MUD WTR Review

If you experience anxiety or jitteriness from the caffeine in coffee, you may be curious as to why. As explained by Dr. Nicole Clark, a neurologist and member of the American Medical Association, “There are concerns about [caffeine] increasing anxiety for some people because caffeine is a stimulant, and it stimulates some of the chemicals in your brain, speeding everything up.”1

In recent years, mushroom-based coffee alternatives have grown in popularity due to multiple purported advantages over traditional coffee, one of which is lower caffeine content.2 3 Whether you’d like to cut back on caffeine for medical or personal reasons, mushroom coffees like MUD\WTR may sound like an ideal solution. But do MUD\WTR’s claims of health and wellness benefits, such as jitter-free energy, hold up?

In our review of MUD\WTR, we relay our personal experience with the brand, examine current scientific evidence, analyze the competitive landscape, and more — all to help you make the best decision to suit your needs. If you’re short on time, check out the summary of our findings below.

MUD\WTR is a conditionally recommendable mushroom coffee. Based on current research, its full-spectrum mushrooms and wide variety of botanicals show a lot of promise, but these same ingredients can pose risks for people with certain preexisting medical conditions, individuals taking prescription medications, and those who are pregnant. The drink’s taste will be enjoyable for some but won’t be everyone’s cup of tea; if you’re a fan of deep, earthy flavors and strong spices, then you might enjoy MUD\WTR’s drinks more than others. The company’s customer service does leave something to be desired, in our experience; we didn’t hear back from a representative for over a week, and the initial reply was less than helpful. As for the cost, MUD\WTR is priced average for a mushroom coffee, though there are several significant discount opportunities in addition to a protective money-back guarantee.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions involving staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles.

For our review of MUD\WTR, our team pored over 80 studies and made use of 200+ cumulative hours of research on functional mushrooms, mushroom coffee, and botanical ingredients to ensure the information we share with you is accurate and up-to-date. We also purchased MUD\WTR for ourselves to gather data on the customer experience, including the company’s customer service quality, product taste, and more.

Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this review was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.

As with other mushroom coffees — like RYZE and Everyday Dose — we examined MUD\WTR through the same lens we typically examine supplements. This means we judged the company and its products based on safety, effectiveness, cost, and customer service. And since MUD\WTR is, at its heart, a beverage, we also considered the products’ taste.

Safety

When evaluating any product containing mushrooms, the most important thing a company can (and should) do is conduct safety testing. Mushrooms are heterotrophs,4 which means they can’t photosynthesize to make their own food as plants do; they, instead, absorb nutrients from plant or animal matter in their environment.5 This is also why mushrooms have been successfully utilized in digesting plastic pollution,6 filtering oil from water,7 breaking down abandoned houses, and other applications.8 However, the ability to consume the world around them leaves mushrooms at risk of accumulating high levels of toxins,9 including heavy metals.10

All of the mushroom coffees mentioned in this review — MUD\WTR and its competitors — conduct thorough safety testing for heavy metals and other contaminants. But MUD\WTR goes above and beyond the competition by DNA testing its mushrooms to ensure their identity. There are multiple species of edible mushrooms out there that have toxic lookalikes, so we appreciate the extra effort taken by MUD\WTR.11

However, there are multiple ingredients in the company’s various blends that could lead to health risks. Some concerns are due to the botanical inclusions, while others are because of the mushrooms. MUD\WTR isn’t alone in this; other mushroom coffees, like Four Sigmatic Focus and some flavors of Teeccino’s Mushroom Herbal Coffee, also contain similar ingredients. Therefore, we always recommend speaking with your doctor before adding a new supplemental product to your daily routine.

Now, for most healthy adults who aren’t pregnant or breastfeeding, MUD\WTR’s mushrooms and botanicals likely won’t be an issue, but those who take prescription medications or have certain medical conditions may be putting their health at risk by consuming them. We’ll go into further detail later on, but the chart below offers a quick reference on the possible adverse effects associated with certain ingredients.

