The 5 Best Ways to Take Lion’s Mane: Mushroom Benefits & What to Know Before You Buy

Lion’s mane, the shimmering, shaggy white mushroom prized for its cognitive benefits, has become one of the most popular mushrooms for Americans to consume. Reishi, Asia’s king of adaptogenic mushrooms long valued for increasing longevity, and cordyceps, the athlete’s mushroom valued for increased energy and faster recovery after exercise, have their devotees. But lion’s mane mushroom benefits have captured people’s interest because everyone wants better abilities to focus, remember and speed up their brain’s performance. Perhaps most of all, people want the mood lift with stress reduction that lion’s mane has a reputation for stimulating.

This adaptogenic mushroom is appearing in everything from your local specialty grocery’s produce section to snack bars and even gummies. But buyer beware: many companies are including lion’s mane in their products just for the label claim without enough to make a difference. I’m a stickler for delivering an effective serving of any ingredient we put in Teeccino so that its benefits will be experienced. Here’s how you can be sure you’re getting good-quality lion’s mane so you experience the full lion’s mane mushroom benefits.

• Lion’s mane extract vs. powder: Which is more potent?
• Lion’s mane fruiting body vs. mycelium: Which is best?
• Lion’s mane coffee vs. tea: Which is better?
• How to choose a lion’s mane supplement
• How to cook lion’s mane: A Chinese chef’s method

Lion’s mane extract vs. powder: Which is more potent?

If you examine the label for products that include mushrooms like lion’s mane, you’ll find everything from just the name of the mushroom to ‘mushroom powder’ to ‘mushroom extract’ and more. Powders and extracts are very different things and what you get from consuming lion’s mane depends on understanding this.

Why Chitin Locks Up Lion’s Mane Beta-Glucans

The difference comes down to one tough little molecule called chitin. Chitin plays the same role in mushrooms as fiber does in fruits, vegetables and grains. Chitin is also the sturdy substance that forms the shells of crabs and the outer skeletons of insects.

Our bodies digest chitin poorly. That matters because the most studied compounds in mushrooms, the beta-glucans, aren’t floating freely inside the mushroom. They’re woven together with chitin in the cell wall, forming a tightly bound structure. Eat the mushroom raw or ground into a powder, and much of that structure passes through your digestive tract largely intact.

How Hot Water Extraction Works with Lion’s Mane Mushrooms

Extraction is how you free the beta-glucans from that chitin matrix. In a hot water extraction, the mushroom is simmered for an extended time, much like the lengthy simmering of mushrooms used in traditional Chinese medicine. The heat and water draw the water-soluble beta-glucans out of the rigid cell walls. The liquid is then concentrated and dried into a powder, leaving the chitin behind.

The result is a more concentrated form of the mushroom with its beta-glucans freed from the cell wall and readily accessible to your body. Depending on the concentration of an extract, there is a ratio between the number of pounds of dried mushroom to a pound of extract. Since the extracted mushroom may go through many steps to concentrate it, a small amount of extract can represent far more mushroom than a spoonful of plain powder.

Beta-Glucans, Gut Health and the Gut-Brain Connection

Once freed, beta-glucans do their work mainly in the digestive tract rather than being absorbed into the bloodstream. Research suggests they interact with immune cells lining the gut and serve as prebiotic nourishment for beneficial gut bacteria. Lion’s mane beta-glucans seem to affect the vagal nerve that communicates between the gut and the brain, which could help explain its reputation for improving mood and cognition, but this science is still under development.

Here’s what’s important: An extract does the work your body can’t, unlocking the beta-glucans from chitin so you get more of the lion’s mane mushroom benefits that make it worth consuming.

For more information about the quality of mushroom extracts versus powder, read my blog “How to Know if You’re Buying Real Mushroom Extracts”.

Fruiting Body vs. Mycelium: Which Part of Lion’s Mane Is Best?

The short answer: Both parts of lion’s mane offer something different. The fruiting body is rich in beta-glucans and hericenones, while the mycelium contains erinacines. A product that combines a fruiting body extract with quality mycelium gives you the broadest range of lion’s mane’s compounds.

