Product Review: Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee

As many of you know I am an avid coffee drinker. I like to have a cup in the morning, and a cup in the afternoon. Many of you think I am crazy because I like to drink decaffeinated coffee in the morning, and then regular coffee in the afternoon, but I have found thats what works best for me! I love drinking coffee so much I even wrote an article on coffee can effect your recovery. The reason I have my current coffee routine is because I will usually teach classes, or have clients in the afternoon/evening. I like having the cup if regular coffee in the afternoon so I can have the cognitive effects of caffeine to help me operate at my highest level. Now I know some people love to have their caffeine in the morning and opt to not have the cup in the afternoon, because thats what works for them. But lets be honest, a lot of us get that afternoon drowsiness and sometimes reach for that second coffee in the afternoon. We do this knowing that it might have negative effects on our sleep patterns or our ability to recover from a workout. Luckily, for you folks who get that afternoon drowsiness, I have found a product that may help you kick that feeling of lethargy, and allow you to power through the rest of your day.

If this is you, you may want to consider taking a break from caffeine….

I have never been a person who has been into alternative products when it comes to food or drinks, it just is not something that really appeals to me. But when I heard about a coffee alternative that would provide the coffee effects with 1/4 of the caffeine, I knew I had to give it a try. The way I heard about the product was via a podcast from Tim Ferris (wildly successful author and entrepreneur) who is a self proclaimed “human guinea pig.” The product he recommended to improve cognitive performance was Mushroom Coffee (specifically the one containing Lions Mane and Chaga) produced by a company called Four Sigmatic. Now before you think, “that’s absurd, it sounds like some hippy coffee that won’t work,”  just bear with me and let me explain to you the benefits, and why I personally would recommend the product.

The product is mainly comprised of a couple ingredients: Lions Mane, Chaga, and Arabica instant coffee powder. The Lions Mane mushroom has been proven to enhance memory and brain function, who wouldn’t want that? Chaga is known for its health benefits such as having high antioxidant potency which helps prevent that stomach burn that coffee can give you, and it also is known for aiding the digestive system. The Arabica coffee mix gives it the coffee flavor and a small amount of caffeine (about 25 mg per packet), which really is not enough to induce any kind of caffeine effect in a regular coffee drinker. If you want more information on the product itself or the company behind it you can click here.

It can help me focus with only 25 mg of caffeine?!

Aside from the benefits listed above, I can also personally recommend the coffee from a user standpoint. I have been using it the past month and I can say  that the claimed effects were real for me. I noticed I was able to focus better, my head felt more clear, and I did not have that jittery feeling that caffeine can give you. The best part was it did not keep me up at night! Now on to the taste of the coffee. I will say it for the most part really does taste like coffee, but it has an earthy undertone that you get when you eat mushrooms. If you are someone who likes the taste of mushrooms, then you will not mind this taste. If you are not so keen on the earthy taste, then try mixing it into a cup of decaf coffee and you won’t even notice its there! I have drunk it straight, with a little milk mixed in, mixed into some decaf coffee, even over ice, and it consistently tasted like coffee. Another great thing about the product is that it is very reasonably priced. When I bought it off amazon it came out to just under $15 for a pack of 10 ($1.50 per packet), which is much cheaper than buying a coffee at Starbucks or Peets.

So whether you are trying to cut down your caffeine consumption, maximize your recovery, or just want to try a new product, give this mushroom coffee a try and let me know if it works for you!