Note: If an ingredient can alter blood clotting, blood sugar, or blood pressure, it may also interact with anticoagulant, antidiabetic, or antihypertensive medications.

On a positive note, MUD\WTR’s mushrooms are grown in the United States, and its mushroom coffee products are all non-GMO, vegan-friendly, kosher, gluten-free, sugar-free, and USDA-certified organic. Being grown only in the U.S. is both a safety pro and an impressive undertaking, considering that China is the world’s number one producer of edible mushrooms, accounting for 85% of the total supply.83 And — pivoting back to safety — according to the USDA, food imports from China have been rejected for safety concerns in the past, and the country has a history of “heavy use of agricultural chemicals.”84

Overall, we feel the company does an excellent job regarding safety, but we’d be remiss to gloss over the risks involved with the products’ ingredients.

Effectiveness

If there’s one thing MUD\WTR truly excels in, it’s choosing ingredients for its mushroom coffees that have a decent amount of potential based on scientific research. Competitor RYZE is similar in this regard; the company’s claims for its mushrooms have a solid foundation rooted in current research without veering into the exaggerated, as in the case of another competitor, ReNude.

MUD\WTR (again, like RYZE) uses all full-spectrum whole mushrooms in its mushroom coffees. While some mushroom coffee manufacturers state that fruiting bodies are the only way to go, current research doesn’t support this claim — if anything, it suggests the opposite.

Functional mushrooms need a lot more research done on them,18 but the existing data points to their various parts — including the mycelium — being potentially beneficial in different ways, or the parts may work together synergistically to strengthen the positive effects.19 20

Concerning health claims made by MUD\WTR, the company keeps it pretty simple by stating its mushroom coffee can primarily provide energy without jitters — the statement is literally the first thing you see on the MUD\WTR homepage. Secondary claims regard focus, sleep quality, immune support, and relaxation. Whether you look at the mushrooms or the botanicals, these purported benefits have a fair amount of supporting research.

Of course, most research on mushrooms has been done on animal models and cells, so the benefits aren’t “confirmed” by any means. That doesn’t mean the data is worthless. We can still appreciate when a company generally sticks to what the current research says, even though we’d prefer the research to be high-quality human studies and trials.

We cover all of MUD\WTR’s ingredients in further detail later on, under the “How does MUD\WTR work?” section, but for now, here are a few quick examples of how the positive evidence for MUD\WTR’s mushrooms and botanicals stacks up:

• Energy: Chaga and cordyceps mushrooms have both demonstrated energy-boosting properties. The former helped mice exercise for longer,21 while the latter improved the athletic performance of 20 older adults in a 2010 study.22
• Relaxation: Valerian root and passionflower may increase gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in the brain.23 24 According to the Cleveland Clinic, “GABA is known for producing a calming effect,” and it may reduce feelings of anxiety, stress, and fear.25
• Immune support: Reishi mushrooms and cloves have similar immunomodulatory abilities. Reishi appears to be able to influence and regulate important immune system cells, including various white blood cells.26 And in an experimental study on mice, cloves boosted white blood cells in treated subjects.27

Cost

Judging MUD\WTR’s cost was a bit complicated. There are some positives: Its mushroom coffees are priced fairly average compared to others on the market, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can save $10-$25 on recurring deliveries when you subscribe. However, it’s the pricing for a couple of the company’s additional products that left us feeling some sticker shock.

First, let’s review the cost of a 30-day supply of MUD\WTR, both as a single purchase and a subscription, versus close competitors. All MUD\WTR flavors are priced the same, so you don’t need to worry about your favorite option being more expensive than another (in comparison, RYZE, Everyday Dose, and ReNude have slightly different prices for other flavors, but the table below only covers their original varieties).

