6 Best Mushroom Coffee Brands (2023 Reviews)
Drinking mushroom coffee may seem unorthodox if you are used to a morning cup of traditional coffee. But you must be one of the few brave coffee lovers if you are reading this.
Spice up your daily coffee habit by replacing your traditional cup with the delicious taste of these top mushroom coffee brands.
At A Glance:
- TOP PICK: Balance Coffee Lion’s Mane
- RUNNER-UP: Nutrilic 10
- BUDGET PICK: Laird Superfood Ground Dark Roast
Reviews of the 6 Best Mushroom Coffee Brands in 2023
Home Grounds has compiled a review of the best mushroom coffees in 2023. We have looked into the types of featured mushrooms, the tasting notes, and whether organic mushrooms have been used. As a bonus, we’ve inspected the mushroom coffee benefits for each of the following products.
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Balance Coffee Lion’s Mane |
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Nutrilic 10 |
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Laird Superfood Ground Dark Roast |
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Vivo Life Magic |
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Four Sigmatic Think |
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Time Health Decaf |
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1. Balance Coffee Lion’s Mane – Best Overall
Specifications
Mushroom type: Lion’s Mane
- Tasting notes: Milk chocolate, hazelnut, fig
- 100% organic: Yes
- Benefits: Focus, memory, energy
London’s Balance Coffee was founded with the twin goals of making coffee that’s good for the planet, as well as being good for your health. So introducing a mushroom coffee to the lineup makes perfect sense.
The coffee starts with beans sourced from Mexico and Columbia – the same mix used for the brand’s popular Stability Blend. After a medium roast and a medium grind, the coffee is infused with organic lion’s mane that’s been double extracted for the full range of benefits (1).
Brew a cup of Balance Coffee Lion’s Mane for increased daily brain function including super memory and better focus, and a long-lasting energy boost. With delightful sweet flavour notes of milk chocolate and fig with a hint of nuttiness, you won’t even notice it’s healthy.
2. Nutrilic 10 – Runner Up
Specifications
Mushroom type: Chaga, Cordyceps, Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Maitake, Shitake, Black Fungus, Tremella & Golden Mushroom
- Tasting notes: Rich and full-bodied
- 100% organic: No
- Benefits: Productivity and focus
If you want the most mushrooms for your buck, it’s hard to go past the Nutrilic 10 Mushroom Coffee. The name isn’t slightly correct – it’s actually 9 mushrooms plus ginseng – but it still offers the broadest range of all the coffees on our list.
With Chaga, Cordyceps, Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Maitake, Shitake, Black Fungus, Tremella and Golden Mushroom the brand claims benefits including enhanced focus and concentration, reduced inflammation and improved sleep.
Neither the coffee nor the extracts are organic, but the product is gluten-free, sugar-free and suitable for vegans. The packaging is completely biodegradable (including the zip lock) and it comes with a small wooden spoon.
This is a mix of both instant coffee and micro-ground coffee for a balance of taste and convenience. If you want to mix things up a little, Nutrilic also offers this 10-extract blend as Instant Cappuccino or Hot Chocolate flavours.
3. Laird Superfood Ground Dark Roast – Budget Pick
Specifications
Mushroom type: Chaga, Lion’s Mane & Cordyceps
- Tasting notes: Rich, bold, low acid
- 100% organic: Yes
- Benefits: Overall wellness and energy
The Laird Superfood brand is one of the biggest names in functional food, famous for its Instafuel and Superfood Creamers. So you know that their mushroom coffee will be worth looking out for.
The 100% organic blend includes extracts of Chaga, Lion’s Mane and Cordyceps mushrooms. While Laird only makes claims of improvements to overall wellness, we know that Chaga is used to reduce inflammation, Lion’s Mane boosts the immune system, and Cordyceps increase energy.
What really gained this drink a place on the list is the quality of the coffee involved. This is HB-class coffee sourced from Peru at altitudes of more than 1,200 m.a.s.l. It’s hand-picked to ensure the perfect ripeness, then wash processed and roasted in small batches. There’s a dark and medium roast available.
As well as being certified organic, this mushroom coffee is dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, non-GMO and suitable for vegans.
4. Vivo Life Magic – Best Ground Coffee
Specifications
Mushroom type: Lion’s Mane
- Tasting notes: not specified
- 100% organic: No
- Benefits: Energy and focus
Vivo Life’s Magic is the perfect choice for anyone who wants to enjoy the benefits of mushrooms but doesn’t want to sacrifice the quality of their brew. Here you’ll find 100% certified organic coffee sourced from the Lekempte region of Ethiopia. The beans are grown at high altitudes between 1,900 and 2,000 m.a.s.l on a family-owned cooperative, and hand picked for the best selection.
The coffee contains Lion’s Mane extract for enhanced concentration and focus. You should be aware that the mushroom extract is not organic, making this product 96.4% organic overall. However, there’s still a lot about this coffee to praise.
It’s third party tested for mycotoxins, and it’s made in a dedicated vegan facility so there’s no chance of cross contamination. Vivo Life is a certified carbon neutral company and the coffee is sent to you in compostable packaging.
