Mushroom coffee all the rage for potential health benefits

Cup of Coffee

Advocates of the increasingly popular mushroom coffee are citing its potential health benefits, not least of all Megan, Duchess of Sussex.

Since 2020, tens of brands have emerged, each with a unique name that distantly echoes the medicinal qualities of the content.

It costs around $20 for a few servings while regular coffee in the U.S. costs less, but its content still gives it market popularity. 

And yet, the beverage sometimes contains no coffee at all, but has the guarantee of natural mushroom extracts.

What are the Ingredients?

The most common mushrooms in the concoction include the vitamin and mineral-packed lion’s mane, reishi and king trumpet mushrooms, among others.

But the above fungus are not the only ingredients. For instance, in the Duchess of Sussex-backed Clevr Coffee SuperLatte, coconut milk, natural oats and latte are the components.

There are also green tea extracts as a replacement whenever coffee itself does not make the cut.

The use of nuts, camomile and cocoa extracts adds to the hype, although this admixture may be allergic for some users.

Potential Health Benefits

Though it may taste a little differently from a regular coffee, this type nevertheless has herbal benefits. 

The clear benefits, according to advertisers, are immunity boost, mood alignment, a dose of energy and even fat eradication.

One will also come across such terms as adaptogens on the labels of the coffee sachets.  Adaptogens are mood compounds that are common in herbal medicine that help the body cope with stress.

So far, Americans who are after the drink are doing so at their own consort for the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved it. Some of the processed components of mushroom coffee, however, enjoy the FDA backing. One of these is monk fruit sweetener, a zero-calorie option that is 200 times sweeter than industrial sugar. But as the statistics below show, official authorization is secondary to the fact that the sector is already growing by leaps and bounds.

Global Mushroom Coffee Statistics 

According to forecasts by Grandview Research, the worldwide mushroom coffee market value was $2.71 billion in 2022. Because of increasing demand, the sector is likely to grow by 5.5% compounded interest per year between 2023 and 2030. 

In its part, Global Information research appended a market value of $2.1 billion for the worldwide mushroom coffee in 2022. With a compounded interest growth of 5.3% per year till 2030, this value will rise to a cumulative $3.1 billion.

One of the leading markets for mushroom coffee is the United States, where growth will cap at 5% annually in the 2023-30 period. Notably, between 2020 and 2021, the U.S.’ market grew in value from $461.2 million to $482.6 million.

Which country drinks most coffee (excluding mushroom coffee)? 

Consumption trends of regular coffee are already established while those of mushroom coffee are just emerging. As such, here are the top five regular coffee-drinking nations in 2020: 

  1. Maldives: 22.3 kg per person per year.
  2. Finland: 6.5 kg per person per year.
  3. Lebanon: 17.3 kg per person per year.
  4. Lithuania: 17 kg per person per year.
  5. Fiji: 16.84 kg per person per year.