As we said before, MUD\WTR’s one-time and subscription prices are pretty much par for the course for a mushroom coffee. But, again, it's not the mushroom coffee prices that hurt MUD\WTR’s cost rating; it’s two of the additional products.

Besides mushroom coffee and MUD\WTR-branded apparel and accessories, the company sells a sweetener, a powdered creamer, and a product called “Mushroom Boost.” The sweetener is coconut sugar and lucuma (a fruit from South America often described as having a butterscotch-like flavor), while the creamer is coconut milk and MCT oil.28 The Mushroom Boost, in which each 3g serving is made up entirely of mushrooms — including some not even in the mushroom coffees — isn’t the object of our negative feelings here.

So, like the mushroom coffees, these three products are priced the same, and they all come in either 30- or 90-serving pouches.

We feel these prices are a bit ridiculous for a sweetener and powdered creamer that each have only two ingredients (and the creamer samples we received didn’t even dissolve properly). The Mushroom Boost is the only one of the bunch that we feel is worth its price. In fact, the cost is pretty reasonable for 3g of whole functional mushrooms that you can add to your beverage of choice. For half the price of MUD\WTR’s mushroom coffee, you can get just as much or more mushroom content.

RYZE, in comparison, also sells a similarly-priced ($30) powdered creamer, but each 7g serving includes the company’s entire proprietary mushroom blend, MCT oil, coconut milk, acacia fiber, and 1 billion CFU of probiotics. Even on their own, probiotics can be expensive, so we feel the price of RYZE’s creamer is far more understandable than that of MUD\WTR’s sweetener and creamer.

Customer experience

If you don’t have to reach out to MUD\WTR’s customer service at any point during your time with the company, then you likely won’t have much of an issue with the customer experience. Purchasing products is straightforward once you get the hang of navigating the website, shipping times aren’t outrageous — our delivery took a week to arrive — and subscription management is as simple as it gets, with the ability to modify it or cancel at any time. (In comparison, competitor Everyday Dose requires you to wait 20 days after your purchase until you can cancel your subscription.)

For those who do end up needing to contact MUD\WTR, we advise that you be prepared to wait multiple times. When testing products, we typically also reach out to the company’s customer service to assess the complete customer experience. Typically, we expect replies to take a couple of days at most, but a MUD\WTR representative didn’t reply to our inquiry — with an unhelpful response — until eight business days later. After promptly writing back, we had to wait another two days for the next response; at least that message, thankfully, answered our question.

Unfortunately, we don’t seem to be alone in having a poor customer service experience with MUD\WTR. The company’s Trustpilot page has a collection of negative customer reviews complaining about slow or generally poor customer service.

On top of slow responses, you have only one way to contact MUD\WTR: a form at the end of the “Help Center” page. There’s no chat or phone option at this time.

Taste

Out of all the mushroom coffees our team tried, MUD\WTR Original received the lowest marks across the board. It’s not outright disgusting or anything, but all of the company’s mushroom coffees were the bitterest and earthiest, with intense spice flavors. One of our testers is highly sensitive to the smell and taste of cloves, and they couldn’t get the Original and Rest varieties past their nose to actually try them. Other testers who tried MUD\WTR found the spices to be strong but ultimately tolerable after a few sips to get acquainted with the taste.

We tried sample packets of MUD\WTR’s powdered creamer, too, which didn’t fully dissolve and, therefore, did little to modify the taste of these drinks. We didn’t have the opportunity to test the company’s coconut sugar sweetener, but using our own coconut sugar and a bit of half-and-half successfully mellowed out the bitterness.

When testing mushroom coffees for our guide to the best, our testers loved ReNude Chagaccino and Everyday Dose the most (in that order). Chagaccino — especially when prepared cold and following the company’s suggestions — tastes very similar to a blend of chocolate and coffee ice cream, with no mushroomy flavor or bitterness to be found. Everyday Dose has notes of chocolate, as well, despite containing nothing of the sort; one tester found it paired perfectly with chocolate protein powder, giving it an “earthy café mocha” taste. RYZE’s was decent, too; it’s more on the bitter side, like MUD\WTR, but our testers felt it tasted the closest to regular coffee. One described it as very similar to a “weak coffee.”

