What is mushroom coffee?
Mushroom coffee is something that has been gaining momentum recently, after Tim Ferriss and his mentions of Four Sigmatic have started making headlines last year.
Four Sigmatic is a Finnish company that has a special mushroom coffee that it touts has great medicinal benefits.
Now, if you’re like me, you’re probably wondering what exactly is mushroom coffee.
Mushroom coffee? That sounds like I grind up mushrooms and then pour piping hot water on it. How far off could I be? My initial line of thought was only partially correct.
Four Sigmatic’s mushroom coffee is a mixture of coffee with mushrooms that have been boiled and liquefied first.
The idea is that with these medicinal quality mushrooms, you are getting many more nutrients of the mushrooms added to the already healthy cup of coffee, and without the mushroom flavor (or at least so their website claims).
Codyceps, Chaga, and Lion’s Mane are added to their various coffees. Lion’s Mane seems to be one of their more popular options, due to its claimed and somewhat substantiated statement that it can improve your memory and mood. Chagas mushrooms can also help regulate blood sugar levels, as well as lower LDL and raise HDL. There are also some alkaline properties that help cancel out the acidity that coffee naturally has as well.
Lion’s Mane mushroom in the wild
It is for those reasons that people should generally be careful with medicinal mushrooms though. If you are on any medications or have trouble with any of those issues, it is probably best to speak to a knowledgeable physician about whether you should try it or not.
Previously sold Four Sigmatic mushroom coffees only came with organic instant coffee. Due to feedback like this from Business Insider. This essentially meant that if you drank coffee for the sake of enjoying coffee, that you probably disliked it. But, if you drank it for the sake of productivity alone, then you may have liked it.
However, Four Sigmatic now offers a ground coffee option instead of their packet based insta-coffee mushroom mix.
I personally have yet to try any of their mushroom coffees. However, two guinea pigs here at Match Made Coffee recently gave it a whirl. One said that she got way too jittery and uncomfortable. This was despite the fact that she only used less than half a packet (as per Ferriss’ recommendation).
She also did not care for the taste
However, the second person from our team that tried it liked it. He said that he felt even better after taking it, and that he thought it tasted pretty good. Mushroom coffee earned at least one new devotee.
No, Thor doesn’t work for us
What do you guys think- would you try mushroom coffee? Should we make our own mushroom coffee for our subscription box, or possibly include some Four Sigmatic in a future box? We’ve been going back and forth on both of those options, and would love to get any feedback in the comments, or on our Facebook page, or by messaging our Instagram page.
