Posted by Mushrooms have solidly entered almost every consumable category, both good and bad. Whether it’s a poison, drug, food, botanical, or health supplement, the mushroom comes in a variety of formats for different uses.
Chocolate, chewable tablets, shots, and tinctures are some major options that offer variety and flavor. Amanita, nootropics, and synthetic or syndelic formulas all make the list for unique reasons and benefits.
Whether you want to use mushrooms recreationally, for microdosing, as a nootropic or functional “smart supplement,” or either, there’s a shroom to suit your lifestyle or current plans. Check out what mushroom vendors are worth considering in overall categories with their available formats.
Behind the List
What puts a mushroom vendor directly on this list is:
- Purity: The stories that make the news are often about mushroom products that have been adulterated with illicit drugs or contaminated and make people sick. Products from the vendors on this list have been personally tested and vetted by me.
- Efficacy: The vendor’s mushroom products must have effects for at least one type of mushroom category (recreational, microdosing, etc.)
- Pricing: If the mushroom products are expensive, that’s going to be a deterrent and discourage people from buying it more often. So they can’t be too pricey, especially if they’re products people will want to use every day or at least, several times a week (e.g. functional mushrooms). A particular format determines whether the pricing is worth it, too – e.g., shots are inherently more expensive because they contain concentrated extracts, and you don’t need to take nearly as much as you would in other formats.
Best Recreational Mushrooms: TRE House
To be fair, there aren’t a lot of vendors that offer mushroom vapes, but TRE House has some excellent products and has several delicious flavor options, too. I never thought such a thing existed, but then again, who am I kidding when nicotine and cannabis vapes abound? It was only a matter of time, and the world is all the better for it. If you don’t like vapes, check out their other formats of chocolate, gummies, and syrups.
Pro tips: Keep in mind that a vape has a faster onset and can feel more overwhelming. The original pricing is costlier-than-average, but if you subscribe, you can save a whopping 30%.
Best Microdosing and Functional Mushrooms: Happy Mind
If you want to enhance your cognition, gain more mental energy, get deep into introspection, and also have a mood boost, check out Happy Mind’s various mushroom products. Their formulations contain nootropic/functional mushrooms like Turkey Tail and/or Lion’s Mane, and some products also contain 4-HO-DET, a synthetic psychedelic tryptamine with effects similar to psilocin.
Best Nootropic/Functional Mushrooms: Horbaach
If you want a purely legal way to get nootropic or functional “smart” mushroom benefits without the grey area, the mushroom complex tincture by Horbaach is the way to go as an everyday health supplement. Nootropic/functional mushrooms are recognized for their health properties for increasing cognition, memory, immunity, and energy.
This blend contains the top 5, plus 2 more: Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi, Chaga, Shiitake, and Maitake mushrooms. It comes in a non-GMO, gluten-free, vegetarian formula.
Best Microdosing Mushrooms: Mindless Mushrooms by Real Botanicals
Biohacking is like an open secret: A lot of people have heard about it, but not everyone knows how to do it. There are many paths to the same place, and microdosing is one way to get to the land of greater productivity. If you want a lifestyle supplement that will help you make the most out of your studying, problem-solving, coding, or other focus-heavy, sitting work or activity, microdosing is a top choice that encourages better thinking, thinking outside the box, and elevated mood.
Enter Mindless Mushrooms by Real Botanicals, a proprietary formulation with no psilocybin that comes in the form of chewable tablets you can divide easily and exactly into quarters or halves. There’s no amanita, either. Hypothetically, you can microdose recreational mushrooms, but you’re not going to get consistent effects. This unique formulation comes from Real Botanicals’ own private lab and works on the serotonin 5HT2A receptor (much like psilocybin does) to influence cognition, mood, and perception. Just remember to eat at least a light meal before taking.
FInal Thoughts
As you have seen, this “best of” mushroom list considers several different categories and formats. Remember, you always want to have some food in your stomach before trying any of the mushroom products so they work better and your stomach won’t feel nauseous.
A particular vendor may offer several different mushroom product formats, but getting a consistent formulation across all is difficult. That’s why sometimes one format from a vendor may be better than another. Even if the mushroom products are available in the way you want to take them, they should still be as effective as possible. That’s how the vendor makes the cut and not just one of their products, even if I personally prefer one format over another.
Relevant reading: “4 of the Best Botanicals for Energy and Focus”