Mushroom gummies vs mushroom coffee

Mushroom coffee and mushroom gummies both put functional mushrooms into something you'll actually take every day. They go about it in very different ways, and for most people the choice comes down to caffeine, timing and taste.

We make gummies, so read this knowing that. We've tried to be fair to the coffee, and where the research doesn't favour either format, we say so. Last updated 26 September 2026.

The short answer

Pick mushroom coffee if you already drink coffee, want to cut your caffeine a little and like the ritual of a hot mug in the morning.

Pick gummies if you want no caffeine at all, want to take mushrooms in the evening, or can't face making a drink.

Nobody has tested one format against the other in people. Any brand telling you that its format "works better" is guessing, and that includes us. What you can compare is what's on the label, what's in the cup or the pouch, and which one you'll still be taking in two months.

Mushroom coffee vs mushroom gummies side by side

What mushroom coffee actually is

Most mushroom coffee is part coffee, part mushroom. The coffee is usually instant or ground arabica. The mushroom is a dried powder or extract mixed in at the factory, so you make it the same way you'd make your normal cup.

Brands often add other ingredients such as cacao, chicory, maca, ashwagandha or B vitamins. A few products sold as "mushroom coffee" contain no coffee at all and are closer to a mushroom hot chocolate, so read the front of the pack carefully if caffeine is the thing you're trying to avoid.

Lion's Mane, Chaga and Cordyceps are the usual picks because they're sold on focus and energy, which suits a morning drink. Reishi turns up less often. Given its traditional use as an evening tonic in Chinese medicine, that makes sense.

Mushrooms have been drunk as teas and simmered into soups and tonics for centuries in China, Japan, Korea and Siberia. Mixing them with coffee is much newer, and most of the brands you'll see date from the last ten years or so.

In the UK you'll find mushroom coffee in health food shops, some supermarkets and from a long list of online brands, many of them imported from the US.

What mushroom gummies actually are

A mushroom gummy is a food supplement in chewable form. The mushroom extract is mixed into a base of sugar or sweetener and a gelling agent, heated, then set into shapes. The gelling agent matters if you're vegan. Many gummies use gelatine, which comes from animals, while others use fruit pectin.

Some gummies contain a single mushroom, most often Lion's Mane. Others are blends. Our Starshroooms combine six mushrooms with Panax Ginseng:

• Reishi as a 20:1 extract
• Chaga as a 10:1 extract
• Maitake as a 10:1 extract
• Lion's Mane as a 2:1 extract
• Cordyceps sinensis as a powder
• Tremella as polysaccharides
• Full spectrum Panax Ginseng

They're set with pectin, blackcurrant flavoured, vegan and caffeine free. Two gummies a day also give you 12mg of pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5, 200% of the nutrient reference value) and 100µg of iodine (67% of the nutrient reference value).

A gummy is small, so there's a limit to how much you can fit in one. That's the main trade off of the format, and it's why the extract ratio on the label matters more for gummies than for almost anything else.

Mushroom coffee caffeine: how much is in a cup?

When NBC News compared popular mushroom coffees, most came in at around 45mg to 60mg of caffeine a serving. One of the stronger blends had about 150mg, the same as a large ordinary coffee. Others sat in between at 80mg to 100mg.

For UK context, the NHS puts a mug of instant coffee at about 100mg and says filter coffee and coffee shop coffee can contain more. A typical mushroom coffee is roughly half an instant. That gap is why many people feel calmer on mushroom coffee than on their usual brew. Doctors quoted by NBC suggested the cut in caffeine may explain a lot of the difference people notice, more than the mushrooms themselves.

Some limits worth knowing:

• The European Food Safety Authority found in 2015 that up to 400mg of caffeine a day, spread through the day, raises no safety concerns for healthy adults. Single doses up to 200mg were also fine.
• The NHS advises no more than 200mg a day during pregnancy, counting tea, cola, energy drinks and chocolate as well as coffee.
• In a 2013 sleep study at Wayne State University in Detroit, 400mg of caffeine taken six hours before bed still cut total sleep time compared with placebo. The researchers suggested avoiding substantial caffeine for at least six hours before bed.

