Cold Brew for Intermittent Fasting | Zero Calorie | Bare Brew
Cold Brew Coffee for Intermittent Fasting
I started fasting 16:8 about a year before I launched Bare Brew. And the thing that kept tripping me up wasn't hunger — it was the coffee. Every canned cold brew I grabbed had something hiding on the back label: natural flavors, milk derivatives, gums, or 15-20 calories that technically shouldn't be there. When I built Bare Brew, fasting compatibility wasn't a marketing angle — it was a design constraint. Two ingredients. Nothing that touches your insulin. That's the whole idea.
What I Learned Reading 40+ Cold Brew Labels
Before I formulated Bare Brew, I bought every canned cold brew I could find in Chicago — grocery stores, gas stations, specialty shops. I flipped every one of them over and read the back.
Here's what I found: almost none of them are just coffee and water. Even the "black" and "unsweetened" versions. Stok's "Not Too Sweet" black cold brew lists "natural flavor" as an ingredient — which can include plant-based extracts that carry trace calories. Califia's black cold brew adds pea protein and locust bean gum. La Colombe's draft lattes contain milk and sugar.
When you're fasting, "trace calories" and "maybe breaks a fast" aren't good enough. That's why Bare Brew's ingredient list is two items long — cold brewed 100% Arabica coffee and filtered water. There's nothing to debate.
FROM OUR PRODUCTION LINE
Bare Brew is retort-processed at our facility in Skokie, IL — the same preservation method used for shelf-stable foods. This means zero preservatives needed while maintaining a 12-month shelf life.
Why 20-Hour Extraction Matters for Fasters
Most commercial cold brews steep for 12-16 hours. We steep for 20. At 12 hours, you get light-bodied cold brew with maybe 150-180mg caffeine per 12oz. At 20 hours with our Honduras San Vicente beans, we hit the sweet spot: 320mg per can with smooth, naturally sweet chocolate-forward flavor and zero bitterness.
This matters for fasting because you're drinking this black, on an empty stomach, at 7am. If it's smooth enough to enjoy black, you stay in your fast without willpower.
The Subtraction Principle: Why Fewer Ingredients Is a Feature
Every ingredient a beverage company adds is either solving a problem they created or masking a flaw in their base product. Gums stabilize milk that separates. Sweeteners cover bitter extraction. If your cold brew needs 8 ingredients, the first two weren't good enough.
We source single-origin Honduras Arabica from the San Vicente Cooperative — beans grown at altitude that naturally develop complex chocolate and caramel notes. When your base ingredient is this good, subtraction isn't a compromise. It's the whole point.
Two ingredients. Zero compromise.
320mg caffeine · Zero calories · Won't break your fast
Shop Bare Brew →What Actually Breaks a Fast
Black coffee (hot or cold brew): 2-5 calories. Does not break a fast.
Coffee with cream: 20-50 calories. Breaks a fast.
"Zero sugar" drinks with sucralose: Debated. Some research shows sucralose can trigger an insulin response even at zero calories.
Bare Brew: Coffee and water. No debate, no footnotes. Zero metabolic interference.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does cold brew coffee break an intermittent fast?
No — as long as it's truly black with no additives. Black cold brew has 2-5 calories, which isn't enough to trigger insulin or interrupt autophagy. Bare Brew contains only cold brewed coffee and filtered water — nothing that could compromise your fast.
Why does Bare Brew have 320mg of caffeine without additives?
Three factors: bean selection, brew ratio, and steep time. We use Honduras San Vicente Cooperative Arabica beans grown at high altitude. We brew at a high coffee-to-water ratio and steep for 20 hours — longer than most commercial cold brews. The result is 320mg of naturally occurring caffeine with no synthetic caffeine added.
What's the difference between "zero sugar" and "no sweetener"?
"Zero sugar" means no sugar — but not no sweetener. Many zero-sugar drinks use sucralose, stevia, or erythritol. Bare Brew contains no sweetener of any kind — the smooth, naturally sweet flavor comes entirely from the 20-hour cold extraction of premium Arabica beans.
Built for people who read the label.
320mg natural caffeine · Zero calories · Two ingredients · Nothing to debate
Free shipping on 12-packs · Shelf-stable 12 months
