, less than 1 calorie. So you will burn that calorie by just lifting your cup. Now if you add cream and sugar then it becomes very high in calories, but not from the coffee oils.
A 6 fluid Oz cup of coffee has trace amounts of oil in it, which amounts to a similar number of calories. In other words, the number is so small it can safely be ignored. If your co-worker is dieting to the point where she is concerned with the caloric content of the trace oils in a cup of coffee, she is at risk of developing a serious eating disorder caused by her inappropriate paranoia.
So it’s basically the celery syndrome you guys have thoroughly discussed in other threads. (Plus maybe a bit of Cecil’s “how many calories in semen” column.)
Don’t worry about my coworker. She’s not actually obsessed with calories, though she is fairly obsessed with coffee.
Thanks for the replies. Now I think we’ll turn to science and pursue our newly-acquired dream of separating the oil from the coffee so we can market a high-calorie coffee oil treat.
everything has oil in it! Fruits, vegetables, everything! She better stop eating right away.