Reishi Tea: How to Brew the Perfect Cup

Have you ever wanted to make a delicious cup of reishi tea? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Reishi mushrooms are becoming increasingly recognized for their health benefits. Tea is an excellent way to consume them for fast absorption. In this article, we explain the process of how to prepare reishi tea at home correctly.

Amounts

The amounts are up to you. A standard recommendation is 3–5 grams of reishi mushroom powder a day. If you don't have a scale, know that 3 grams are about one heaping tablespoon of broken or ground reishi pieces. Doses up to 15 grams are not uncommon for more severe illnesses.

The amount of water depends on how many cups of tea you want to drink. We use about 4–5 cups of water for every 3–5 grams of reishi powder (you can see how exact we are about this!). This will boil down to a fraction of the original amount. The reishi tea can then be kept in a fridge for a week or two. Be sure to close the cap of the bottle or jar tightly.

Preparation

Smaller pieces are better suited to hot water extraction. That said, have you ever tried to pulverize reishi mushrooms? We once broke a coffee grinder blade trying to break one apart!

Use whatever you have to break them into pieces. If you have an appliance that will grind them, that's great. Otherwise, you can try to cut with a heavy blade or break apart pieces with your hands. If this is all too much work, you can still use a whole dried mushroom per pot of water.

An easy solution is to buy a pre-sliced bag of dried reishi. This will save you the trouble of having to break them apart. 

Instructions

1. Bring the water to a boil in a stainless steel or ceramic pot. Don't use aluminum for such a prolonged boiling process.
2. Add the mushroom pieces.
3. Reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering, not outright boiling.
4. Let it simmer for 2 hours.
5. Remove from the heat, strain, and set aside.
6. Allow the liquid to cool a little, as it's pretty hot.

You can repeat the process with the strained pieces until the resulting extraction is no longer bitter or colored.

Your tea will be kept for a few days in the refrigerator, so feel free to make a few batches at a time and store them. 

What!? Don’t you like it?

Reishi tea is undoubtedly an acquired taste. However, you can add things that may help take off the edge, such as honey or other natural sweeteners, ginger, fruit juice, or green tea. Of course, you could add refined sugar, but it would defeat the purpose of creating a healthy drink! 

A Few More Things to Know

Stomach upset and allergic reactions are rare, but they can happen. Only try a small amount of tea your first time to make sure it agrees with you.

Do not take reishi tea if you're on blood-thinning medications, as it may increase bleeding time.

Reishi mushrooms also have an anti-inflammatory effect. However, those benefits come from alcohol extraction, not water. To reduce inflammation, it's better to make an alcoholic reishi mushroom extract than tea.