FAQs

All our mushrooms are 100% organic, as are all our ingredients in our lattes, coffees and blends. Our products are verified by the Soil Association, who uphold the highest standards in organic manufacture.

All our products are suitable for a vegan diet. We grow our Cordyceps products on organic sorghum rather than using insect hosts, as it grows on in the wild.

All our products are free of gluten, dairy and soy and other common allergens.

The capsules are made of vegetable cellulose. These are of vegan origin.

Yes, all our mushrooms go through rigorous third-party laboratory testing. We obtain certificates of analysis with all our mushroom extracts, all of which show we meet below-threshold measures for heavy metals, mycotoxins and other contaminants. We do not routinely publish these but may be able to make these available on request.

It depends on the mushroom, but our products are largely based on the fruiting body, alongside some mycelium, which provides a wider range of key active compounds for optimal benefits. We also use Reishi spores in our spore range, which are microscopic spores that the mushroom produces at the end of its growth cycle: these are up to 300% richer in triterpenes, a potent chemical studied for its anti-inflammatory actions. Reishi spores must go through a process of milling to increase their bioavailability. Unlike cheaper competitors, we crack our spores up to 30 times, to obtain a typical triterpene content of 2%.

While all mushrooms produce spores, research has so far only concentrated on the clinical potential of Reishi spores specifically.

Since mushrooms in their whole form are not particularly bioavailable to humans, we use extracts to deliver high concentrations of polysaccharides and other active components. We use two types of extraction. Hot water extraction will pull out water-soluble compounds such as the polysaccharides (including the beta-glucans) but not the triterpenes. The alcohol extraction (ethanol) will extract the triterpenes but does not work so effectively on polysaccharides. Some of the harder, woodier mushrooms like Reishi and Chaga require a dual-extraction method to deliver high concentrations of active compounds. We use the biomass in some products which contain compounds secreted by the mycelium (antimicrobials, digestive enzymes, antioxidant enzymes) although the beta glucans and related polysaccharides tend to be higher in the fruiting body. Lion’s Mane erinacines are found in the mycelium and so is 98% of cordycepin, from the Cordyceps mushroom. This is why the formulations are unique and prepared according to the specific mushroom species.

Extracts may also be preferable to whole mushroom and biomass products in cases of gut dysbiosis and malabsorption.

The extraction ratio refers to how much of the raw material has been concentrated down to the final product. Our extraction ratios are between 8:1 and 10:1.