Mushroom & Adaptogenic Coffee

What goes into each mushroom coffee blend?

Coffee is the first ingredient in every blend here, with lion's mane, cordyceps, reishi or ashwagandha listed after it. Label order tells you what you are mostly drinking, and in all four packs that is coffee.

The mushroom part arrives as a dried extract rather than as whole mushroom, so the cup stays a cup of coffee. Each pack lists four or five ingredients in total, which is a short list for a flavoured coffee.

Which mushroom is in which blend?

Chillout is the reishi coffee of the range, with reishi and organic ashwagandha after the coffee. Mushroom puts lion's mane, cordyceps and reishi into one cup. Brain Fuel pairs lion's mane with MCT oil and acacia fibre.

Keto Supreme sits outside that group, because it contains no mushrooms at all. It is ground 100% Arabica from Brazil with MCT oil, organic ashwagandha and acacia fibre, which makes it the adaptogen and MCT option rather than a mushroom one.

MCT oil appears in two blends, Brain Fuel and Keto Supreme, and the Keto Supreme label names coconut as its source. If you want a larger measure than a coffee blend carries, our MCT oils come by the bottle.

What is the best mushroom coffee in the UK?

There is no single best mushroom coffee in the UK: you choose by mushroom, by format and by price. Those three questions settle the choice faster than any ranking does.

Format is the first fork. Three blends are instant, so a spoon and hot water are enough, while Keto Supreme is ground coffee and needs a cafetiere, moka pot or machine. For most people that decides more than the mushroom does.

The mushroom is the second fork. Lion's mane appears in Brain Fuel and in the Mushroom blend, cordyceps only in the Mushroom blend, and reishi in Chillout and in the Mushroom blend. Ashwagandha, an adaptogenic root rather than a mushroom, sits in Chillout and Keto Supreme.

• Brain Fuel: instant, lion's mane with MCT oil and acacia fibre, 10 g serving, 0.4 g carbohydrate, 5 kcal, 72p a cup
• Chillout: instant, reishi with organic ashwagandha, 10 g serving, 0.2 g carbohydrate, 72p a cup
• Mushroom: instant, lion's mane, cordyceps and reishi together, 10 g serving, 0.2 g carbohydrate, 72p a cup
• Keto Supreme: ground 100% Arabica, MCT oil, organic ashwagandha and acacia fibre, 12 g serving, 0.4 g carbohydrate, 6 kcal, 85p a cup

Price is the third fork, and the gap here is narrow: 72p a cup for the instants against 85p for Keto Supreme. Searches for the best instant mushroom coffee usually come down to the first fork, because instant is what makes the category easy to live with.

If you want the mushroom rather than the coffee, our functional mushrooms are sold as extracts and capsules, with the amount per serving printed on the pack. These coffee blends do not declare an extract dose per cup.

Instant or ground: how do you make a cup?

The instant blends take one tablespoon in a 200 ml mug of water at about 95 °C. Stir, then add milk or cream if you want it, and the cup is finished.

Keto Supreme is ground coffee and brews like any other. One tablespoon goes into 200 ml of water at 90 °C to 95 °C and needs three to four minutes in a cafetiere, moka pot, Chemex or espresso machine.

Neither format needs a filter paper. The instants dissolve in the mug, and Keto Supreme is ground for immersion brewing, so a cafetiere or a moka pot is enough kit for it.

A 250 g pack of instant holds 25 servings at 10 g each, and Keto Supreme holds 20 servings at 12 g, because the ground measure is the larger of the two.

Milk, cream or a spoon of MCT oil work in either format. The three instant blends carry a French Vanilla flavouring, while Keto Supreme carries no added flavouring and tastes of the Brazilian beans it is ground from.

How much does a cup of mushroom coffee cost?

A cup of the instant blends costs 72p, and a cup of Keto Supreme costs 85p. Both figures come from the pack price divided by the servings the label states.

The instant packs are £17.90 for 250 g, which is 25 servings of 10 g, so a cup works out at 72p. Keto Supreme is £16.90 for 250 g, which is 20 servings of 12 g, so a cup works out at 85p.