One quirk of UK labelling: drinks with more than 150mg of caffeine per litre must carry a "high caffeine content" warning, but products named as coffee or tea are exempt, because people already expect caffeine in them. So a mushroom coffee doesn't have to print a caffeine figure. Plenty of brands do anyway. If yours doesn't, email them and ask.

Gummies take caffeine out of the question. That matters most for the mushrooms people want in the evening. Reishi is traditionally taken as a calming tonic, and a Reishi coffee at 9pm sends mixed messages to your body.

Is mushroom coffee good for you?

For most healthy adults, mushroom coffee is a perfectly reasonable drink. It's coffee with less caffeine and some mushroom added. The measurable change is the caffeine. If swapping two strong coffees for two mushroom coffees halves your intake, you may well sleep better, and that alone could account for feeling steadier.

Whether the mushroom part does anything at the amounts used is a harder question. Here's what we found:

• We couldn't find a single clinical trial of mushroom coffee as a drink. The experts NBC spoke to said the same.
• A 2024 lab study from Jagiellonian University in Kraków brewed coffee three ways (machine, instant and traditional) with Cordyceps militaris and Lion's Mane fruiting bodies added, then measured what ended up in the cup. Adding Cordyceps raised minerals such as magnesium and zinc, plus some plant compounds called chlorogenic acids. Nobody drank it as part of the study, so it describes the contents of the mug and says nothing about effects in people.
• The human mushroom trials that do exist mostly used 1g to 4g a day, usually as capsules or powder. Mushroom coffees vary widely, from a few hundred milligrams of blend to around a gram of one mushroom per serving, and some brands don't say.

Possible downsides are mild for most people. Mushroom powders add fibre, and some drinkers get bloating or looser stools, especially in the first week. Coffee is acidic, so people with reflux may notice it. Anyone with a mushroom allergy should avoid both formats, and the usual caffeine cautions for ordinary coffee still apply.

How much mushroom are you actually getting?

This is the hardest thing to compare, for both formats. Some products list the amount of each mushroom and whether it's an extract. Others give one combined weight for a "proprietary blend", which tells you very little.

Look for these on any label:

• The amount of each mushroom per serving
• Whether it's an extract, and at what ratio, such as 10:1 or 20:1
• Whether it's made from the fruiting body (the mushroom you'd recognise) or from mycelium grown on grain
• A beta-glucan percentage, if the brand has tested for it
• Independent lab testing for contaminants such as heavy metals

A 20:1 extract means 20kg of dried mushroom went into every 1kg of extract, so a small amount carries a lot of mushroom. That's why we use concentrated extracts in our gummies: Reishi at 20:1, Chaga and Maitake at 10:1, and Lion's Mane at 2:1. A ratio on its own doesn't tell you how much extract is in each serving, though, and ratios aren't standardised between manufacturers, so read it alongside the rest of the label.

Mycelium grown on grain is cheaper to produce. The catch is that the grain can end up in the finished powder, which adds starch and dilutes the mushroom compounds. Brands that use fruiting bodies usually say so on the pack.

Beta-glucans are the fibre-like sugars in mushroom cell walls that researchers study most. Triterpenes, found especially in Reishi, dissolve better in alcohol than in water. That's why some brands use a "dual extraction" with hot water and then alcohol, to capture both groups. It's a sensible process. No study has shown that dual extracts produce better results in people than single extracts.

Does hot water make mushroom coffee better absorbed?

At least two coffee brands we read say hot water makes the mushroom compounds easier to absorb, and that gummies lose out because they're "cold processed". A chocolate brand we read argues the fat in cocoa beats both. It's worth unpicking these claims, because they sound more scientific than they are.

• Hot water extraction is how mushrooms were traditionally prepared, as long simmered teas and decoctions. Most commercial extracts have already been through hot water, and sometimes alcohol, before they reach any product. Stirring an extract into a mug doesn't extract it a second time.
• If a coffee uses plain mushroom powder, a minute in hot water is a very different thing from hours of simmering.
• Most gummies are cooked to set the gel, so "cold processed" doesn't describe many of them anyway.
• Liquids leave the stomach faster than solids. Nobody has measured whether that changes how much of a mushroom compound reaches your bloodstream.

