Mushroom Teas: A New and Emerging Health Trend
Surely, no matter how much you love coffee, a sip of it every morning can get pretty boring at one point. So, what else can you drink if you want to stir away from the bitter taste of morning coffee? Well, good news for you. There is a new and emerging health trend called mushroom tea which might be a good alternative for your daily dose of morning boost. In fact, it is richer in variety than coffee. This is because mushroom tea is not just made by one specific tea, it is made by a lot of different ones —giving you a flavorful, soothing, and thirst-clenching morning drink that you've never had before.
Mushroom teas are not only tasty but are also known to have a lot of healthy benefits. For one, drinking mushroom tea as soon as you wake up is proven to have positive effects on your mental health. As such, it improves your body's ability to respond to and handle stress, strengthens your immune system, and boosts your gut health.
Ever since ancient times, mushroom teas are already popularly used in tea ceremonies a thousand years ago. Apart from that, mushroom tea is commonly used because of its health benefits, and in some cases, it was used to treat or alleviate the symptoms of certain diseases. However, it is only recently that it was able to make a name on its own and emerge as a new health trend, especially among health enthusiasts and social media.
So, if you are considering hopping on to the trend, let us get into detail about mushroom tea first and the health benefits it contains —now, shall we? In this article, we will provide a little more about mushroom tea, its benefits, as well as the best ways to prepare your mushroom tea.
Mushroom Tea and Its Components
Mushroom tea is the combination of mushrooms and water, typically made by mushrooms that are extracted, powdered, or pulverized. Depending on the mushroom used, mushrooms edible pieces with medicinal and psychedelic components. That’s also why most people see mushroom tea as more of a health supplement than a regular beverage.
Mushroom tea is also everywhere, so you can conveniently find them at your local grocery stores. You can buy powdered mushroom extract blended with green tea or any other type of tea. If you love coffee, you can also buy a mushroom with a coffee blend to better suit your taste. You can even pair it with unsweetened vanilla almond milk to make the drinking experience extra special.
Truth be told, making mushroom tea isn’t about buying fresh mushrooms and incorporating them into hot boiling water. You get significantly more effects if you buy ready-made mushrooms in powdered form to make your mushroom tea. As such, these extracted powders of mushrooms are much more concentrated than that of fresh produce.
One thing you also need to know is that there are a variety of mushrooms that local brands infuse with tea. The most popular ones are Chaga, Lion’s mane, and Reishi due to their adaptogenic herb qualities. This means that these specific types of mushrooms help our bodies adapt to stress, making them an important element in maintaining good and sound mental health.
So, how does mushroom tea calm our body's stresses? Since it is considered an adaptogen, it has the ability to calm the central nervous system, resulting in a much-moderated response to cortisol—a stress hormone. Mushroom tea is so powerful that it is known to help us deal with external, environmental, and emotional stresses in a much better way.
The Different and Specific Types of Mushroom
As mentioned above, there are different and specific types of mushrooms used in teas. Listed below are some of the popular ones:
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Reishi Mushrooms
Reishi is perhaps the most popular type of mushroom there is. It has a reddish-brown color and a varnished kidney-shaped for shape. This type of mushroom is known to be one of the most packed adaptogenic mushrooms that can enhance your body’s overall response to stress. Apart from that, it is also known to help regulate blood sugar and enhance the body’s immune system. Since it is rich in anti-stress components, it also promotes healthy sleep and lessens the events of mood swings and fatigue.
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Chaga Mushrooms
Another popular type of mushroom is called Chaga. Chaga has an irregular shape or form and a dark color that almost resembles that of burnt charcoal. Chaga mushroom is known to have potent antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. It can also help lessen the symptoms of arthritis and help control blood pressure. Chaga is also scientifically proven to slow down the progression and growth of cancer skills. All in all, drinking mushroom tea based on Chaga is a good way to boost your immune system.
