Getting started with beneficial mushrooms

Mushroom powders like Lion's Mane, Reishi and Chaga have been enjoyed for generations, and today they are easier to use than ever thanks to fine extract powders. If you are new to them, here is how to make them part of your day.

Start simple

Most of our mushrooms come as finely milled extract powders that stir straight into warm drinks. A common way to begin is a small spoonful in your morning coffee, tea, or a smoothie, where their earthy flavour blends in easily.

Begin with one powder rather than five. A single tin, used for a couple of weeks, tells you far more about what you actually enjoy drinking than a shelf of tins opened once and pushed to the back. Half a teaspoon is plenty to start with. Once you know how it tastes in your cup, you can adjust to taste, staying within the serving size printed on the tin.

If choosing between them feels like too much at the outset, our mushroom complex extract powder brings several together in one tin, which is an easy way to meet the flavours before you commit to a favourite.

Know your mushrooms

Each has its own character, and the differences are bigger than most people expect. Trying a few is the best way to find the flavour you enjoy.

• Lion's Mane is mild and slightly sweet, the gentlest introduction of the lot. Our Lion's Mane powder stirs into coffee without arguing with it.
• Reishi is earthy and a little bitter, closer to woody bark than to food. Red reishi is the softer of the two we carry; black reishi is darker and more astringent.
• Chaga is deep and coffee-like, almost malty. Chaga powder takes milk and a little honey particularly well.
• Cordyceps is savoury and faintly sweet, like a light broth. Cordyceps powder suits a cup you sip slowly.
• Turkey tail is mild and woody, and turkey tail powder disappears easily into a fruit smoothie.
• Shiitake and maitake belong more to the kitchen than the teacup. Shiitake powder is deeply savoury, and maitake is peppery and rich.

Getting it smooth, not lumpy

Extract powders are fine enough to clump if you throw them at a full mug of hot liquid. The fix takes ten seconds. Put the powder in the empty cup first, add a small splash of hot water, and work it into a smooth paste with the back of a spoon. Then top up with the rest of your coffee, tea or warm milk. It will stay suspended rather than settling in a raft at the bottom.

Water off the boil, around 80 to 90 degrees, is kinder to the flavour than a rolling boil, which tends to sharpen the bitterness in reishi and chaga. If you want the smoothest cup of all, a bamboo matcha whisk does the job better than any spoon: fifteen seconds of brisk zigzag whisking and the surface goes even and slightly foamy.

A few habits keep a tin in good condition:

• Use a dry spoon every time. Moisture is what turns a loose powder into a brick.
• Seal the lid firmly and keep it in a cool, dark cupboard, away from the stove and the window.
• Keep it out of the steam of a kettle or a bathroom shelf.
• Buy what you will drink in a few months rather than stockpiling. Aroma fades slowly once air gets in.

Beyond the morning cup

Nothing says a mushroom powder has to go in a hot drink. The savoury ones are honest kitchen ingredients: a spoonful of shiitake or maitake stirred into a stock, a soup base, a risotto or a pan of rice adds a rounded, meaty depth, especially with a pinch of good salt. Cocoa is a friendly hiding place for chaga, and the milder powders take well to porridge, yoghurt or a banana smoothie. Reishi and chaga also sit comfortably alongside the leaves and blossoms in our Chinese herbal tea collection if you like building your own blends.

Make it a ritual

Attach it to something you already do, the first kettle of the morning or the pause after lunch, and it looks after itself. The measuring, the stirring, the earthy steam coming off the cup: that is the whole of it.

When you are ready to pick one, browse our mushroom powders, all sourced and checked by hand. If you are torn between two, write to us and tell us what you drink in the morning. We will point you at the one most likely to suit your cup.