It’s important to note that everyone’s tastes are different. Just because our testers weren’t the biggest fans of MUD\WTR doesn’t mean you won’t be. On the flip side, you may not enjoy ReNude’s Chagaccino or Everyday Dose in the same way we did. This is why taste is our final criterion; it’s important, but it’s also highly subjective, unlike, say, product safety.

Founded in 2018, MUD\WTR (sometimes stylized as MUDWTR or mudwtr) is a brand of powdered mushroom-based coffee alternatives. Like many related products on the market, MUD\WTR's offerings contain various functional mushrooms and botanical ingredients intended to boost overall health and wellness with less caffeine than traditional coffee. Its main goal is to provide “energy & focus without the jitters.”

Currently, MUD\WTR sells four varieties of mushroom coffee, each with similar ingredients and identical prices. Original contains 35mg of caffeine, Matcha has 55mg, and both Turmeric and Rest have 0mg. None of MUD\WTR’s mushroom coffees contain any actual coffee; they use either black tea (Original), matcha (Matcha), or rooibos (Turmeric and Rest). If you’d prefer some coffee in your mushroom coffee, then RYZE or Everyday Dose may be ideal alternatives for you.

The five purported benefits of MUD\WTR’s Original, Matcha, and Turmeric varieties are energy, focus, no jitters, sleep quality, and immune support. Rest’s product page replaces two of those — energy and no jitters — with claims that it can help you “relax” and “wind down.” Basically, the company has three flavor options for when you need an energy boost and one for when you want to relax.

MUD\WTR online reputation

At the time of this writing, MUD\WTR doesn’t have a profile on the Better Business Bureau website.

It does, however, have a verified and claimed Trustpilot page. There are only about 60 customer reviews, totaling 2.8 stars out of a possible 5 stars, or “average” by Trustpilot’s standards. In line with our poor customer service incident, a good chunk of the negative (and some neutral) reviews mention similar experiences. It’s also disappointing to see that the company hasn’t replied to any negative reviews despite the profile being claimed.

As an interesting side note, the MUD\WTR website shows over 60k 5-star reviews, but there’s seemingly no place to leave a review of your own. We scoured the website looking for a place to write a review, but whether you’re logged in to your account or not, there’s legitimately no way to do so — and searching the web doesn’t lead anywhere, either. Now, this isn’t to say we think those 60k reviews are all fake, but the situation does raise a few alarm bells.

Since mushroom coffees like MUD\WTR often tout their low caffeine content, it stands to reason that they would appeal to those looking to either cut down on or eliminate caffeine from their daily lives. Whether cutting back is for personal or medical reasons, mushroom coffees can be a great lower-caffeine or caffeine-free alternative to traditional coffee.

In the case of MUD\WTR, only the Original (35mg) and Matcha (55mg) varieties contain caffeine; Turmeric and Rest are both caffeine-free. Even if caffeine content isn’t a concern for you, MUD\WTR may still sound like a good option because of the potential benefits of its functional mushrooms and botanical ingredients. Basically, if you wish to try it, and you’re a healthy adult who isn’t pregnant or breastfeeding, then MUD\WTR (or mushroom coffee, in general) is suitable for you.

With that being said, anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding, takes prescription medications, or has a preexisting medical condition may be better off avoiding MUD\WTR or at least getting the all-clear from a doctor first. In the next section, we cover the safety concerns that MUD\WTR poses for these populations.

