Summary

Mushroom coffees blend normal coffee with extracts of medicinal mushrooms such as lion’s mane, reishi, chaga and cordyceps. For most people, the real draw is a gentler cup with less caffeine, and the mushroom compounds are a bonus on top of that. This post looks at the mushrooms used in these blends, their long history in traditional medicine, what they offer, and what to look for if you decide to try one.

Key takeaways

• Mushroom coffee is normal coffee mixed with powdered mushroom extracts. It typically contains about half the caffeine of a standard cup.
• The mushrooms used in these blends have centuries of traditional use and are now supported by early but promising research.
• For many people, the main benefit is an easier way to reduce caffeine while keeping the coffee ritual.
• If you’re interested in a specific mushroom for a particular reason, a standalone extract at the right dose is more likely to deliver what you’re looking for.
• Eating ordinary mushrooms regularly, sauteed into your meals, is a simple way to get many of the same compounds.

Introduction

Mushroom coffees have gone from niche health shop curiosity to something you’ll now find in most supermarkets. The packaging promises better focus, calmer energy and immune support, and if you’ve picked one up and wondered whether any of that is real, you’re asking the right question.

The mushrooms in these blends are not new. Lion’s mane, reishi, chaga and cordyceps have been part of traditional medicine in China, Japan, Tibet and Siberia for hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of years. They were used long before anyone put them in a coffee.

For most people, the real benefit is a way to cut back on caffeine while still enjoying a cup of coffee. The mushroom compounds are a bonus, and the mushrooms themselves are worth knowing about, but it’s the caffeine question that makes the biggest everyday difference.

What mushroom coffee actually is

A mushroom coffee is a blend of ground coffee beans and dried, powdered extracts from one or more medicinal mushrooms. It doesn’t taste strongly of mushrooms. Most people describe the flavour as earthy and slightly nutty, with a smoother finish than normal coffee.

Because the mushroom powder replaces some of the coffee in each serving, most blends contain around 40 to 80 mg of caffeine per cup. That’s roughly half what you’d get from a standard cup of filter coffee. If you’re someone whose sleep, anxiety or energy levels are affected by caffeine, that reduction alone can make a noticeable difference.

The mushrooms inside

Each mushroom in these blends has its own character. Some have been used in traditional medicine for specific purposes for centuries, and some of those uses are now backed by early clinical research. For instance, mushrooms can have adaptogenic properties and you can read more about that in my post about herbal adaptogens.

Lion’s mane

Lion’s mane is a striking, shaggy white mushroom that grows on hardwood trees across Europe, North America and Asia. In Chinese and Japanese medicine, it was traditionally used to support digestion and to strengthen what practitioners called the qi of the spleen and stomach. In Japan, it’s known as yamabushitake, named after the mountain monks who are said to have used it.

Its main active compounds, hericenones and erinacines, can stimulate the production of nerve growth factor (NGF). NGF is involved in the growth and repair of neurons, which is why lion’s mane is the mushroom most often associated with focus and memory.

A 2009 trial found improvements in cognitive function in older adults with early memory decline over 16 weeks. More recently, a 2023 trial found faster mental processing speed after a single dose in younger adults. The evidence is early but the direction is consistent, and it fits with what traditional practitioners have observed for a long time. 

Read more about this in my post about mushrooms and dementia risk.

Lion’s mane is also edible and delicious. In parts of East Asia it’s cooked and eaten as a food, not only taken as a supplement. If you can find it fresh, it’s worth trying sliced and sauteed.

You might also like to read my post about perimenopause and brain fog.

Reishi

Reishi is probably the most revered medicinal mushroom in the world. In Chinese medicine it’s known as lingzhi, the mushroom of immortality, and it has been documented in Chinese medical texts for over 2,000 years. It was traditionally used for calming the spirit, supporting restful sleep and strengthening your body’s reserves.

It contains triterpenes, particularly ganoderic acids, and polysaccharides including beta-glucans. The triterpenes appear to influence your body’s stress response and may also affect GABA receptors, which are involved in relaxation and sleep.

The sleep connection is where reishi has recently attracted the most attention. A 2026 trial in 218 adults with chronic insomnia compared reishi extract to melatonin over eight weeks and found a greater improvement in insomnia scores with reishi. On the immune side, reishi’s beta-glucans can help to activate macrophages and natural killer cells, the frontline cells of your innate immune system. A separate 2026 trial of a mushroom blend containing reishi found improvements in stress and sleep over 12 weeks.

In practice, reishi is a mushroom I’d associate with someone who feels wound up, doesn’t sleep well and has that tired but wired quality. It’s not a sedative. It works more by helping to ease the tension that keeps sleep from coming. I’ve written more about nervine herbs.

You might like to read my post about perimenopause and sleep.

Chaga

Chaga is a dark, dense fungus that grows on birch trees in cold northern climates. It has a long history in Russian and Scandinavian folk medicine, where it was traditionally brewed as a tea and used for digestive support, general resilience and recovery during the long winter months.

Chaga has an exceptionally high antioxidant content, largely thanks to its melanin and a range of polyphenols and triterpenoids including betulinic acid, a compound it draws from the birch bark it grows on. It also contains the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), which is part of your body’s own antioxidant defences.