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Cordyceps
Next on the list is the Cordyceps mushroom which is known to live on certain pillars in China. Just like Chaga, it is rich in anti-inflammatory properties. It is also known to fuel the body’s production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is an important component that boosts the energy levels of our body’s muscles. As such, drinking mushroom tea based on Cordyceps is a good way to boost exercise performance and productivity. This is also the reason why drinking such tea is recommended to athletes to help increase their endurance, agility, and overall performance.
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Lion's Mane
The Lion’s Mane is a type of mushroom that is distinguished for its off-white long spines. It is a powerful drink that provides a lot of health benefits for your mental well-being. For one, it lowers your risk for any type of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease. Second, it can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. What’s more, it also has the ability to repair nerve damage. To add, just like any other mushroom, Lion's Mane is rich in antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune-boosting properties.
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Maitake Mushrooms
Maitake, a mushroom type hailed as “Hen of the Woods,” is native to China, Europe, and North America. It is distinguished for its strong, peppery, and earthy flavor. This is also another energy-inducing tea by producing more fatty acids in our bodies. Moreover, it is also known to help keep our arteries strong and healthy. Generally, it is a good drink to combat high cholesterol levels, improve artery functionality, and lower your risk for any cardiovascular diseases.
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Shiitake Mushrooms
Shiitake is another type of mushroom that has originated in native Asia but is now being consumed all over the world. In traditional medicine, shiitake is widely used for its medicinal properties that can treat and heal certain illnesses. It also contains many health benefits. As such, shiitake mushrooms help maintain and support a healthy immune system. It helps protect your body against cell damage, improves white blood cell production, and helps fight microbes. Just like the ones above, it is also very rich in anti-inflammatory properties. Apart from that, it is low in lipid content but rich in protein, fiber, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidant properties.
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Turkey Tail
Second to the last is a type of mushroom called Turkey Tail. It is distinguished for its disc-like shale and varying display of colors. This mushroom is a powerful anti-cancer drink that can lower your risks of contracting gastric cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer. In fact, a lot of cancer patients use this to improve their body’s responses to cancer medicines and treatment radiation. Essentially, it is a good drink for cancer treatment. Apart from cancer, Turkey Tail is also helpful when it comes to increasing muscle strength, decreasing body fatigue, preventing Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs), and many other health benefits.
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Tremella
Lastly, we have here another type of mushroom called Tremella. It is distinguished for its white, flowery, and frond-like appearance. One of the major benefits you can get from consuming Tremella is to have healthy and glowing skin. This is because Tremella is known to generate and support good hydration processes in the body. In fact, Tremella extract is often used as a topical cream on the skin. As such, it is rich in antioxidants and anti-aging properties —giving you a more youthful look. Apart from skin benefits, it is also proven to positively affect your hair. It locks and strengthens your hair follicles, keeping your hair hydrated and healthy!
Preparing Your Mushroom Tea
The preparation of mushroom tea is just like how you prepare any other tea. Simply, you simply boil some hot water and pour your mushroom powder into it —mix, stir, and take a good sip. Or, you can simply dip your mushroom tea bag into the boiling water, and leave it there for a few minutes until the color of the water changes.
Apart from the conventional methods in preparing your mushroom tea, you can also try to do it the natural way. First, get a set of the produce of your chosen mushrooms. Brew it and infuse it into the boiling water. Give it eight (8) to twelve (12) hours to simmer before straining. Needless to say, the extraction process is a crucial part of the preparation. Otherwise, you might accidentally consume raw mushrooms. Additionally, functional mushrooms need to be extracted so they would be “bioavailable” for human consumption. So, it might take a while, but you should follow the long process of extraction to ensure your safety.