For healthy adults who aren’t pregnant or breastfeeding, MUD\WTR should be safe to drink. All of MUD\WTR’s mushrooms are U.S.-grown (while a majority of the world’s mushrooms are grown in China, which has a history of high levels of agrichemical use), and the company’s products are USDA-certified organic, non-GMO, vegan-friendly, gluten-free, sugar-free, and kosher.83 84

What’s more, the company conducts third-party safety testing for heavy metals and other toxins, as well as DNA tests to ensure the mushrooms are actually what they’re supposed to be. Several toxic edible mushroom lookalikes exist, so we appreciate this extra safety precaution.11 Our other top mushroom coffee picks from RYZE, Everyday Dose, and ReNude also undergo extensive third-party safety testing, but none of them perform DNA tests.

However, while the steps MUD\WTR takes to ensure safety are commendable, the ingredients in the products (both the mushrooms and botanicals) could lead to serious side effects for certain people.

The populations that are most likely to be at risk from drinking MUD\WTR are:

• People who are pregnant or breastfeeding
• Those with certain medical conditions
• Individuals taking prescription medications

For pregnant and breastfeeding people, there simply isn’t enough information available at this time to determine whether mushroom coffees are safe to drink. Experts don’t know how functional mushrooms can affect a baby, and it’s also unclear whether the mushrooms’ compounds can get into breast milk. Additionally, certain botanicals, including turmeric,12 cardamom,13 ashwagandha,14 nutmeg,15 passionflower,16 and chamomile, could lead to preterm labor by inducing uterine contractions, or they may cause “spontaneous abortion.”17

Those with diabetes, conditions affecting blood clotting, or blood pressure concerns may also wish to avoid MUD\WTR, as a wide range of ingredients in mushroom coffees can exacerbate their condition. For example, turmeric,29 ashwagandha,30 chamomile,17 reishi,31 lion’s mane,32 and turkey tail can all cause a dangerous drop in blood pressure in those who already have hypotension concerns.33

Also, when it comes to certain prescriptions, such as antidiabetics, anticoagulants, antihypertensives, and sedatives, many of the same ingredients can interact poorly. For those taking sedative drugs (e.g., anticonvulsants, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants, and medications for insomnia), several ingredients in MUD\WTR, like ashwagandha,34 valerian root,23 passionflower,24 and chamomile, should be avoided because they can increase the sedating effects.17

To be clear, these potential dangers aren’t associated with just one or two MUD\WTR varieties; several of these risky ingredients appear in multiple products, so each one is potentially unsafe to high-risk groups. Turmeric, for example, is in every one of MUD\WTR’s mushroom coffees.

The risks are part of why we always recommend speaking with a doctor before adding a new product, like mushroom coffee, to your daily routine. Even if you don’t have a preexisting condition or take any medications, it’s still worth chatting with your doctor beforehand.

MUD\WTR’s four varieties of mushroom coffee are mainly powered by their mushroom content, but they also owe some of their potential to a collection of botanical ingredients. Additionally, each flavor has a different “base beverage” that may provide some positives of its own, such as an energy boost from the caffeine content. Unlike competitors RYZE and Everyday Dose, none of MUD\WTR’s mushroom coffees have any actual coffee or coffee bean extract in them; instead, they contain various teas.

All of MUD\WTR’s mushroom coffees are USDA-certified organic, vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO, and kosher. In the breakdown below, we review each variety’s ingredients (we’ll cover their potential benefits in more detail a little later in this section).

Now that we’ve covered the ingredients in each MUD\WTR mushroom coffee, let’s take a look at the different benefits the mushrooms and botanical ingredients in the blends may provide.

The mushrooms

As mentioned earlier, the Original, Matcha, and Turmeric flavors contain the same four mushrooms (chaga, reishi, lion’s mane, and cordyceps), while Rest contains only two (turkey tail and reishi). In all cases, MUD\WTR uses full-spectrum whole mushrooms, just like competitor RYZE. “Full-spectrum” means the whole life cycle of the mushrooms — from the mycelium to the fruiting body and everything in between.

