You can make tea out of any edible mushroom including reishi, chaga, Lion’s mane, turkey tail, and others. Mushroom tea has a pleasant earthy taste which is even better when you add seasonings. Here’s what you need to know to make mushroom tea.
Can I Use Mushroom Powder to Make Tea?
It is better to use whole or large pieces of dried mushroom to make tea. You end up with a clearer tea without little bits of mushroom floating around. If you only have mushroom powder, you’ll need to filter the tea through a very fine sieve or coffee filter. Personally, I’d rather use mushroom powder to make a mushroom latte or smoothie instead.
Tip: Turkey tail is one of the most affordable superfood mushrooms. Read about turkey tail mushroom benefits here. And here are my favorite brands.
Mushroom Tea Instructions
- Bring 1-2 cups of filtered water to a boil and then remove from heat.
- Rinse 2 or 3 large dried mushrooms in clean water. You can also use 2-3 tsp. of dried mushroom pieces. To rinse, I put pieces in a tea strainer or ball and run water over them.
- Put the washed mushrooms in the boiled water. If using mushroom pieces, you can use a tea ball.
- Let the mushroom pieces steep for at least 15 minutes.
- Occasionally try the liquid to test how strong it is. Keep steeping until you get the desired strength.
- Strain the liquid through a tea strainer. You will skip this step if you used a tea ball.
- Add milk, honey, lemon and/or spices to the mushroom tea.
*Save the mushrooms to use in stews or other recipes. If you can’t use them right away, then put them in the freezer. Otherwise they might get moldy quickly!
Should I Simmer Mushroom Tea?
A lot of mushroom tea recipes tell you to simmer the mushrooms for 5 to 15 minutes. This will make a much stronger tea. However, I personally do not simmer mushroom tea. The main reason is that mushrooms are one of the only food sources of vitamin D.
Vitamin D is notoriously sensitive to heat, so simmering will destroy a lot of it. Likewise, high heat also destroys antioxidants and other vitamins in mushrooms. Note that minerals are not very sensitive to heat, so simmering won’t affect those nutrients much.
How Long Will Mushroom Tea Keep?
It is best to make mushroom tea fresh each time you drink it. Otherwise, the nutrients in the tea can break down and the tea loses its nutritional value. However, mushroom tea should keep at least 2-3 days in the refrigerator. It can be served cold as iced tea.