The difference between the two figures is the serving size, not the shelf price. A 12 g ground measure empties a 250 g pack in 20 cups, while a 10 g instant measure stretches the same weight to 25.

Cost per cup is the number worth comparing, not the price on the front of the pack. Pack sizes and serving sizes vary widely across this category, so a bigger pack is not always cheaper per cup.

At a cup a day, a 250 g pack of instant lasts about three and a half weeks, and Keto Supreme just under three. That is the practical way to read the price, rather than as a one off spend.

Is mushroom coffee good for you?

The Great Britain nutrition and health claims register lists no authorised claim for caffeine, functional mushrooms or MCT. Ashwagandha, the fourth active ingredient here, has no authorised wording either.

That register is the list of health claims a food business may use in Great Britain. Because none of these four ingredients carries an entry on it, this page makes no promise about focus, calm or immunity.

What we can describe is what is in the pack, and that is what the rest of this page does: the ingredient list in label order, the serving size, the carbohydrate and energy figures, the format, and the price per cup.

Research into lion's mane, cordyceps, reishi and ashwagandha continues, and you will find a good deal of it published. None of it has produced an authorised wording in Great Britain so far, which is why we have left it out rather than summarised it here.

Choose on the label instead. Pick the blend by the mushroom or adaptogen listed on it, by instant or ground, and by the 72p or 85p a cup it works out at, then add the 250 g pack to your basket.

Frequently asked questions

What is the downside of mushroom coffee?

The price per cup is the main one. A cup costs 72p or 85p here, more than ordinary instant coffee costs, and no effect of the mushroom extract has been authorised as a claim in Great Britain. You are buying a described composition, not a promised outcome.

Why do I feel weird after drinking mushroom coffee?

Usually the caffeine rather than the mushroom. These blends are coffee first, so a cup on an empty stomach, or a heaped spoon instead of a level one, is felt the way ordinary coffee is felt. Start with one cup alongside food and judge from there.

What does mushroom coffee taste like?

Nutty, with a mild earthy note. The three instant blends carry a French Vanilla flavouring that sits over that note. Keto Supreme has no flavouring at all and tastes of the Brazilian Arabica it is ground from.

How much caffeine is in a cup of mushroom coffee?

These four packs declare no caffeine figure. Coffee is the first ingredient in all of them, so treat a cup as you would treat ordinary coffee. If you need a known amount, work from a pack that states one on the label.

Is mushroom coffee keto friendly?

Yes, 0.2 g to 0.4 g a cup. Brain Fuel declares 0.4 g of carbohydrate and 5 kcal per 10 g serving, Keto Supreme 0.4 g and 6 kcal per 12 g serving, and the Chillout and Mushroom blends 0.2 g per 10 g serving.

What is functional coffee?

Coffee sold with added functional ingredients. Functional coffee is coffee blended with things such as functional mushrooms, adaptogenic roots or MCT oil. Mushroom coffee is the best known kind of it on a British shelf, and adaptogenic coffee is the next.

What is adaptogenic coffee?

Coffee blended with adaptogenic plants. Ashwagandha is the usual one, and in this range it appears in Chillout and in Keto Supreme. Adaptogen is a grouping that comes from herbal tradition rather than from food law, so it carries no legal definition.

Is this mushroom coffee organic?

The ashwagandha is organic, the coffee is not. Chillout and Keto Supreme both list organic ashwagandha. No blend in this range is sold as certified organic coffee, so if that is what you are after, our organic coffee beans are a separate line.

How many cups of mushroom coffee can you drink a day?

The same number as ordinary coffee. These blends are coffee first, so the figure you already work to is the figure that applies. Nothing in the mushroom or adaptogen part changes that count.

Does mushroom coffee come in sachets?

Not here: these are 250 g packs. Single serve sachets are common across the category, and they suit travel. Here the format is a 250 g pack measured by the tablespoon, which gives 25 cups of the instants and 20 of Keto Supreme.

Where can you buy mushroom coffee in the UK?

Health food shops, supermarkets and online. Ranges shift by retailer and by season, so the ingredient list and the serving size are steadier guides than the shelf. These four blends are sold here by the 250 g pack, with UK delivery.