What Is Mushroom Coffee?

Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. In fact, over 64% of Americans gbmushrooms enjoy coffee on a daily basis.1 Not only is coffee energizing and delicious, but its consumption is associated with positive health outcomes, such as a lower risk of liver disease and heart disease-related death.

While plain coffee offers impressive benefits, some coffee blends are made with additional ingredients, like medicinal mushrooms, which are thought to enhance coffee’s positive effects on mood, energy, and more.

Here’s what you need to know about mushroom coffee, including what it is, its potential health benefits, downsides, and more.

What is Mushroom Coffee?
Mushroom coffee is a blend of coffee beans and ground medicinal mushrooms or mushroom extracts.

Though the types of mushrooms and other fungi used in these coffee products vary, most contain one or more of the following fungi:

Chaga
Turkey tail
Reishi
Lion’s mane
Cordyceps

These fungi are considered medicinal because they offer health benefits beyond the nutritional value found in common edible mushrooms like portobello mushrooms or button mushrooms.

For example, some of these mushrooms, including lion’s Mane and reishi mushrooms, are considered adaptogenic mushrooms. Adaptogens are substances that increase the body’s resistance to stress and protect against stress-related damage. Adaptogens help your body deal with stress by influencing the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA axis), which is the body’s main stress response system.2

Some research supports using adaptogenic mushroom supplements, like lion’s mane supplements, for improving stress levels. For example, the 2023 study that included 41 healthy adults mentioned above found that supplementation with 1.8 g of lion’s mane for 28 days was associated with lower stress levels compared to a placebo treatment.3

Additionally, studies have shown that supplements containing medicinal mushroom extracts or ground mushrooms may help improve certain aspects of health, including heart health and cognitive function.4

Based on these findings, mushroom coffee companies claim that drinking coffee with added medicinal mushroom extract or powder can help with anything from reducing your stress levels to improving your immune function.

Unfortunately, there’s no solid evidence linking mushroom coffee to any health benefits.

Human studies on the effects of medicinal mushrooms are relatively limited, and some findings are mixed. Also, although medicinal mushroom supplements may offer several health benefits, it’s unclear how drinking mushroom coffee impacts health and if it offers any significant benefits.

In addition to medicinal mushrooms, some mushroom coffee products contain other active ingredients, such as herbs like ashwagandha and amino acids like L-theanine. Some products also contain ingredients such as added sugar and coconut powder, so it’s important to read nutrition and ingredient labels, especially if you have allergies, intolerances, or dietary restrictions.