5. Four Sigmatic Think – Best Instant Coffee
Specifications
Mushroom type: Lion’s Mane, Chaga
- Tasting notes: Rich and smooth
- 100% organic: Yes
- Benefits: Focus, creativity, & productivity
Four Sigmatic produces a range of mushroom coffees, each with different benefits, but their Think flavour is perfect for those needing that extra mental boost! This fair trade coffee is predominantly made with two functional mushroom types: Chaga and Lion’s Mane. There is plenty of Chaga mushroom coffee and Lion’s mane mushroom coffee benefits to be found here.
Lion’s Mane acts by boosting your creative mind and your productive capabilities all while drinking coffee.
This is true for other Nootropic coffees, too. Focus without crashing as you drink coffee knowing you are in good hands with the mushrooms’ full and active fruiting bodies present in your brew rather than simply the mycelium.
6. Time Health Decaf – Best Decaf
Specifications
Mushroom type: Lion’s Mane, Cordyceps & Chaga
- Tasting notes: Nutty and malty
- 100% organic: No
- Benefits: Focus and mental energy
If your love of coffee is all about the taste rather than the morning jolt, this is the option for you. Time Health offers the benefits of three types of mushrooms and four mental energy boosters in a decaf instant coffee.
Included are Lion’s Mane for mental focus, Cordyceps to help your body produce energy, and Chaga for antioxidants. There’s also Red Maca to boost mood and physical energy, L-Theanine for heightened focus, and Resveratrol and Bacopa Monnieri for long term brain health.
The coffee base is 100% Arabica, and contains both instant and micro-ground coffee for a richer, fuller flavour. This means you can have a nutritious, tasty brew in the time it takes to boil the kettle, without sacrificing on taste.
What Is The Best Mushroom Coffee?
Choosing the best mushroom coffees ultimately comes down to personal preference. To discover what that is, consider the following factors:
- the mushrooms featured
- mushroom taste
- if they’re 100% organic matters
- different health benefits of the mushroom types used
Coffee Made From Mushrooms
Consuming mushroom coffee entails a lot of different factors (2).
Functional mushrooms are typically the types of mushrooms used in mushroom coffee and are categorized as either an adaptogenic mushroom or a medicinal mushroom, or even both.
Adaptogenic mushrooms are known for easing stress.
Medicinal mushrooms have medicinal properties, such as their anti-inflammatory effects.
The following are the five main types of mushrooms used in the best mushroom coffee brands on our list:
Chaga Mushrooms
Chaga mushrooms are health boosters, improving overall health and immune function. They have treatment effects on some cancers, nausea, diabetes by lowering blood sugar, and heart disease by lowering cholesterol (3). Hot coffee and cold brew activate Chaga’s properties.
Cordyceps Mushrooms
Cordyceps mushrooms are excellent exercise enhancers that improve oxygen use within the body. They also have anti-ageing properties, such as alleviating chronic fatigue with their antioxidants, inhibiting cancer cell growth, and similar treatment effects on inflammation, type 2 diabetes, and the heart as Chaga medicinal mushrooms (4).
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms
Lion’s mane mushrooms tackle the brain, the gut, and the heart, most notably protecting against anxiety, depression, dementia, stomach ulcers, certain cancers, and heart disease, all while boosting immunity (5).
Reishi Mushrooms
Reishi mushrooms treat matters of the heart by treating quality of life via lowering depression, fatigue levels, and inflammation (6).
Turkey Tail Mushrooms
Turkey tail mushrooms focus on gut health and immunity by containing prebiotics, the polysaccharopeptides PSK and PSP, and phenol and flavonoid antioxidants (7).
Another Factor To Consider: How Do You Like Your Coffee?
Do you prefer a slower start to your day by making a meditative, pressed coffee brew? Or do you need a slightly stronger coffee from a coffee machine? Or, perhaps, you want a quick DIY instant coffee pick-me-up?
How fast and easy you like your coffee influences your choice of mushroom coffee. Luckily, plenty of options exist in the form of ground coffee, instant coffee, or coffee pods.
What Does Mushroom Coffee Taste Like?
Mushroom coffee tastes like coffee. Surprised? We were, too, as were dietary experts (8).
Interestingly enough, mushroom coffee tastes pretty similar to regular coffee. It is, after all, coffee with mushroom extracts blended in.
Allow this fact to comfort you, knowing that you do not have to expect little chunks of mushrooms floating at the top of your coffee. Best of all is that you do not even taste them. (9)
Perhaps the biggest benefit I see is that coffee can mask the taste of the mushroom powder as many people find mushrooms unpleasant. It may also be more convenient for people to drink it rather than cook and eat whole mushrooms.
It may not be cake, but you can have your coffee and eat your mushrooms, too.
Organic Mushroom Coffee
Most mushroom coffees are made 100% organically, including the types of Arabica coffee beans and mushrooms used. It is best to seek out brands with organic ingredients to avoid the pesticides used in growing mushrooms and coffee, gaining more nutrients as a result. It is not a requirement for your mushroom coffee to be organic, but chances are, if you are looking to pick this type of coffee up for its benefits, you may as well go all out and get the most out of it.
