Reishi mushroom coffee has become a hit with many hot-beverage drinkers. However, there are a variety of ways of making mushroom coffee, which are discussed here
Raise your hand if you love to start your day with a hot cup of coffee. My hand is up (and I’m attempting to type with one hand). Coffee is a morning staple for many people, and according to MedAlertHelp, 79% of people surveyed reported drinking coffee at home.
Various companies are selling mushroom coffee on the market these days. Some of these products involve mushroom powder that is already mixed with a ground coffee. The consumer takes the mixture and brews coffee with it as per usual. That is not the only way to make mushroom coffee though, so today I will go over the method I use while making reishi mushroom coffee at home.
Considerations for making reishi mushroom coffee at home
The coffee drinkers I know are very particular about the type of coffee they drink. Many of them have specific brands they prefer, as well as destined types of roasts. They have told me before that every morning they will have the beans for that morning’s coffee because freshly-ground coffee beans taste better to them than coffee that has already been ground, and sitting in the bag awaiting consumption.
Truthfully, I can’t disagree with this process. I love the aroma and flavor of freshly-ground coffee, and I definitely have preferred brands. I need the coffee I drink to be medium to dark, as my experience with lighter roasts have led me to acidity that did not agree with me.
When I make reishi mushroom coffee at home, I start with the fresh beans I have. I grind the beans, take the ground coffee, and put it in the Bialetti coffee maker. As the water is heating up, I take the reishi mushroom powder I have and put it in the bottom of my coffee cup. Once the water has percolated up through the coffee grounds, I pour the coffee into the cup with the reishi mushroom powder. I stir the mixture well so the mushroom powder dissolves into the coffee. You can then add any additional components to your coffee, like cream, non-dairy creamer, or sweetener for those so inclined.
Using reishi mushroom powder with your favorite choice of coffee makes it easier to enjoy mushroom coffee. This way you get to use the coffee beans you love while still getting the healthful constituents of the mushrooms. Speaking of those constituents, let’s take a look at what you get by consuming reishi mushroom coffee.
Drinking reishi mushroom coffee for polysaccharides
People who consciously choose to consume reishi mushrooms do so for its constituents. For one, there is a high amount of polysaccharides found in reishi. According to Paul Stamets, the fruiting body of the reishi contains 41% beta-glucan[1].
The book Medicinal Mushrooms, A Clinical Guide by Martin Powell discussed these constituents and provides better understanding for those unfamiliar. In the book he goes over the fact that terms regarding constituents overlap, leading to some confusion. These terms include polysaccharides, proteoglycans (also called glycoproteins or protein-bound polysaccharides) and beta-glucans.
Powell then defines beta-glucans in the following way:
“The term beta-glucan refers to the beta-linked glucose molecules that form the typical fungal polysaccharide. However, very few of the immunologically active polysaccharides from mushrooms are pure beta-glucans. Most are hetero-glucans, containing other sugar molecules, such as galactose, xylose or mannose, as well as glucose.”
Getting the highest amounts of mushroom polysaccharides from mushroom fruiting bodies
One thing that any reishi mushroom coffee drinker must realize is that there’s a major difference in mushroom supplements on the market. Some mushroom supplements are created with mycelium on grain. This is what the majority of US-based mushroom supplement providers do. However, it is not what we do because studies have shown that higher amounts of mushroom polysaccharides come from extracts of mushroom fruiting bodies, and not the mycelium on grain. This has been proven in various studies, and one of those studies was discussed in Powell’s book. Here is the excerpt:
“In contrast to the relatively inexpensive commercially available beta-glucans from yeast, mushroom beta-glucans have more diverse structures and, as a consequence, higher levels of immunological activity. Of the mushroom polysaccharides reported to have immunological activity 77.5% are from mushroom fruiting body, 20.8% from mycelium and 2.0% from culture filtrate (broth).”
According to those numbers, the mushroom fruiting body has nearly four times the amount of mushroom polysaccharides than you can get from mycelium grown on grain. That in itself is a major reason to make your reishi mushroom coffee with mushroom powder from mushroom fruiting bodies and not mycelium.
Want to make your own reishi mushroom coffee at home? Buy our reishi mushroom powder below and get brewing!