Some people relate using full-spectrum mushrooms to the “entourage effect” of full-spectrum cannabis products. To put it simply, it’s the theory that more positive effects may come from using more parts or compounds from the plant (or mushroom, in this case).37

We prefer to see mushroom coffee manufacturers using whole mushrooms, as different parts of the mushroom may provide different benefits, or the various parts can work together synergistically to boost a mushroom’s potential.19 For example, certain compounds in lion’s mane mushrooms can promote the production of nerve growth factor (NGF), a protein that plays a critical role in the development, maintenance, and survival of neurons.38 A 2010 animal study found that, while the fruiting body of lion’s mane contains a compound (hericenones) that promotes NGF production, a different compound from the mycelium (erinacines) does so as well. Because of this, researchers concluded that utilizing both parts of the mushroom is ideal.20

With MUD\WTR in particular, the product pages for the Original, Matcha, and Turmeric mushroom coffees list the same five purported benefits:

• Energy
• Focus
• No jitters
• Sleep quality
• Immune support

Rest’s product page maintains the “sleep quality,” “focus,” and “immunity support” claims but replaces “energy” and “no jitters” with:

• Relax
• Wind down

We’re not exactly sure what MUD\WTR feels is different between relaxing and winding down, as they both basically mean the same thing.39 On a similar note, “jitters” isn’t a word or concept seen all too often in academic research; the closest thing is feelings of anxiety or stress. Because of these similarities, we feel it best to lump “no jitters,” “relax,” and “wind down” together under the label of “stress or anxiety relief.”

Now, let’s take a look at how MUD\WTR’s claims for these mushrooms — chaga, reishi, lion’s mane, cordyceps, and turkey tail — stack up against current scientific evidence.

As you may be able to tell, most studies on medicinal mushrooms have been conducted on either cells or animals, with a few (usually small) human studies thrown into the mix here and there. Overall, though, MUD\WTR’s purported benefits from its mushrooms do have some decent scientific support based on current research. Of course, we always prefer large-scale, high-quality human studies and trials above animal and in vitro research, but the relevant data available at the time of this review is still promising.

In comparison, we felt the research was also quite promising when we investigated the mushroom coffee from competitor RYZE, whereas some of ReNude’s claims about Chagaccino (particularly chaga’s “beautifying” ability) fell flat.

The botanicals

The mushrooms aren’t the only drivers of MUD\WTR’s possible benefits; the botanicals in each blend have their own set of potential positives to bring to the table. Briefly, let’s recap which of these ingredients are in each variety.

• Original: Cacao, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, and black tea powder
• Matcha: Matcha, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, black pepper, and cardamom
• Turmeric: Turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, lucuma fruit powder, baobab fruit powder, and rooibos tea extract.
• Rest: Lucuma fruit powder, rooibos tea extract, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, valerian root extract, passionflower extract, ashwagandha root extract, and organic chamomile extract.

Now, since there are multiple instances of duplicate ingredients across MUD\WTR’s four blends, the following list below boils things down and makes the botanical information a bit easier to take in:

With all of that said and clarified, the sections below detail how these herbal ingredients may potentially bring about the purported benefits of MUD\WTR’s mushroom coffees: energy, focus, sleep quality, immune support, and stress or anxiety relief.

Similar to the research on the mushrooms used in MUD\WTR, the botanicals also show promise as potentially effective ingredients for achieving the company’s claims. Botanical ingredients have been researched far more thoroughly than functional mushrooms, so there’s quite a bit more high-quality evidence behind them.

MUD\WTR’s four mushroom coffee flavors — Original, Matcha, Turmeric, and Rest — are priced the same. (The only outlier is the 15-serving option of the Original; this serving size isn’t available for the other flavors.) We appreciate the consistency. In comparison, competitors Everyday Dose, ReNude, and RYZE price their flavors a bit differently from one another despite them having similar ingredients.

