Self-confessed coffee addict and SOMA Analytics writer Peter Haywood takes on the world of functional mushrooms blended with matcha. As he discovers the best mushroom matcha powders on the market, he also uncovers some unintended benefits. Find our more below…
Why I Started Putting Mushrooms In My Matcha
I used to be a three-coffees-before-lunch person. Don’t judge me.
It worked, until it didn’t. The buzz would hit around 9am, hold for maybe an hour, then I’d be staring at my screen by 11 wondering why my brain had quietly clocked off without telling me. A second cup just delayed the inevitable. A third one gave me the shakes and made me weirdly snappy with anyone who dared ask me a simple question before noon.
So when a friend mentioned she’d swapped her morning coffee for something called “mushroom matcha,” I did the thing most of us do, I nodded, said “oh nice,” and quietly assumed she’d lost the plot a bit. Mushrooms. In tea. Yeah right!
A few months and a genuinely embarrassing number of pouches later, I’ve eaten my words (not literally – that would rather defeat the purpose). I’ve worked my way through more mushroom matchas than I’d like to admit, landed on a proper favourite, and worked out exactly which ones aren’t worth your money. And in this article, I’ll be sharing the ones I love and the ones that I almost spat out on first sip.
One quick stat before we get going: matcha uses the whole ground tea leaf rather than just steeping it, which means you get the full hit of antioxidants and L-theanine that a regular cup of green tea simply can’t touch.
Add a properly dosed mushroom blend on top of that, and you’ve got something worth building a morning around – not just another wellness fad that’ll be gone by next spring.
Quick Verdict: Our No.1 Mushroom Matcha
Matcha Flow has everything I look for in a high quality supplement but it comes in a delicious drink form. It uses organic ceremonial grade matcha plus another 8 functional ingredients (all transparently dosed) including lions mane, tremella and reishi mushroom.
The vitamin and adaptogens included are very welcome and had an instant impact for our reviewer. It compares well on price to competitors and blows them all away in terms of the overall blend, taste and impact.
So What’s Actually In A Mushroom Matcha?
Let’s clear this up first, because I had the same confused reaction everyone has the first time they hear “mushroom” and “matcha” in the same sentence.
A mushroom matcha is, at its simplest, ceremonial-grade (if good quality) Japanese matcha blended with functional mushroom extracts – usually some mix of lion’s mane, reishi, tremella, or cordyceps. The better ones also throw in an adaptogen like ashwagandha, a bit of MCT oil for sustained energy, and often a few B vitamins for good measure.
Here’s why it actually works, rather than just being two wellness buzzwords smushed together for a TikTok trend. Matcha naturally contains both caffeine and L-theanine. The caffeine wakes you up; the L-theanine takes the edge off so you don’t get that jittery, heart-racing feeling, which is why matcha energy feels calmer and more even than a flat white, despite a typical serving still carrying around 70mg of caffeine (roughly two-thirds of what you’d get from a regular coffee).
Layer the mushrooms on top and you’re adding things matcha alone doesn’t really do. Lion’s mane for focus and that “brain fog lifting” sensation, reishi for taking the edge off stress, tremella for, believe it or not, your skin.
Not always an easy combination to get right, mind you. I’ve had versions that taste like wet soil. More on that below.
Before You Buy: What Separates The Good Stuff From The Fluff
I’ll save you some of the trial and error I went through, because there’s a fair bit of fluff in this category dressed up as substance.
A few things I now check before handing over my card:
- Organic certification — not a dealbreaker on its own, but a decent signal of overall quality control
- Real fruiting-body extract, not mycelium-on-grain filler — cheaper brands bulk out their “mushroom powder” with grain that’s been grown using mushroom mycelium, which is a fraction as potent as the actual fruiting body
- Actual dosages on the label — if a brand just says “proprietary mushroom blend” with no numbers attached, that’s usually a brand hiding something (or hiding very little)
- Ceremonial-grade matcha, not culinary-grade — culinary grade is fine for baking, less fine for a daily energy ritual
- Subscription terms — I got caught out once by a “one-time discount” that quietly auto-renewed at full price three weeks later. Read the small print.
That last one stung a bit, if I’m honest. Keep this checklist in mind as you read through the picks below — it’ll save you from a few of the duds I had to find out about the hard way.
The Best Mushroom Matcha Powders I’d Actually Buy Again
This is the bit you’re here for. Ranked on taste, how I actua