I Replaced My Morning Caffeine With Ryze Mushroom Coffee and Tea for a Week — Here’s My Honest Review
This alternative coffee brand combines 6 different mushrooms to create their unique blend.
Image Courtesy of Ryze
I’m a routine person. I love doing the same small habits every day because they give me little anchors around which my day revolves. The most important ones for me are in the morning. I wake up, I get ready, and I have a cup of tea. It’s always black tea with milk and sugar stirred in, and it’s always my favorite part of the morning. However, this past week I changed it up and replaced my morning tea Ryze Mushroom Coffee instead. I was skeptical at first — as both a tea and coffee purist, and someone so grounded in their routines, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, here I am one week later ready to give you my honest review of mushroom caffeine.
Ryze was initially launched as a coffee alternative; their mission is to provide consumers with the energy they need to start their day, without the restlessness and subsequent caffeine crash that comes with heavy coffee consumption. They combine 6 different mushroom types (Cordyceps, Lion's Mane, Reishi, Turkey Tail, King Trumpet, and Shiitake) to create a unique blend that improves cognitive function and wakes you up. For this week, I tried three of their flavors: chai, matcha, and ube vanilla latte. Each drink retails at about $10 for a pack of 5 sticks at Target. The mushroom ube vanilla latte is also a Target exclusive. I spent about two days on each drink, trying both hot and iced versions. You can read my review of each one below.
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Ryze Mushroom Chai
Day 1: The hot mushroom chai is the closest I can get to my normal routine, so I started with this one. I used the full packet, which made the flavor overpowering and did not substantially change with the addition of milk or sugar. While I learned a valuable lesson from this Day 1, it did not feel fair to base my review off that day, so I tried again on Day 2, this time using less of the powder stick. The difference was immense.
Day 2: My second time trying the chai went a lot more smoothly. It was still very mushroom-forward, but the other flavors also came out a lot more clearly. While there isn’t a strong chai taste, the spices definitely come out and there are delicious notes of cinnamon in this drink.
Day 3: While there was still a strong mushroom flavor in the iced version, I found that a lot of the other chai spices and flavors were stronger. The drink also had a creamier texture than a lot of other iced chais I’ve tried to make at home.
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Ryze Mushroom Matcha
Day 4: I started by trying the mushroom matcha hot, as I did with the chai, and I really enjoyed it. Having learned from my experiences with the chai, I only used half the packet to avoid having an overly powdery taste (which also makes each stick last longer!). I mixed it with water to incorporate everything first. The mushroom added an earthiness that wasn’t overpowering and worked well with the nuttiness of the matcha. The overall matcha taste was mild, but distinct.
Day 5: The iced matcha was really good! It was still nutty, but the mushroom flavor was more prominent. I prefer the subtlety and flavor balance of the hot version. I gave both varieties of the matcha (hot and cold) to my twin sister, and she preferred the taste of the iced version because it was a bit more earthy. I’ll leave it to personal preference, but it’s worth a try.
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Ryze Mushroom Ube Vanilla Mushroom Coffee Latte
Day 6: The mushroom ube vanilla latte was the one I was most excited to try because it was a new flavor combination for me. Not only was the taste unique, but, because of the ube, the powder is a gorgeous purple (also my favorite color!). I could not identify the mushroom at all, instead tasting mostly vanilla that was deepened by the presence of the ube.
Day 7: The iced version had all the same subtle sweet flavors of the hot one, but the hot version allows the flavors to shine through a little more clearly. However, this version had a much stronger vanilla taste, which I also really enjoyed.
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The final verdict
I loved trying these drinks! For each one, I added a drizzle of honey and a splash of milk. I found that the honey worked better than other sweeteners in the drink because it worked with the already earthy flavors from the mushrooms. Everything mixed together smoothly, but it was hard to fully get rid of the little bits of powder in the drink. The mushroom caffeine also successfully woke me up every day, so the caffeine does work! Each drink had aspects I really enjoyed, but my favorite was the mushroom matcha. Though I would hardly describe it as an authentic matcha, it was certainly a delicious one. I would absolutely drink this regularly.
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