In The Healing Power of Mushrooms we learnt about what health benefits some of the medicinal mushrooms have. Now let’s look at incorporating these mushrooms into a hot beverage for daily consumption. This is exactly what Tero Isokauppila did when he started Four Sigmatic, a range of mushroom coffees, hot cacao and elixirs that make it easy to incorporate the health benefits of mushrooms into our daily routine. According to him, medicinal mushrooms can be very bitter when consumed on their own, so combining them with coffee or cacao helps to disguise the taste.
It’s not just about ease of consumption, however, it’s also about getting the medicinal benefits. The active compounds are not bioavailable in raw mushrooms, so they do need to be cooked. Hot water helps to extract the active compounds from the mushroom, making it possible for us to enjoy the multitude of health benefits they provide.
Let’s take a look at some of the blends available.
Four Sigmatic Lion’s Mane Mushroom Elixir:
What sets Lion’s Mane apart from many of the other medicinal mushrooms is its benefit on brain function. As such, Four Sigmatic promote their Lion’s Mane Mushroom Elixir to aid in focus, and recommend drinking it during work or study for added concentration. Like all their blends, this one is intended to be added to hot water and also contains the balancing flavours of peppermint, rose hips and a touch of Stevia for sweetness. Additionally, Four Sigmatic have added some Rhodiola to this blend, which is also used for its positive effects on mental performance.
Chaga Mushroom Elixir:
This wellness elixir is a great source of antioxidants and combined with Siberian Ginseng, Rose Hip and Mint makes for an excellent day to day Wellbeing supplement. Add it to hot water to drink as an alternative to tea or coffee or add to smoothies for a nutritious boost. Drinking this elixir regularly can also help to keep your immune system healthy.
Mushroom Coffees:
If you’re like me and enjoy a good cup of coffee, then you might agree that adding medicinal mushroom powders into a coffee is a great concept. And no, it doesn’t make your coffee taste mushroomy at all. Instead, the deliciously bitter flavour of the coffee works well to disguise any bitterness that the mushrooms might add. The four Sigmatic mushroom coffees contain less caffeine than normal coffee and tend not to cause the jitters as much as some full strength coffees.
Fantastic for when you need to focus at work or study, the Mushroom coffee with Lions Mane combines the delicious flavour of coffee with the mental focus benefits of lion’s mane and Rhodiola. For those that need a bit more of a pick me up, there is a mushroom coffee with Cordyceps, used traditionally for its benefit on energy levels and Siberian ginseng, often used in herbal medicine to help the body adapt to stress. Both these blends also contain Chaga mushroom, providing antioxidant support for everyday health and wellbeing.
Mushroom Hot Cacao:
Sometimes we just want to curl up with a nice cup of hot chocolate or hot cocoa – it’s comforting and delicious and so warming on a cold winter’s day. With the Four Sigmatic Mushroom Hot Cacao blends we can get the health benefits of mushrooms with the delicious flavour and chocolatey comfort of cacao. The bitterness of the cacao beautifully disguises the bitterness of the mushrooms and is then balanced with just the right amount of sweetness in the form of coconut sugar, which is less refined and contains more nutrients than regular table sugar.
There are a couple of blends available – one combines cacao with the energy stimulating effects of Cordyceps and the gentle warmth of ginger, to be enjoyed earlier in the day. The other blends the rich goodness of cacao with the immune and cardiovascular health benefits of Reishi. Tero Isokauppila also recommends Reishi for supporting the body’s sleep cycle, making it the perfect hot drink to finish off your day. Also in this blend are mint, rose hips and tulsi, used traditionally to help the body adapt to and cope with stress.
All of the Four Sigmatic Mushroom Mixes can be drunk just as is in hot water, or you can add your favourite milk or milk alternative. For those who require extra sweetness, you can also add some of your favourite sweetener. Go ahead, why not try one of these delicious blends today and enjoy both the comfort and the benefit.
