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North Spore launches its first-ever mushroom coffee — here’s why it matters

Should you switch to mushroom coffee?

Wine cap mushroom spore
North Spore

Leading mushroom supplier North Spore has launched its first-ever mushroom coffee product. To create this delicious concoction, the team has paired antioxidant-rich coffee with 100% organic fruiting body extracts from five adaptogenic mushrooms: Lion’s Mane, Chaga, Reishi, Cordyceps, and Turkey Tail. For coffee drinkers, this new mushroom coffee pairing offers all the benefits of caffeine, plus stress reduction, immunity support, mood enhancement, and mental clarity.

To learn more about this exciting new medium roast mushroom coffee release, I interviewed Matt McInnis, co-founder of North Spore. McInnis is passionate about the new launch, sharing that the North Spore team believes in the power of mushroom fruiting body extracts and thinks what it has to offer is a great alternative to many mushroom coffee products on the market right now. With a mission to offer mushroom coffee that’s good for you and tastes good, too, here’s what sparked the launch of North Spore’s new mushroom coffee.

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The story behind North Spore mushroom coffee

Cup of coffee
Jakub Dziubak / Unsplash

“North Spore is passionate about making the benefits of mushrooms accessible to everybody,” McInnis shared. “One of our passions is to get people to cultivate their own edible and functional mushrooms, but we also realize that not everybody wants to grow their mushrooms at home. We’ve watched as other companies have launched mushroom coffees, essentially incorporating the wellness benefits of functional mushrooms into the morning ritual of drinking coffee. It felt like we could do it better,” he said.

“We’ve been ‘mushroom people’ for a long time, foraging for wild medicinal mushrooms, cultivating them, and educating people about them. We wanted to bring our deep knowledge of functional mushrooms to the world of great coffee and didn’t want to make compromises on flavor or potency.

Benefits of mushroom coffee

Shittake mushroom
North Spore

“People who drink coffee love the ritual of it. They don’t need a reminder to ‘take their cup of coffee’ in the morning, but the same isn’t true of most wellness products or supplements,” McInnis told us. By combining functional mushrooms with coffee, coffee drinkers can get a healthier boost to their daily routine with sustained energy.

Leading up to the launch of this mushroom coffee, North Spore focused on sourcing great coffee that didn’t compromise on flavor. “The mushroom extracts add a bit of earthiness, but aren’t overwhelming. You’ll mostly taste delicious coffee,” McInnis said. This is attractive for those who have tried other mushroom coffee products and couldn’t handle the taste. The new North Spore mushroom coffee is currently only available on the brand’s website, but will be launching on Amazon soon. The coffee quality is key, using only locally roasted Arabica coffee beans as well as the brand’s 100% fruiting body extracts.

“Having spent the last decade learning about mushrooms, including how to grow them, use them, and innovate with them, we wanted to bring our knowledge and expertise to the realm of functional foods. Our wellness line, North Spore Functionals, exists to get more people integrating mushrooms into their daily lives.” In addition to mushroom coffee, the Maine-based brand also provides spray and grow kits, fruiting blocks, teas, chocolates, tinctures, and more.

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Emily is a Features Writer at The Manual, where she specializes in food, beverage, and travel content. She focuses on weaving… Read Full Bio
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