Each MUD\WTR flavor can be bought as a one-time purchase or as a recurring subscription shipped to you every 30, 60, or 90 days. Subscribing nets you $10-$25 off, depending on the quantity, along with free shipping for all U.S. orders.

Here’s how the pricing works out for MUD\WTR’s mushroom coffees:

If you’re unhappy with your MUD\WTR purchase, the company offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. This is a pretty standard length — RYZE and ReNude also have 30-day policies — but shorter than Four Sigmatic’s 120 days, one of the longest guarantees we’ve come across.

Military discount

MUD\WTR currently offers a military discount to those with any of the following statuses:

• Active duty
• Gold Star family
• Military family
• Military veteran or retiree
• Reservist or National Guard

To take advantage of the discount, you’ll then need to provide additional information (name, date of birth, etc.) and select the applicable branch of service:

After submitting your information, SheerID, the third-party service MUD\WTR uses for verification, may require further documentation to confirm your or your loved one’s military status.

MUD\WTR starter kits

Each MUD\WTR flavor is available as a Starter Kit, which includes a 30-serving tin of mushroom coffee, a rechargeable frother (called a “Mud Whip”), a sticker, and a single-serving sample of coconut creamer powder.

All Starter Kits are only available as subscriptions, and they all cost $40. Since these are subscriptions, U.S. orders do get free shipping. Each subsequent delivery includes just a 30-day supply of whichever MUD\WTR variety you purchased; the additional items are exclusive to your first delivery.

MUD\WTR’s creamer, sweetener, and mushroom boost

Though MUD\WTR doesn’t include sweeteners or creamers in its mushroom coffees, the company does sell them, as well as a mushroom-only mix-in, as separate standalone products. The chart below offers some information about each.

Note: MUD\WTR’s creamer and sweetener both contain coconut, making them unsafe for those with coconut allergies.

The creamer, the sweetener, and Mushroom Boost all cost the same, and as with other MUD\WTR products, subscribing gets you free shipping within the U.S. Here’s the cost breakdown:

Mushroom Boost aside, these products are, frankly, expensive. The creamer and sweetener contain what may be considered “luxury” ingredients, like lucuma, coconut milk, and MCT oil, but we’re not entirely convinced that justifies the high price (especially since our sample creamers didn’t dissolve well at all). It seems almost absurd to us that 90 servings of creamer or sugar would cost nearly the same as the mushroom coffees. In comparison, a 500-serving container of Coffee Mate powdered creamer costs about $7.00 on Amazon at the time of this writing, and a 16oz bag of store-brand organic coconut sugar from Whole Foods is about $5.50.

Taking a quick look at one of MUD\WTR’s closest competitors, we see that RYZE offers a dairy-free probiotic creamer for $30 (or $25 with a subscription). While this is also on the expensive side for a creamer, we’re far more understanding of its cost because each 7g serving contains coconut milk, 1 billion CFU of B. coagulans probiotics, MCT oil, acacia fiber, and a blend of organic mushrooms (cordyceps, reishi, king trumpet, shiitake, turkey tail, and lion’s mane).

We hope MUD\WTR will consider lowering the price of its creamer and sweetener or add some more beneficial ingredients to them to make them feel worth the cost.

MUD\WTR Latte Kits

MUD\WTR’s Latte Kits are very similar to the Starter Kits. There’s one for each of the four flavors, and they all come with the following:

• 30-serving tin of mushroom coffee (Original, Matcha, Turmeric, or Rest)
• 30 servings of creamer
• Mud Whip frother

Each Latte Kit can be purchased once for $76.50, or you can subscribe for $54. Similarly to the previously detailed Starter Kit subscriptions, you’ll only get the mushroom coffee and creamer every month; the frother is exclusive to your first order.

Other MUD\WTR merchandise

Other than mushroom coffee and things to mix into it, MUD\WTR also sells a collection of branded merchandise. The Mud Whip frother is included with the Starter and Latte Kits, but the rest need to be purchased individually.

