Mushroom coffee, without the earthy aftertaste.
Forage & Brew is a curated shop for functional coffee — 20 blends built on Lion's Mane, Chaga, Cordyceps and Reishi, from the brands worth drinking. Instant or ground, full-strength or decaf, we've tasted the category so you can skip the earthy, disappointing ones.
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A cross-section of the range — a full-strength latte, a real ground coffee, a low-caffeine cup and a decaf — to show what functional coffee can be. See all 20 blends →
Who it's for
You don't have to be a wellness obsessive to enjoy functional coffee. Most of our customers are simply coffee lovers looking to change one thing about their daily habit.
Love the ritual but not the jitters or the 4pm crash? Our low-caffeine and decaf blends keep the cup and lose most of the caffeine.
Studying, deep work or a long shift — Lion's Mane and Cordyceps blends are the ones people reach for when they want steady, clear-headed energy.
Already particular about your beans? Real ground and whole-bean options let you fold mushrooms into a brewing routine you refuse to change.
If strong coffee sits badly with you, gentler, gut-friendly and cocoa-based blends give you a warm morning cup that behaves itself.
How to choose
The category is broader than it looks. Here's how the range breaks down, so you can find the format and the strength that fits your morning.
Just add hot water or milk. The instants are where most people start: a smooth Arabica base with the mushrooms already blended in, ready in the time it takes the kettle to boil. Blends like TrueStart and DIRTEA prove an instant can still taste like a proper coffee.
Not ready to give up brewing? Real ground coffee and whole beans brew in your cafetiere, filter, moka or espresso machine exactly as normal. Four Sigmatic and myco:soul fold Lion's Mane and Chaga into genuine specialty roasts you grind and brew yourself.
Single-serve sachets travel well and make trying the category low-risk. London Nootropics' boxes even split three blends — Flow, Zen and Mojo — so you can find which suits your mornings before buying a full pack.
Prefer a mocha to an Americano? Cocoa and pistachio blends taste like a treat and hide any earthiness completely, so the mushrooms come along for free. Gold Dust and Syptual Pistachio are the crowd-pleasers here.
The cup that doesn't cost you your sleep. Rheal keeps it to about half a coffee's caffeine, while Rå Hygge and Morning Magic are caffeine-free and decaf — so you can enjoy a functional coffee after lunch or in the evening.
The complete guide
Mushroom coffee has gone from a health-shop curiosity to a mainstream drink, and the shelf is now crowded with blends that range from excellent to forgettable. This guide explains what mushroom coffee actually is, what the mushrooms are for, and — most usefully — how to choose one you'll enjoy rather than abandon after a single earthy cup.
At its simplest, mushroom coffee is coffee blended with extracts of functional mushrooms. The coffee is still the bulk of what's in your cup, measured in grams; the mushrooms are added in milligrams. That ratio is why a good blend tastes like coffee — the mushrooms are a supporting act, not the headline flavour. Most blends also add adaptogens such as ashwagandha, maca or Rhodiola, which are plants long used in traditional wellbeing routines. We keep the language plain here: these are popular, well-liked ingredients, and we don't make medical claims for any of them.
Four names come up again and again. Lion's Mane is the focus mushroom, the one most people are shopping for and the reason it appears in nearly every blend. Cordyceps is associated with energy and endurance, which is why it turns up in pre-workout-style blends. Reishi sits at the calmer end, traditionally linked with a steadier, more balanced feel. Chaga is prized for its antioxidant content. A blend might use one hero mushroom or stack eight or ten; more isn't automatically better, because a small serving has to be shared between them all.
If you read one thing on the back of a pack, read this. The fruiting body is the actual mushroom; mycelium is the root-like network, often grown on grain and dried with the grain still attached, which dilutes the real mushroom content. Better blends specify fruiting-body extracts, and some state a beta-glucan percentage — the active compounds — so you know what you're paying for. Cheap "ten mushroom" products frequently mean ten myceliums on grain.
