Oh, lawdy. We see more and more commercials for mushroom coffee.
Anyone tasted this? WHY does it exist? How does one prepare it?
And nooooo……this is not about “mushrooms, dooood”.
This is about non-psychotropic mushrooms.
Why is this a thing??
The one brand that I’ve seen touts it as something that will make you feel better in several different ways that I don’t remember; also that it tastes better than coffee, even though it is mostly coffee. The last point made me lose interest immediately, as I don’t like coffee.
Why is it a thing? Someone thought of it, other people copied it, they want to try to make money. As for customers, I imagine the commercials are somewhat successful at getting people to try it; I wonder how many repeat customers they get.
I tried butter coffee once because someone I thought I could trust was So over the moon on it.
We were in a chi-chi coffee shop off of 5th Avenue in Chelsea in NYC.
That was eight dollars wasted right there.
Not sure I wanna try this experimenting thing again.
Whatever it is, RFK Jr is either for or against it depending on whether he can make more money promoting it or suing people who provide it.
Personally, I prefer my mushrooms sautéed to a light scorch in virgin olive oil with some diced onion and a splash of garlic oil added at the last minute, perfect in a pasta dish, on top of chicken breast, or sandwiched inside of an omelet. I’m fine with my coffee as is, medium dark with a hint of sweetness, ground medium fine and brewed in a pour-over or AeroPress.
Stranger
I’m all in on your mushroom approach. Especially when pairing them with eggs. Instead of dicing the onions, have you ever tried slicing them wicked thin a la “Goodfellas” with the garlic? I’ve gotten into taking my time, weepy eyes be damned, and slicing OH so thinly with onions as well as garlic. It takes the oil in a different manner. Yeah, much faster, but I can’t really describe it. It’s worth taking an onion of your choice- and I adore a nice Vidalia- and slicing a small bit of it insanely thin.
I’m a home-made cold brew person. Simple. Tasty as hell. Low acidity/ High caffeine.
I’m all in on your mushroom approach. Especially when pairing them with eggs. Instead of dicing the onions, have you ever tried slicing them wicked thin a la “Goodfellas” with the garlic? I’ve gotten into taking my time, weepy eyes be damned, and slicing OH so thinly with onions as well as garlic. It takes the oil in a different manner. Yeah, much faster, but I can’t really describe it. It’s worth taking an onion of your choice- and I adore a nice Vidalia- and slicing a small bit of it insanely thin.
I’m a home-made cold brew person. Simple. Tasty as hell. Low acidity/ High caffeine.
James Hoffman did a video on these last month, and I’d say he came away just as perplexed as he went in.
I keep seeing the Ryze commercials. I have to say that the spokesmushroom is very cute. Not interested in the coffee, though.
There’s a couple of places up here that make it.
I’ve tried it - it’s not bad, but it’s also not coffee.
I am totally buying a plushie of this little guy when they start making them! He is adorable.
I don’t think Ryze is available in Canada. I would try it. My regular coffee is $20/bag now so apparently my love for coffee does have financial limits.
I love the hat! 
I’ve never had mushroom coffee and can’t predict what I would think of it, but the soup labeled “Forest Mushroom” by one of the local supermarkets has a deep, delicious flavour and is one of my favourite soups, so mushroom coffee might be interesting. But certainly not on a regular basis – real coffee requires a strong coffee bean flavour and a caffeine jolt! 
Doesn’t strike me as any more weird than loading coffee up with caramel syrup, cinnamon, Pumpkin Spice, milk, cream, and all those other more traditional additives. Less sweet, and that alone might be good for some people. Some will like it, some won’t. I’m dubious on the actual medicinal benefits but their might be some in some formulations.
On the tea side of beverages folks have been adding all sorts of “medicinal” things for ages, guess they’re finally getting around to giving coffee the same treatment.
I cannot comment on mushroom-flvored coffee, which I have not tried, but it’s obvious why: people add lots of shit to coffee to modify the taste, including chicory, cardamom, and sugar. Sometimes the coffee is not properly roasted and brewed in the first place, in which case the additives help nudge it slightly towards palatability.
Maybe, if you know what you are doing, you can start the proverbial party in your mouth, but no less than Richard Burton described being served what would have been an excellent cup of coffee were it not fucked up by cloves and cinnamon.