Mushroom Coffee Benefits
Functional mushrooms are known for their health benefits as well as for their inherent nutritional value. The active compounds are what give a functional mushroom its benefits. If a particular mushroom coffee uses mycelium, this refers to the mushroom’s vegetative body or root. In contrast, the fruiting body is the entirety of a functional mushroom and has most of these active compounds. The entire fruiting bodies are used in PureShrooms and Four Sigmatic on this list, giving them more beta-glucans that help bolster immunity and fatigue endurance (10).
In terms of general mushroom coffee benefits, these commonly include the following:
- Anti-inflammatory, anti-allergenic, and antiulcer effects
- Reduced risk of heart disease with lowered blood cholesterol levels
- Immune-boosting effects with increased vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant properties
- Alleviated stress, inflammation, and nausea
Take these benefits with a grain of salt (but not in your coffee).
The effects of mushroom coffees may present differently depending on the individual coffee drinker, the types of mushrooms used per serving, the specific blends they are made into, and the amount of each type of mushroom component incorporated. (10)
Now, if you want to try another healthy coffee substitute, you can try maca coffee instead.
Verdict
Home Ground’s favourite mushroom coffee brand this year is Balance Coffee. Although it only includes one mushroom extract, it’s made from high-quality, sustainably sourced ingredients, with a taste that’s ideal for everyday drinking.
Functional mushrooms make a great addition to your coffee consumption in mushroom coffee blends. They have less caffeine per serving, come with various health benefits, and mask the taste of mushrooms in a cold brew or hot coffee. If you want to switch to a healthier coffee, try one of these mushroom coffees.
FAQs
Mushroom coffee is said to be good for you as it helps with sleep quality, stress levels, memory abilities, energy levels, pain management, and more. However, these benefits are not very well documented, and most of these claims come via word of mouth. Adding whole mushrooms to your diet via regular foods is recommended rather than solely seeking out the purported health benefits of mushroom coffee, which can make this choice quite expensive in the long run. (8)
Mushroom coffee is better than regular coffee, depending on your personal preferences. Mushroom coffee is regular coffee, but the main difference is that the most common blend of mushroom coffee available is made with mushroom extract and instant coffee. Drying and extraction processes get the beneficial compounds out of mushrooms and into regular coffee by blending them. If you want to sneak vegetables into your brew without tasting them, mushroom coffee does the trick. (9)
The side effects of mushroom coffee are not well known due to a lack of research studies conducted on humans. Most information is gathered from studying animals and using test tubes. It isn’t easy to verify for whom it is beneficial to drink and in what dosages as well as whether you can take it alongside medications or with the presence of health conditions. If you are unsure, consult your doctor first. (11)
Mushroom coffee has caffeine, but much less of it than regular coffee. Mushroom coffee typically contains equal parts ground coffee beans and caffeine-free mushroom powder. Since coffee with mushrooms has fewer ground coffee beans per serving, it has just half the amount of caffeine, or ~50-60mg, as a standard cup of coffee, or ~100-150mg. This makes mushroom coffee a great choice for coffee drinkers watching their caffeine content. Decaffeinated coffee is still the ideal choice for eliminating caffeine. (2)
References
- Dorr, A. (2020, August 17). 4 Things to Know Before Buying Lion’s Mane Products. Mushroom Revival. https://www.mushroomrevival.com/blogs/blog/things-to-know-before-buying-lions-mane-products
- Alexis, A. C. (2021, May 12). Is Mushroom Coffee Worth the Hype? An Expert’s Take. Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/mushroom-coffee
- Brown, M. J. (2018, October 25). What Are Chaga Mushrooms and Are They Healthy? Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/chaga-mushroom
- Van De Walle, G. (2018, May 9). 6 Benefits of Cordyceps, All Backed by Science. Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cordyceps-benefits
- Julson, E. (2018, May 19). 9 Health Benefits of Lion’s Mane Mushroom (Plus Side Effects). Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/lions-mane-mushroom
- Tinsley, G. (2018, March 31). 6 Benefits of Reishi Mushroom (Plus Side Effects and Dosage). Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/reishi-mushroom-benefits
- Kubala, J. (2018, November 6). 5 Immune-Boosting Benefits of Turkey Tail Mushroom. Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/turkey-tail-mushroom
- Cleveland Clinic. (2020, May 19). Mushroom Coffee: Should You Be Drinking It? Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://health.clevelandclinic.org/mushroom-coffee-should-you-be-drinking-it/
- Andersen, C. H. (2021, May 18). Should You Be Drinking Mushroom Coffee? Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.thehealthy.com/nutrition/mushroom-coffee/
- Real Mushrooms. (n.d.). Medicinal Mushroom Benefits: Mycelium vs Fruiting Body. Retrieved August 29, 2022, from https://www.realmushrooms.com/medicinal-mushroom-benefits-fruiting-body-vs-mycelium/
- Benisek, A. (2021, May 20). Mushroom Coffee: Are There Health Benefits? Retrieved August 27, 2022, from https://www.webmd.com/diet/mushroom-coffee-health-benefits
