There are new trends out there every day - some of them are good and some are not. But it is not always easy to find out which ones they are - the good ones! A current trend - alongside Dubai chocolate - is mushroom coffee. Yes, we also had a lot of question marks when we first heard about it. Is it coffee made from mushrooms? Or is it coffee with mushrooms? And why? We have gathered everything together for you and will tell you.
Mushroom Coffee – what is it?
So-called superfoods have experienced an enormous boom in recent years. Be it chia seeds or goji berries or ashwagandha and so on. People want to live healthier and healthier lives and are always finding - also for marketing purposes - new, great products with high levels of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. And these are then simply put into a variety of foods such as yogurt, smoothies or even coffee. This is how mushroom coffee came about. It is normal coffee with mushroom extract or mushroom powder added.
Mushroom Coffee – which mushrooms are in it?
Mushroom coffee is normal coffee mixed with mushrooms. This addition gives it super (nutritional) powers. However, mushroom coffee is not made with just any mushrooms. They have to be special superfood mushrooms, which are also often called "functional" mushrooms. All edible mushrooms are nutritious and generally very healthy. The term "functional" is used for mushrooms that are particularly valued for their health-promoting properties. Some of the most popular mushrooms are chaga, lion's mane and reishi.
Mushroom Coffee – what can the mushrooms do
These mushrooms have been used as medicine by people for a long time, all with different effects, which can now be proven with medical research and experiments. Below is a little bit about the mushrooms - if you want to know more, you should read up a bit, because the field is large and too extensive for a small blog about coffee.
Mushroom Coffee – Chaga mushroom
The Chaga mushroom is called Schiefer Schillerporling in our latitudes (Germany). It can be found in Germany and Central Europe, but is more common in Russia, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Japan, Korea and Central Asia, including Kazakhstan. It was already cultivated in Russia in the 15th century. used as a tea infusion to treat cancer. Laboratory and animal tests have confirmed the anti-cancer effect, but clinical studies are still pending, according to Wikipedia. In any case, the mushroom contains more than 200 active biological substances such as polysaccharides, triterpenes and polyphenols.
Mushroom Coffee – Lion’s Mane
The lion's mane not only looks pretty cool, but also has other funny names like hedgehogs spiny beard, monkey head mushroom or pompom blanc. The mushroom likes to grow on dead wood and is threatened in Europe. It is found in the so-called Holarctic, which makes up almost the entire northern hemisphere. In traditional Chinese medicine, the mushroom has long been used as a medicinal remedy. The latest studies show that the mushroom has many different ingredients, including some that promote nerve growth, but also antitumor or immunomodulatory substances.
Mushroom Coffee – Reishi mushroom
Reishi is a species of the glossy lacquer polypore, which, like the other two mushrooms, grows mainly on trees, either living or dead. It is found all over the world, but is also easily confused with related species. The glossy lacquer polypore is the species Ganoderma lucidum and Reishi (also called Linghzi) is the species Ganoderma linghzi . In East Asia, the mushroom is used as a medicinal remedy. Therapeutic applications often aim to strengthen the immune system and liver and to stimulate the metabolism.
Mushroom Coffee – what are the benefits of mushroom coffee?
Well, mushroom coffee can help you support your immune system, be more focused or improve digestion. However, experts are not yet in agreement as to whether this is really always the case. The study situation is still very inadequate, and research with small test groups is not conclusive enough.
Mushroom Coffee – Taste
The good news: If you use good coffee and mix your own mushroom extracts, your drink will almost certainly still taste like coffee. With ready-made products, i.e. already mixed mushroom coffee, which is usually instant coffee and mushroom powder, you can get anything: a sweet or bitter broth, mushroom soup or worse. It is also very important to buy very high quality ready-made mushroom coffee, otherwise there could be something else in it - in the worst case, even harmful substances.
Mushroom Coffee – our tip
Our tip in this case is simple: it's best to get the dried mushrooms from a specialist shop and mix your own drinks. The best thing would be to drink your (Wild)kaffee neat and mix the mushroom powder into another drink, such as tea, cola, beer or a smoothie. Because where the mushroom powder is, it doesn't really change the effect of the mushrooms. But if you want coffee, then it's best to mix your coffee powder with the mushroom extracts and make a pour-over. By the way, there are more "functional" mushrooms than the three you've mentioned and they also have wonderful names like turkey tail or cordyceps.