We couldn't find any study in people comparing how well mushroom compounds are absorbed from coffee, gummies, capsules or chocolate. That gap applies to our gummies as much as to anyone's coffee.

Sugar, sweeteners and what else is in the pack

Gummies need something to make them taste nice and hold their shape. One competitor we read quotes up to 8g of sugar per serving in some gummies. Others use sweeteners, or a mix of sugar and a sweetener. Ours are sweetened with sugar and steviol glycosides and coloured with anthocyanins, which are the natural purple pigments in blackcurrants and other berries.

The NHS says adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day. If you're counting, check the per serving figure on the label rather than the per 100g figure, since a serving of gummies weighs far less than 100g.

Plain mushroom coffee has no sugar. Latte style blends often contain creamer powder, coconut milk powder or sugar, and some creamers contain dairy. Then there's what you add yourself. A mushroom latte with oat milk and syrup from a coffee shop can easily carry more sugar than a serving of gummies.

For vegans, check the gelling agent in gummies (gelatine or pectin) and any milk powder in coffee blends. Ours are free from gelatine, dairy, gluten, caffeine and artificial flavouring.

What the evidence does and does not show

Every study we know of tests a single mushroom, usually as a powder or extract in capsules or tablets. Here are some of the better known human trials, with their limits:

• Lion's Mane, 2009. In a Japanese trial of 30 adults aged 50 to 80 with mild cognitive impairment, the group taking 3g a day of Lion's Mane powder for 16 weeks scored higher on a cognitive scale than the placebo group at weeks 8, 12 and 16. Scores dropped again four weeks after they stopped. It was small, and the researchers worked for a mushroom company.
• Lion's Mane, 2023. At Northumbria University in Newcastle, 41 healthy adults aged 18 to 45 took 1.8g of Lion's Mane or placebo. An hour after a single dose, the Lion's Mane group was quicker on one attention task. After 28 days there was a trend towards lower self-reported stress that fell just short of statistical significance. The authors called the findings tentative, and several other measures showed no difference.
• Cordyceps militaris, 2017. At the University of North Carolina, 28 young adults took 4g a day of a mushroom blend containing Cordyceps militaris, or a placebo. After one week there was no significant change. The ten people who carried on for three weeks showed a rise in VO2 max compared with placebo.
• Cordyceps sinensis, 2010. In a UCLA trial of 20 healthy adults aged 50 to 75, those taking 333mg of a Cordyceps preparation three times a day for 12 weeks raised their metabolic threshold on a cycling test by about 10%. VO2 max didn't change in either group.
• Reishi, 2015. A Cochrane review pooled five trials with 398 people and found Reishi didn't meaningfully change blood sugar, cholesterol or blood pressure in people with type 2 diabetes. Minor side effects were somewhat more common on Reishi, though none were serious.

What this research doesn't show:

• That a coffee or a gummy would produce any of these results, since the trials used capsules, tablets or powder.
• That the amount in a cup or a pair of gummies matches the doses used in the trials. Often it's lower, sometimes much lower.
• What happens when six mushrooms are combined in one product, since blends are rarely studied.
• Anything about long term use beyond a few months.

In the UK there are no authorised health claims for any mushroom on the Great Britain nutrition and health claims register. That's why you won't see us promise focus or energy from the mushrooms in our gummies. Our claims come from the vitamins: pantothenic acid contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue, and iodine contributes to normal cognitive function. Our research page links every study we rely on, and each ingredient has its own guide: Lion's Mane, Reishi, Cordyceps, Chaga, Maitake, Tremella and Panax Ginseng.

Taste, ritual and actually sticking with it

The trials above ran for anywhere from three to sixteen weeks of daily use. You'll see brands promise results in 30 minutes, two weeks or a month. None of those timelines comes from a trial of their product. If you want to try either format fairly, give it a few weeks of daily use and keep everything else the same.

That makes habit the deciding factor for most people. Mushroom coffee wins if you love the five minutes with the kettle, because it replaces something you already do rather than adding a new step. Gummies win if you travel, work odd hours, dislike the taste of coffee or want something by the bed.

