Mushroom drink: 3 recipes and how to make it
Par Pixel Online - 01 December 2025
Recipes
Mushroom drink
3 recipes and how to make it
By the Mush n Go editorial teamUpdated 24 September 202612 min read
Recipes and how to use them
A mushroom drink is a hot or cold base — coffee, cacao, plant milk — to which you add extracts of lion's mane, cordyceps, reishi or chaga. Three parameters make the difference: water at 80 °C and no hotter, a dose of about 8 g per 250 ml, and mixing in two stages. Allow three weeks of consistency before judging anything.
Brainstoorm
Lion's mane, cordyceps and chaga at 1,000 mg each, maca, organic cacao and chicory: the powder dissolves in thirty seconds, in hot or cold water.
Discover Brainstoorm →
Brainstoorm Coffee
The same formula with a distinctly coffee profile, for anyone who makes their drink like a morning americano.
Discover Brainstoorm Coffee →What it actually is
A familiar base, plus mushroom extracts.
The principle fits in one sentence: you start from a drink you already like — a coffee, a cacao, a hot plant milk — and add concentrated extracts of functional mushrooms. The taste barely changes. What changes is what is in the cup.
- Lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus): the species most studied on cognitive function. Practically neutral in taste, it is the one that blends best into a coffee.
- Cordyceps: studied on oxygen use during exertion. A slightly earthy note, very discreet.
- Reishi: frankly bitter as a powder, which destines it for evening cacao or the capsule.
- Chaga: a vanilla note, pleasant in a plant milk.
A good product states its polysaccharide and beta-glucan standardisation, as well as the part of the mushroom used. If the label just says "mushroom complex", the dose is usually low.
Choosing the base
Three bases, three different uses.
Hot water
The simplest and most neutral version. It is the one that lets the blend's profile come through best, and the only one that adds no calories. Ideal in the morning.
Plant milk
Oat and almond soften the bitterness and give a latte texture. The fat also helps carry the aromas. It is the most pleasant base to start with.
Cacao
Raw cacao masks earthy notes well. It is the base of the evening ritual, with no added caffeine, using reishi rather than cordyceps.
Cold water works too, as long as you mix for longer: powders disperse less readily when cold.
The three moves that count
A botched preparation cancels out a good product.
Water at 80 °C
Never boiling. Without a thermometer: boil the water and wait a minute before pouring. Above that, some of the extracts' compounds break down.
One level spoon
About 8 g per 250 ml. If you are starting out, use a quarter spoon for three days and work up over about ten days.
Mix in two stages
Tip the powder into a little hot liquid, stir for thirty seconds until you have a smooth paste, then top up. It is the only way to avoid lumps.
Three recipes
One for the morning, one for the evening, one for the summer.
| Recipe | Ingredients | Method | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lion's mane coffee | 1 hot black coffee · ½ tsp lion's mane powder · a pinch of cinnamon | Tip the powder into the coffee while still hot but not boiling and stir for thirty seconds. For a latte version: add oat milk and run the frother. | Morning |
| Reishi cacao | 1 tbsp raw cacao · ½ tsp reishi · 200 ml plant milk · 1 tsp honey | Heat the plant milk without boiling it, add the cacao then the reishi, and whisk until smooth. Honey at the end, off the heat. | Evening |
| Iced mushroom coffee | 1 cold coffee · ice · ½ tsp cordyceps · a splash of almond milk | Dissolve the powder first in two spoons of room-temperature coffee, then pour over the ice and top up. Shake it in a cocktail shaker if you have one. | Afternoon |
With an already-formulated powder like Brainstoorm, swap the single-species powder for one dose of the blend: all three recipes work the same way.
What the studies say
Three trials, and one safety reference.
No study focuses on "the mushroom drink" as such. What is documented are the species taken separately, in trials of which these are the most solid — with their limits.
Mori et al., 2009 · Japan
Randomised double-blind trial, 30 adults aged 50 to 80. 3 g of Hericium erinaceus a day for 16 weeks: higher scores on a cognitive function scale, a gap that disappears 4 weeks after stopping. Small sample.
Docherty et al., 2023 · United Kingdom
41 young adults, Northumbria University. A single 1.8 g dose of Hericium erinaceus extract, then 28 days of supplementation. Shorter reaction time on a rapid processing task after the acute dose; more nuanced results at four weeks.
Chen et al., 2010 · United States
20 sedentary adults aged 50 to 75, 3 g a day of Cordyceps sinensis extract for 12 weeks. Ventilatory threshold during exertion 10.5% higher in the treated group. Very small sample.
EFSA, 2015 · European Union
400 mg of caffeine a day for a healthy adult, 200 mg in a single dose. Useful for deciding whether to add your extracts to an ordinary coffee rather than to a lightly loaded base.
These works concern extract doses, not cups. That is precisely why the dose in your drink matters. Full references at the bottom of the page.