Its beta-glucans have shown immune modulating effects in laboratory studies. The evidence for chaga is mostly preclinical, meaning it comes from cell and animal research rather than human trials, so it’s best thought of as promising rather than proven. But, its antioxidant profile is well documented, and traditional use stretching back centuries suggests there’s something real behind the reputation.

Chaga tea, brewed from chunks of the dried fungus, is the traditional way to take it and still one of the most effective. The slow hot water extraction helps to release the polysaccharides.

Read more about immune system support here.

Cordyceps

Cordyceps has one of the most unusual stories in herbal medicine. The original species, Cordyceps sinensis, is a parasitic fungus that grows on caterpillars high in the Tibetan plateau. It was used in Tibetan and Chinese medicine for centuries to support energy, endurance and respiratory function, and it was so highly valued that it was reserved for the emperor’s household.

Today, most supplements use Cordyceps militaris, which can be cultivated commercially without the caterpillar. Its main active compound, cordycepin, may help to improve how efficiently your cells produce ATP, which is the energy your cells run on.

Trials in older and recreationally active adults have found improvements in exercise capacity and oxygen use with cordyceps supplementation over several weeks. The benefits appear clearest in people who have the most room to improve, rather than in those who are already very fit.

Of all the mushrooms in these blends, cordyceps is the one most directly associated with physical energy. If you’re someone whose energy dips noticeably during the day, or who finds exercise harder than it used to be, it’s a mushroom worth knowing about.

What to look for if you’re buying one

If you decide to try a mushroom coffee, a few things are worth checking on the label.

The most important question is what part of the mushroom has been used. The fruiting body is the part you’d recognise, the cap and stem. This is where the highest concentrations of beta-glucans and other active compounds tend to be found. Some products instead use mycelium grown on grain. These can contain a large proportion of the grain itself, which dilutes the mushroom compounds. If a label doesn’t specify, it’s difficult to know what you’re getting.

The second question is how much mushroom is in each serving, and of which species. The better products list the milligrams per mushroom rather than bundling everything into a single “proprietary blend” figure. That transparency makes it possible to compare what you’re paying for.

It’s also worth knowing that the doses in most mushroom coffees are lower than the amounts used in clinical research. A typical serving might contain 50 to 250 mg of each mushroom. If a particular mushroom interests you for a specific reason, a standalone extract taken at the dose on the product label is more likely to give you what you’re looking for. Mushroom coffees work best as a pleasant, lower caffeine alternative that happens to bring some useful compounds along with it, rather than as a way to take a therapeutic dose of any one mushroom.

What about ordinary mushrooms?

A point that often gets lost in the conversation about functional mushrooms is that ordinary edible mushrooms contain many of the same compounds.

Shiitake, maitake and even common button mushrooms all contain beta-glucans. A trial found that eating whole shiitake mushrooms daily for four weeks improved markers of immune function in healthy adults. Ordinary mushrooms also contain fibre, B vitamins, selenium and, if they’ve been exposed to sunlight, vitamin D.

Cooking makes a difference. Sauteing or grilling mushrooms concentrates some of their beneficial compounds, and cooking helps to break down the tough cell walls so that more of those compounds become available to your body. Raw mushrooms are harder to digest, and some of what’s useful is locked away until the cell walls are softened.

A handful of mushrooms added to your meals a few times a week is a simple, affordable way to get beta-glucans, antioxidants and a range of nutrients that no coffee blend can match. And, the mushrooms in these coffee blends are not a separate category from food. Lion’s mane, shiitake and maitake are all edible. In parts of East Asia they’ve been cooked and eaten as everyday food for centuries.

Read more about how to cook mushrooms for beta-glucans.

A note on safety

Most medicinal mushrooms are well tolerated. They’re foods and traditional medicines with long histories of safe use. But, they do have real biological effects, which is why they’re useful, and that means a little care with individual circumstances makes sense.

Reishi can affect blood clotting and may not suit everyone on blood thinning medication. Cordyceps can influence blood sugar, which is important to be aware of if you’re on medication for that. And, if you’re on anything that affects your immune system, it’s worth checking with a medical herbalist before adding medicinal mushrooms regularly.

These aren’t dramatic cautions. They’re the same kind of considerations that come up with any herb that has medicinal activity. A medical herbalist can help you work out which mushrooms suit your situation, in the right form and at the right dose.

A practitioner’s view

Mushroom coffees are an interesting product and I can see why they appeal. They offer a way to keep the coffee ritual while cutting back on the caffeine, and the mushrooms in them are worth knowing about even if the dose in a single cup is modest.

If someone told me they were enjoying one for the taste and the lower caffeine, I’d say that’s a good reason to drink it. If they wanted to try a specific mushroom for a particular reason, I’d probably suggest a standalone extract instead, so they could take it at a dose that’s more likely to be useful.

And, I’d always mention ordinary mushrooms too. A varied mix eaten regularly, sauteed or grilled, will give you beta-glucans, fibre and a range of nutrients that complement anything else you’re doing for your health. The long tradition of using mushrooms as both food and medicine exists because the line between the two was never very clear in the first place.