Cream, Sugar, or Fiber?

That morning cup (or cups) of coffee is a staple in the daily routine for many of us. Whether you prefer it full strength, half caf, decaf, full of sugar and cream, straight black, or in the form of a latte or other creation, coffee is ubiquitous.

"I've always been admiring coffee. It's warm, it's liquid, and it's a great delivery system for health benefits," said Ted Fisher. Coffee is also the second-most consumed beverage in the world, next to water, he said.

Fisher, a West Hartford resident who is both an engineer and marketing professional, has spent the past three years trying to find a way to add fiber to coffee – without affecting the taste or consistency – and with Brioni's Healthy Morning Coffee he has done just that.

Fisher, who is also the President of The Anova Group, LLC, has extensive past experience creating and marketing health-oriented products. His company formulated and launched the line of Atkins brand products, and also introduced fiber into Dreamfields Pasta.

Creating just the right formula was difficult, Fisher said, and the fact that coffee is filtered made it even harder. He experimented in his office, sending his creations to a lab in New York for analysis until he got it just right.

To produce and market the product, Fisher partnered with another West Hartford resident, Brian Whitney, President of Glastonbury-based Brioni's Coffee. Whitney is also owner of the newly-opened in Bishop's Corner.

Brioni's niche is in high end coffees. "You have to use high end beans and process them very carefully with the right moisture level. If not, it doesn't blend properly," Fisher said.

Healthy Morning Coffee is produced somewhere in the Midwest, but that location – and the formula – are trade secrets, said Fisher.

A 12-oz cup of Healthy Morning Coffee – the size of a small Dunkin' Donuts cup – has four grams of fiber. "The average American gets eight to twelve grams of fiber a day, but you need 30-35. It's very difficult to get it," Fisher said.

The average person also drinks two cups of coffee a day, and drinking Healthy Morning Coffee gets them closer to the recommended level of fiber. While dietitians and nutritionists encourage people to eat a balanced diet and get enough fiber from natural sources, Fisher said that many doctors acknowledge that it's difficult to achieve and recommend supplements or fiber-enriched products like cereals.

Healthy Morning Coffee is also ideal for hospitals and assisted living facilities, where increasing fiber intake is often a medical necessity.

Fisher said that the fiber in Healthy Morning Coffee is "soluble" fiber, which promotes the growth of "good" bacteria in the body's digestive system, as opposed to "insoluble" fiber – or roughage – which just pushes things through.

Since Healthy Morning Coffee was introduced last December, "this little idea that came out of Connecticut" is already available in 1,000 stores. Locally, it can be found at Big Y Supermarkets, Geissler's Supermarket, Tri-Town Foods, and Highland Park Markets. The coffee is offered in several varieties, including light, medium or dark roast, as well as hazelnut or decaffeinated.

in West Hartford will be offering an in-store demonstration/sampling this Saturday.

Fisher himself has been drinking his coffee creation for the past two years. "It makes a spectacular cup of coffee," he said.