What time of day
The right moment depends on the species.
On waking
A large glass of water first. Hot drinks, even lightly caffeinated ones, sit better after you have eaten something — see our article on coffee on an empty stomach.
Morning
Lion's mane and cordyceps. This is the slot for focus and energy, the one where a lightly caffeinated base makes sense.
After 2 pm
Ease off the caffeine. A 20 mg drink usually goes down fine, an espresso far less so. It is also the hour of the afternoon slump.
Evening
Reishi and cacao, caffeine-free. The ritual counts as much as the composition: marking a pause is part of the effect.
The reference doses
The figures to keep in your head.
The first reflex, when you feel nothing, is to raise the dose. It is rarely the right answer: in the trials, what carries the result is consistency and duration, not the amount per serving.
The five classic mistakes
What ruins a good powder in ten seconds.
- Boiling water. Mistake number one, and the easiest to fix: a minute's wait is enough.
- Tipping it all in at once. The powder clumps and sits on the surface. Two stages, always.
- Stacking five species. One to three per cup. Beyond that, each dose falls too low to count.
- Judging at three days. The published trials run four to sixteen weeks. Three weeks is an honest minimum.
- Changing everything at once. If you start the drink the same day you also change your sleep and your diet, you will not know what worked.
Precautions
The cases where you should seek advice.
Ask your doctor before making it a habit if:
- You are allergic to edible mushrooms.
- You take an anticoagulant: reishi and lion's mane may have a slight influence on clotting.
- You are being treated for diabetes: cordyceps calls for monitoring blood sugar.
- You have a history of kidney stones: chaga is rich in oxalates.
- You are pregnant or breastfeeding.
The adverse effects described are digestive and transient — bloating, loose stools — above all when you start at full dose. Hence the quarter spoon of the first few days.
The shortcut
When you do not fancy dosing three powders.
Making it yourself has its appeal: you choose the species and adjust. It means buying three powders, dosing them and storing them. A ready-made formula gathers that work: Brainstoorm brings together lion's mane, cordyceps and chaga at 1,000 mg each, with 3,000 mg of maca, organic cacao, chicory and 20 mg of microencapsulated caffeine — 6,040 mg of actives per cup, formulated in Toulouse. One dose, thirty seconds, and the three recipes above work as they are.
« What I appreciate most is the steadier energy it gives: no jitters, no crash »
★★★★★ Nawel F. · 7 January 2026
« I feel more focused and much less on edge »
★★★★★ Roxane T. · 24 October 2025
Real Trustpilot reviews of Brainstoorm, translated from French without editing the content.
Your questions
What you ask us about these drinks.
What temperature do you make a mushroom drink at?
75 to 80 °C maximum, never with boiling water. Without a thermometer: bring to the boil and wait a minute before pouring. Above 80 °C, some of the extracts' compounds break down.
What dose per cup?
About 8 g of formulated powder per 250 ml of liquid, that is one level teaspoon. With a single-species extract, allow half a teaspoon, and work up over about ten days.
Can you make it with cold water?
Yes. Dissolve the powder first in two spoons of room-temperature liquid to get a paste, then top up with the cold liquid and ice. Dispersion is slower when cold: mix for longer or use a shaker.
How long before you notice anything?
If the base contains caffeine, the stimulant effect is immediate. For the rest, the published trials run 4 to 16 weeks: allow at least three weeks of daily use before judging.
Can you mix several mushrooms in the same cup?
One to three species, no more. Beyond that, each dose falls too low to reach the amounts used in the studies, and you are mostly paying for a list of ingredients.
Does milk destroy the actives?
No. Plant milk, honey or cinnamon do not interfere with the extracts. The only parameter that really counts is the temperature of the liquid when you tip the powder in.
Can you drink it in the evening?
Yes, as long as you choose a caffeine-free base: a reishi cacao rather than a cordyceps coffee. Caffeine sensitivity varies a great deal from one person to another.
How do you store the powder?
In its tightly closed container, away from light and damp, at room temperature. Avoid the fridge: condensation makes the powder clump.
Sources
The references cited in this article.
- Mori K. et al. (2009). Improving effects of the mushroom Yamabushitake (Hericium erinaceus) on mild cognitive impairment: a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Phytotherapy Research, 23(3), 367-372.
- Docherty S. et al. (2023). The acute and chronic effects of Lion's Mane mushroom supplementation on cognitive function, stress and mood in young adults. Nutrients, 15(22), 4842.
- Chen S. et al. (2010). Effect of Cs-4 (Cordyceps sinensis) on exercise performance in healthy older subjects: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16(5), 585-590.
- EFSA NDA Panel (2015). Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine. EFSA Journal, 13(5):4102.
To go further
What to read next.
Découvrez nos compléments aux champignons et plantes adaptogènes
Nos formules vegan, aux recettes façonnées à Toulouse par un façonnier français.