Taste matters too. Mushroom coffee is earthier than ordinary coffee, and Reishi in particular is bitter. Some people love that. Others find it tastes a bit like damp woodland. A fruit gummy hides the mushroom flavour almost completely, which is the whole point of the format.

A tip that works for either: attach it to something you already do every day. Coffee sits naturally with breakfast. Gummies are easy to keep next to your toothbrush or in your bag.

What each one costs per day

Prices for both formats vary widely. Mushroom coffee is often cheaper per serving than gummies, though it tends to cost a lot more than ordinary coffee, and milk comes on top.

For Starshroooms at two gummies a day:

• Full Pack, 60 gummies for £24.99: about 83p a day
• On subscription at £19.99: about 67p a day
• Triple Pack, 180 gummies for £69.95: about 78p a day
• Trial Pack, 10 gummies for £4.99: about five days

To compare with a mushroom coffee, divide the price of the tub by the number of servings. Then check the mushroom amount per serving on both, so you're comparing like with like. A cheap cup with 200mg of mushroom blend isn't better value than a pricier one with a gram of extract.

Who should check with a GP or pharmacist first

Both formats are food, and most healthy adults take them without any problem. Ask a GP or pharmacist before starting either if any of these apply to you:

• Pregnancy or breastfeeding. There's very little safety data on mushroom extracts or ginseng in pregnancy, and mushroom coffee counts towards the NHS 200mg daily caffeine limit.
• Blood thinners such as warfarin. Reishi may affect blood clotting, and ginseng has been reported to interact with warfarin.
• Diabetes medicines. Ginseng, Reishi, Maitake and Chaga have been studied for effects on blood sugar, so levels may need watching.
• Blood pressure medicines. Reishi has been studied for effects on blood pressure. The Cochrane review found no clear change, but it's still worth asking.
• Autoimmune conditions or immunosuppressant drugs, including after a transplant. Mushroom beta-glucans are studied for their effects on the immune system.
• Planned surgery. Tell your surgical team about any supplements, since some affect bleeding.
• Kidney stones or kidney disease. Chaga is very high in oxalate. In a 2020 case report from Seoul, a 49-year-old man developed kidney failure after years of taking Chaga powder daily. Case reports are rare and involve large amounts, but they're worth knowing about.
• Caffeine sensitivity, anxiety, heart rhythm problems or reflux, for mushroom coffee. Some medicines, including the antibiotic ciprofloxacin and the antidepressant fluvoxamine, slow down how fast your body clears caffeine.

Mushroom coffee isn't suitable for children because of the caffeine. Most mushroom supplements haven't been studied in children at all.

Which should you pick?

Choose mushroom coffee if:

• You want to cut your caffeine but keep a morning coffee habit
• You like earthy flavours
• You don't mind a few minutes of making it

Choose mushroom gummies if:

• You want mushrooms without caffeine
• You'd rather take them in the evening
• You travel a lot or don't drink hot drinks
• You don't like the taste of mushrooms

You can also have both. Plenty of people keep their usual coffee in the morning and take two Starshroooms later in the day or before bed. The gummies add nothing to your caffeine total. If you'd like to try gummies without committing, the Trial Pack is ten gummies for £4.99 with tracked UK delivery, and you can browse the rest of our mushroom gummies.

FAQs

Does mushroom coffee have caffeine?

Almost always, yes. Most mushroom coffees are part coffee, and popular brands compared by NBC News came in at around 45mg to 60mg of caffeine a serving, with a few stronger blends at about 150mg. The NHS puts a mug of instant coffee at about 100mg. A small number of products called mushroom coffee contain no coffee at all, so check the ingredients if you want to avoid caffeine completely. Caffeine free mushroom gummies, ours included, contain none.

Is mushroom coffee good for you?

For most healthy adults it's a reasonable drink, and the clearest difference from ordinary coffee is that it usually has less caffeine. We couldn't find any clinical trial of mushroom coffee as a drink, so claims about focus or energy from the mushrooms aren't backed by research on the product itself. Human studies of single mushrooms exist, but they're small and often use higher doses than a cup provides.