• Mud Whip frother: $20
• Trends w/ Benefits Newspaper: $0.25
• Mugs: $25
• Hoodies: $45 or $80, depending on design
• Caps: $38
• Fleece sweatpants: $60
• Beanies: $40
• Organic T-shirt: $60

Our experience with MUD\WTR was generally positive. The purchasing process went smoothly, and our shipping was free because we purchased Starter Kits. Our order took a week to arrive, which isn’t an unacceptable wait time for a delivery. However, waiting eight business days to receive acknowledgment from customer service is.

The poor customer service was our biggest grievance with MUD\WTR. Our testers weren’t very thrilled with the bitter and heavily spiced taste of the products, either, but that’s such a subjective factor that we can’t let it determine our entire experience with the company.

As functional mushrooms have grown in popularity, so, too, has the variety of mushroom coffees on the market. If MUD\WTR doesn’t sound like the ideal replacement for your daily brew, consider the following alternatives:

RYZE Mushroom Coffee

RYZE is our “best for most people” choice in our guide to the best mushroom coffee. Like MUD\WTR, the company uses a proprietary blend of full-spectrum whole mushrooms, but RYZE also adds organic instant arabica coffee, MCT oil, and coconut milk to round out the flavor and give the drink a smooth texture. If you want a mushroom coffee that tastes similar to traditional coffee, then RYZE could be the choice for you.

By not including any botanical ingredients, RYZE becomes more accessible to people on prescription medications or with certain medical conditions. However, it’s still ideal to speak with your doctor before trying it.

Price-wise, RYZE is slightly less expensive than MUD\WTR at $45 for a one-time purchase of a 30-day supply or $36 when you subscribe. Additionally, RYZE offers quick, friendly, and informative customer service; a representative answered our questions within a few hours.

If you want to learn more about RYZE, our full review goes into more detail.

Everyday Dose Mushroom Coffee+

Everyday Dose was our choice for the best mushroom coffee nootropic blend. With nearly 20 amino acids — including L-theanine — in addition to lion’s mane and chaga fruiting bodies,81 it has decent potential as a focus booster (though we’d prefer to see whole mushrooms being used).43 82

According to our testers' rankings, Everyday Dose came in second for taste. The product we tried, Mushroom Coffee+, has an almost chocolatey flavor, so it pairs well with other chocolate beverages. Mixing it with chocolate protein shakes was a favorite combination. Adding it to chocolate milk was also rather tasty.

A 30-day supply of Everyday Dose costs the exact same as RYZE: $45 for a one-time purchase or $36 for a subscription. Customer service was friendly, as well, though the response we received wasn’t quite as helpful as we would’ve liked. However, there was a noticeable effort on the part of the customer service representative; it felt like they truly wanted to help us.

For more information on Everyday Dose, check out our full review.

ReNude Chagaccino

Like Everyday Dose, ReNude only uses chaga fruiting bodies in its Chagaccino. Again, we’d rather see companies use whole mushrooms, but we didn’t choose this product based on its potential efficacy — we chose it because of its taste.

Chagaccino was our winner for taste. It’s a mushroom coffee mix-in product (a bit like a chaga-centric version of MUD\WTR’s Mushroom Boost) that contains cacao and cinnamon, which blend very well with the mild earthiness of the chaga. Following ReNude’s directions on how to make a Chagaccino results in a beverage that’s basically like drinking melted mocha ice cream. But while our testers were big fans, those who don’t like sugar substitutes — in this case, monk fruit and erythritol — may feel differently.

One of the biggest downsides of Chagaccino is how much it costs; a one-time purchase is the same price as MUD\WTR ($50), but you’re only getting 500mg of chaga fruiting bodies per serving instead of around 2g of multiple whole mushrooms. To make matters worse, ReNude also has one of the lowest subscription discounts of our mushroom coffee picks. So, while a 30-serving MUD\WTR subscription costs $40, one from ReNude is $45.