In another method, you can make mushroom tea from the scratch yourself. Before this though, you need to go through coursework or training and learn the basics of mushrooms before starting your quest. This is so you will gain sufficient knowledge about mushrooms in general, including the accurate identification of mushrooms, and which specific types of mushrooms will better work for you. Most of the time, it takes skilled and highly-knowledgeable people to correctly identify the functional mushroom varieties. If you do this step mindlessly, you might accidentally rat wild mushrooms, and doing so can pose very dangerous health threats to your body.
So, unless you are willing to go through that kind of rough patch, it is best to purchase mushroom teas and other products and just mix and infuse them together at home. You can easily buy extracted mushrooms at your local supermarket. Conclusively, this is the best way to prepare your mushroom tea without exerting more energy, money, time, and other resources just go get one good sip of mushroom flavor.
Potential Side Effects of Mushroom Tea
On another side of the coin, there are also side effects associated with drinking mushroom teas. According to various reports, some people who regularly consume mushroom teas experienced mild to moderate digestive distress. Moreover, since there are very limited research studies that can pinpoint the safety and recommended dosage for mushroom tea, it makes it even more so dangerous. Hence, you should drink mushroom teas moderately and with health caution. Especially if you have existing comorbidity or other health conditions, you should always take precautionary steps by consulting with your doctor before drinking or adding mushroom tea to your daily routine.
Generally, mushroom teas are safe as long as you consume them moderately and in normal amounts. However, if you are taking certain medications, it may interrupt certain processes or react negatively to certain chemicals, especially in blood thinners. Due to a lack of research studies, it is also best to avoid drinking mushroom tea if you are pregnant or a breastfeeding mother.
Furthermore, there are certain types of mushrooms that are rich in oxalates — which is not exactly a bad thing, but when taken in high amounts, it can become dangerous to health. Additionally, there are mushrooms with blood-thinning effects so they might not work well with certain medications. Not only that but there are also specific mushrooms that can negatively impact immunosuppressants or chemotherapy drugs.
In retrospect, drinking mushroom tea may contain a lot of health benefits, but still, it can generate negative effects on your body if consumed recklessly. That’s why you should always check with your healthcare provider, and discuss your medical conditions, as well as the medical supplements you are currently taking. In this way, your doctor can give a piece of better and clearer advice on whether you should drink mushroom tea or not.
To go further, it is also important to note that mushroom teas are not regulated by the U.S Food and Drug Administration. This gives all the more reason to consult your doctor and seek professional advice before hopping into the trend.
Final Verdict: Should You Join The Trend on Mushroom Teas?
Now, it’s time to ask yourself the most important question, should you join the new wellness trend of mushroom tea? There is no wrong and right answer for this. The final decision will be up to you —your preference, taste, condition, and specific set of compromises. Truth be told, there are a lot of health benefits associated with drinking mushroom teas, yet most of them are not backed by research or scientifically proven up to this day. Still, if there is one thing to be sure about, it is the fact that adding mushrooms to your diet is a good way to provide your body with essential nutrients and boost your overall health.
So, if you’ve already consulted with your doctor and drinking mushroom teas makes you feel better, then go for it and hop into this new emerging trend. On a side note, to make your daily cup of mushroom teas much healthier, you can use Berkey water filters to make a good blend between your mushroom tea and purified water —because what else will make a good partner to your mushroom tea if not clean and reliable drinking water? With Berkey Water Filters, you can rest assured that your water is safe because it is a pack leader in water purification that uses gravity to feed water through a gamut of “Black Berkey Purification Elements." If you wish to know more, give us a contact at (888) 899-3903 and visit our website theberkey.com for more information.
To continue, given the fact that mushroom teas are more expensive than your regular green tea, you can also check out other tea that will better suit your budget and taste —and more importantly, a tea that will give you just as many health benefits.
In conclusion, mushroom tea can be a healthy addition to your routine —as long as you do it moderately, cautiously, and with medical guidance. If you don’t have any medical condition that may cause a backlash the moment you drink your mushroom tea, then feel free to enjoy it. If you like how it tastes and it makes you good, then why not?
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