Pros and Cons of Mushroom Coffee

Mushroom coffee isn’t new, but I do get a lot of questions about it, so today I want to shed some light on the pros and cons of mushroom coffee.



Before I do that, I want to make sure that you don’t miss out on my free webinar today. There’s still time to sign up if you want to learn How Stress Wrecks Your Digestion and What You Can Do About It! Click here for details or to register.

What is mushroom coffee?

Mushroom coffee is a growing trend in the modern health food world. Though it’s getting attention recently, people have been consuming mushroom extracts and broths from powdered mushroom species for thousands of years. In traditional Chinese medicine, mushrooms were used as a medicinal food. 

How to make mushroom coffee?

You can’t just toss coffee and mushrooms in a cup and drink it because that would be less than delicious!Mushrooms undergo a thorough drying and extraction process to get the beneficial compounds before it’s added to coffee. The following are the two most common ways to make coffee:

• Mushroom powder in coffee – Prepare your regular coffee (caffeinated, decaf, half-caf), add a teaspoon of mushroom coffee and mix well to dissolve the mushroom.
• Mushroom-coffee blend – This comes in a single-serving packet containing pre-measured mushroom powder and instant coffee with the option of containing sweetener and/or creamer.

The most common mushrooms added in coffee blends include:

• Reishi
• Chaga
• Lion’s mane
• Cordyceps

Regardless of how you would like your mushroom coffee prepared, its growing benefits are truly undeniable. Let’s explore on these benefits:

• Packed with nutrients – just a teaspoon of mushroom powder in your coffee is equivalent to 2000 mg or 2 g of “functional mushroom” (mushrooms with medicinal or adaptogenic health benefits beyond their nutritional composition) AND provides added nutrition including the low-calorie source of protein, B vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds that support your body’s equilibrium.
• Supports brain and nerve health – particularly Lion’s mane coffee, the bioactive ingredients of mushrooms support brain health and regulate healthy mood.
• Supports healthy blood sugar – Try adding maitake mushroom powder to your coffee when you’re eating a high-carb meal. Maitake may lessen the carbohydrates digested and absorbed in the intestines.
• Helps combat stress – Add reishi powder to your coffee to help you de-stress and prepare you for a good night’s sleep.
• Promotes healthy gut microbes – A teaspoon of mushroom powder every day adds to your fiber consumption and increases the growth of healthy gut microbes.
• Provides antioxidants – Chaga, specifically, is rich in antioxidants that prevent tissue damage due to oxidative stress and free radicals.
• Contains anti-inflammatory compounds – Mushroom coffee supports your body’s natural response to inflammation. It actually contains anti-inflammatory compounds like polysaccharides and carotenoids.
• Limits cholesterol absorption – In a study among rats, ergosterol, which is found in the cell walls of mushrooms, suppresses the absorption of cholesterol and increases its excretion through the GI tract.
• Supports healthy immune response –  A teaspoon of turkey tail powder daily activates your immune system.
• Supports your workout – If you’re looking for something to support your stamina and oxygen capacity and help muscle recovery, then cordyceps mushroom powder is just right for you.

What are the downsides of mushroom coffee?

Not many! Primarily, mushroom coffee should be avoided if you have an allergy or intolerance to mushrooms. Also, certain fungal, yeast imbalances, or mold illness could potentially be worsened by consuming mushrooms so you’d want to check with your practitioner first. Secondly, although mushroom coffee is exciting, the studies on it are limited to test tubes and animals. More human research is still needing to be done. Lastly, which is minor, is the higher cost–functional mushrooms are not commercially farmed but harvested in their natural habitat.

Not a coffee drinker? Me neither! I am a big fan of functional mushrooms though and I consume dandelion tea with mushroom powder (Teeccino is a delicious brand!).

It is my passion to work with people like you whose health symptoms are getting in the way of you living life fully and with a sense of freedom in your body. I can help you to regain your health so you can feel great and free to enjoy life fully. 

If you’re ready to discover where your best health has been hiding, I’d love to connect with you!

Apply for a complimentary Unstoppable Health Discovery Session. bit.ly/schedulinghealth (subject to availability).

Until next time, I’m wishing you unstoppable health!
~Rebecca