Are mushroom gummies better than mushroom coffee?

Neither has been shown to be better, because no one has compared them in people. The practical differences are clearer. Gummies are caffeine free, need no preparation and can be taken in the evening. Coffee suits people who already have a morning coffee habit and want less caffeine. Compare the amount of each mushroom and the extract ratio on the label, since that varies far more between brands than between formats.

Can I take mushroom gummies with coffee?

Yes. Mushroom gummies without caffeine add nothing to your caffeine total, so many people keep their normal coffee in the morning and take gummies later in the day or before bed. If you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have a health condition, check with a GP or pharmacist before adding any new supplement.

When is the best time to take mushroom gummies?

Any time that you'll remember every day. Caffeine free gummies can be taken morning or evening. Reishi is traditionally taken as a calming evening tonic, so some people take blends containing it before bed, while others prefer breakfast. What matters most is taking them consistently, since the human mushroom trials ran for several weeks of daily use.

Does mushroom coffee taste like mushrooms?

Not like the mushrooms on your pizza. Most mushroom coffee tastes like a slightly milder, earthier coffee, and many people can't pick out the mushroom at all. Blends with Reishi can taste noticeably bitter. Gummies hide the mushroom flavour almost completely behind fruit, which is why people who dislike earthy flavours tend to prefer them.

Are mushroom coffee and mushroom gummies psychedelic?

No. Functional mushrooms such as Lion's Mane, Reishi, Cordyceps, Chaga, Maitake and Tremella don't contain psilocybin, the compound in so-called magic mushrooms. They won't make you high, and they're legal to buy in UK shops. Products that do contain psilocybin are illegal in the UK and are a different thing entirely.

How long does it take to notice anything?

There's no reliable answer. Human trials of single mushrooms ran for between three and sixteen weeks of daily use, and results were mixed. Brands that promise results within days or a month aren't quoting trials of their own product. If you want to judge for yourself, take either format daily for a few weeks and keep the rest of your routine the same.

Can I have mushroom coffee or mushroom gummies when pregnant?

Speak to your midwife, GP or pharmacist first. There's very little safety data on mushroom extracts or ginseng during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Mushroom coffee also contains caffeine, and the NHS advises no more than 200mg a day from all sources during pregnancy, including tea, cola and chocolate.

Do mushroom gummies contain a lot of sugar?

It depends on the brand. Some gummies contain several grams of sugar per serving, while others use sweeteners or a mix of the two. Ours are sweetened with sugar and steviol glycosides. Check the per serving figure on the label. The NHS says adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day, and a sweetened mushroom latte can easily contain more than a serving of gummies.

Does mushroom coffee have side effects?

Most people drink it without problems. The mushroom powder adds fibre, so some people notice bloating or looser stools at first. The caffeine can cause jitters or poor sleep in sensitive people, especially later in the day. Chaga is high in oxalate, so anyone with kidney stones or kidney disease should ask a doctor first, and anyone with a mushroom allergy should avoid it.

Sources

• Mushroom coffee vs regular coffee, NBC News Select
• Foods to avoid in pregnancy: caffeine, NHS
• Caffeine, European Food Safety Authority (2015 scientific opinion)
• Great Britain nutrition and health claims register, GOV.UK
• Mori K et al. (2009) Lion's Mane and mild cognitive impairment, Phytotherapy Research
• Docherty S et al. (2023) Lion's Mane in young adults, Nutrients
• Hirsch KR et al. (2017) Cordyceps militaris and high intensity exercise, Journal of Dietary Supplements
• Chen S et al. (2010) Cs-4 Cordyceps sinensis in older adults, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
• Klupp NL et al. (2015) Reishi for cardiovascular risk factors, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
• Kała K et al. (2024) Coffee with Cordyceps militaris and Lion's Mane fruiting bodies, Pharmaceuticals
• Drake C et al. (2013) Caffeine taken 0, 3 or 6 hours before bed, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
• Lee S et al. (2020) Kidney failure after long term Chaga ingestion, Journal of Korean Medical Science