You are scrolling through your social media and keep seeing snaps of people drinking a new type of coffee. As a coffee-lover, you are always up for a cup, and new coffee excites you as well.
Once you start looking into this new coffee brand everyone is raving about, you find out it’s mushroom coffee. Mushroom coffee? Ew, right? Maybe not. Many enthusiasts say that mushroom coffee tastes pretty much like regular coffee and comes with a ton of benefits to your health and immune system.
If you’re still not convinced that you want to trade in your regular morning cup of joe for mushroom coffee, read on below to find out what it is, the health benefits, and whether it’s indeed something you should even be drinking.
What Is Mushroom Coffee?
Mushroom coffee is just what it sounds like, regular coffee with mushrooms in it. This instant or ground coffee is sold with mushrooms already in it. These are healthy mushrooms such as Chaga, lion’s mane, and cordyceps. You won’t find any button or portabella mushrooms that you’re more familiar with, and certainly no poisonous varieties either.
It is important to note that because this is real coffee mixed with mushrooms, it’s still going to have caffeine in it unless you purchase the decaffeinated version.
Where Does Mushroom Coffee Come From?
Back in World War II, coffee was rationed, and many people switched to tea, which is when mushroom tea became popular. It made its way into coffee in later years and is just starting to become extremely popular for the taste and the health benefits.
What Are the Health Benefits of Mushroom Coffee?
There are said to be health benefits to drinking mushroom coffee, though these have not been scientifically proven. We’ll go into a few of the supposed health benefits below.
Mushroom coffee is said to be loaded with antioxidants. Since coffee is already loaded with antioxidants, you’re getting a double dose if you switch to mushroom coffee instead.
- Better sleep
- Gives a boost to your immune system
- Memory support
- Reduces stress
- Reduces inflammation
- Gives you more energy
- Relaxes sore muscles
All of these benefits are great, and if mushroom coffee actually possesses said benefits, we should all be drinking some; however, it’s best not to just go off of what you’ve heard. If you’re considering starting to drink mushroom coffee, you should continue to do your research on it and even ask your doctor what they think, especially if you have existing health problems.
Are There Health Risks and Side Effects with Mushroom Coffee?
While there are quite a few claimed health benefits to be had from drinking mushroom coffee, there could be side effects and health risks as well.
The main health risk is that there have been no human studies conducted on how mushroom coffee affects people or if the health benefits are even real. So, while research has been done on animals and other test subjects, until human testing is done, there’s no way of knowing if the claims that are being made will hold water.
What this means is that dosage information, who might need to stay away from this type of coffee, and who it would benefit most are all unknown. There’s also no way to know which medicines these mushrooms may interfere with. So for some, this might not be the best idea, especially without talking to your doctor first.
Another downside to mushroom coffee is that it’s significantly more expensive than regular coffee is, meaning not everyone can afford to buy it on a regular basis.
What Does Mushroom Coffee Taste Like?
After all the talk of health benefits and the downsides of mushroom coffee, only one question remains, especially for us coffee lovers. That question is, what does mushroom coffee taste like? The good news is that it tastes like coffee. The earthiness of the mushrooms in no way detracts from the taste of the coffee, so if you have clearance from your doctor, it’s safe to enjoy a cup and see what side of the fence you land on.
Have you ever had mushroom coffee? Did it seem to have any health benefits to you? What did it taste like? Did you enjoy it? Let us know in the comments! We’d love to hear someone’s opinion on mushroom coffee and see if it matches our own.
Featured Image Credit: Iryna Imago, Shutterstock