This is where mushroom coffee is genuinely useful, because the caffeine varies enormously. Some blends match a normal coffee — Spacegoods carries a full 120mg per cup. Others are deliberately gentle, like Rheal at around 50mg, roughly half a coffee, made for the afternoon. And some are caffeine-free or properly decaffeinated, like Rå Hygge and Morning Magic, so you can have the ritual in the evening. Match the blend to the time of day and you get the cup without the sleepless night; every product page states its caffeine level.
A good one won't. Earthiness almost always comes from a cheap base coffee, not the mushrooms, which is why the blends we stock start from proper Arabica. If you've been burned before, start with a smooth instant, a real ground coffee, or a flavoured blend like cocoa or pistachio that hides any earthiness entirely. The single biggest predictor of whether you'll stick with mushroom coffee is simply whether you enjoy the first cup — so pick for taste first.
Finally, choose the format that fits your routine. Instant is fastest — hot water and go. Ground and whole bean suit anyone who already brews and won't compromise on the coffee. Sachets and boxes are the low-risk way to try several blends, and travel well. Flavoured blends are the friendliest first cup. There's no wrong answer — there's just the one that matches how you already like to drink coffee.
Reviews
We're a new shop, so we only publish reviews from verified customers — and we won't pretend to have more than we do. Tried a blend from us? Tell us how you got on and we'll feature genuine reviews here.
Got questions?
Mushroom coffee is ordinary coffee blended with extracts of functional mushrooms such as Lion's Mane, Chaga, Cordyceps and Reishi, and often with adaptogens like ashwagandha. Most of what you taste is still coffee; the mushrooms are added in milligrams for people who want their daily cup to do a little more. It comes as instant powder, real ground coffee, whole beans or single-serve sachets.
A good one doesn't. The better blends start from a proper Arabica base, so they taste like smooth coffee with, at most, a mild earthy note. If earthiness has put you off before, it usually means a cheap base coffee rather than the mushrooms — the blends we stock are chosen to taste like coffee first. Flavoured options like cocoa or pistachio hide it completely.
It varies a lot by blend, which is why we group them. Some, like Spacegoods, carry a full 120mg of caffeine per cup — a normal coffee. Others are deliberately low, like Rheal at about 50mg, and some are caffeine-free or decaf, like Rå Hygge and Morning Magic. Each product page states its caffeine level so you can match it to the time of day.
Lion's Mane is a functional mushroom that has long been popular with people looking for focus and clear-headed energy, which is why it's the most common mushroom in these blends. We keep our language honest: it's a well-liked ingredient, not a medicine, and we don't make health claims for it.
Instant blends and sachets just need hot water or milk — stir or froth and it's ready. Ground and whole-bean coffees brew exactly like normal coffee in a cafetiere, filter, moka pot or espresso machine (grind the beans first). Each product page gives the serving size and the best way to prepare that particular blend.
If you're new, a smooth instant like Yin & Yang or a small flavoured pouch like Syptual Pistachio is an easy first cup, or a London Nootropics sachet box lets you try three styles. If you already love proper coffee, go for Four Sigmatic ground or myco:soul. Want less caffeine? Start with DIRTEA or Rheal. Tell us your taste and we'll point you to the right one.
Delivery is free across the UK on orders over £30, with a flat £3.49 on smaller orders. Your delivery estimate is shown at checkout before you pay, and orders are dispatched promptly.
Yes. If an unopened pack isn't right for you, return it within 30 days under our returns policy for a refund or exchange. If anything arrives damaged or faulty, contact us and we'll sort it out straight away.
Still deciding? Read the mushroom coffee buying guide or browse all 20 blends.
Forage & Brew is a UK shop selling a curated range of 20 mushroom coffees and functional coffee blends from brands including DIRTEA, Four Sigmatic, Spacegoods, London Nootropics, Free Soul, Rheal and VAHDAM. The range spans instant powders, real ground and whole-bean coffee, single-serve sachet boxes, flavoured blends (cocoa, pistachio) and decaf / low-caffeine options, built around functional mushrooms — Lion's Mane, Chaga, Cordyceps and Reishi — often with adaptogens like ashwagandha. Prices run from about £11 to £59. Free UK delivery over £30, a flat £3.49 under that, easy 14-day returns and secure Stripe/PayPal checkout.