Few topics spark more debate in the American mushroom industry. Fans of fruiting bodies, the part of the mushroom we see and eat, point to centuries of traditional use. Chinese medicine has always used the fruiting body, and much of the research has been conducted with them. Fruiting bodies are rich in beta-glucans, which scientists call primary metabolites, meaning they’re nutrients that are part of the cell-wall structure.

Mycelium, the root-like network that grows underground or inside wood, is a newer arrival in supplements. But science is finding valuable compounds in both.

Hericenones and Erinacines: Lion’s Mane Compounds for Cognitive Function

Lion’s mane is a perfect example. When researchers made alcohol extracts of the fruiting body, they discovered a group of secondary metabolites called hericenones. Secondary metabolites are formed by the mushroom in reaction to environmental or metabolic stress. Alcohol extracts of the mycelium also revealed secondary metabolites called erinacines. Each appears to be unique to its part of the mushroom, and both are now the subject of research into how lion’s mane may support brain health, including its potential to stimulate nerve growth factor (NGF)^[1], a protein that helps maintain and repair nerve cells, and cognition in older adults^[2].

Ergothioneine: The Longevity Antioxidant in Herbal Mushrooms

Then there’s ergothioneine, or “ergo” for short. Mushrooms are the richest dietary source of this potent antioxidant, which biochemist Bruce Ames has called a “longevity vitamin.”^[3] Our bodies don’t make ergo, but we have a dedicated transporter^[4] that carries it into our cells, where it builds up in certain tissues, especially those undergoing stress.

Ergo is found in both the fruiting bodies and mycelium of mushrooms. It’s water-soluble, so a hot water extraction draws it out along with the beta-glucans.

For more information about ergo, read my blog “Mushrooms, Longevity and Immunity”.

Lion’s Mane Mushroom Coffee vs. Tea: Which Functional Coffee Delivers More?

The short answer: Choose whichever delivers more lion’s mane per serving. Most mushroom teas can’t fit enough extract into a small tea bag, which is why mushroom coffees usually win. A larger tea bag closes the gap, so check the milligrams per serving on the label.

Mushroom coffees sell much more than mushroom teas. Is there a valid reason for this? For most brands, yes, but not for Teeccino.

Why Tea Bag Size Matters for Mushroom Extracts

When you consume a mushroom beverage, you want to be sure you’re getting a significant amount of the mushroom — optimally in extract form — in your cup. Most brands can’t make a good mushroom tea for a simple reason. Their tea bags, which typically hold a maximum of 2 grams, simply can’t hold enough of the mushroom extract along with enough other ingredients to make a tasty cup of tea. If the tea bag holds ground mushroom rather than extract, you’re just drinking an infusion of ground up mushrooms, not concentrated extract. Such a small amount of mushrooms in a 2-gram tea bag can’t deliver nearly as much as a cup of mushroom coffee can. A ground mushroom coffee serving is typically made from 10 grams — much more room to include mushrooms and still have good flavor in the cup.

How Much Lion’s Mane is in a Cup of Teeccino?

Teeccino offers both caffeine-free mushroom coffees and teas. Our 6-gram tea bags are big enough to include an impactful serving of both a single mushroom extract and its mycelium and still have plenty of room for other healthy herbal ingredients that make it taste like a delicious cup of coffee. Our mushroom coffees can deliver a larger amount of a mushroom extract, but it’s easy to compensate for that by using 2 tea bags infused in a larger mug.

For instance, Teeccino’s Lion’s Mane Rhodiola in the tea bag has 300mg of lion’s mane extract and mycelium per 8 oz cup while in the mushroom coffee bag, there is 500mg of both extract and mycelium per 10 oz cup. Drink a tea made with 2 tea bags in a larger mug and you’ve got 600mg in the serving.

How To Know What Mushrooms Are Really in Your Cup

Many brands don’t tell you how many milligrams of mushroom extract or mycelium are in each serving. If a label or website doesn’t say, you have no way to know if you’re getting enough or not when you drink their product.

Even if you know how much is in a serving, you still have to know what kind of ‘mushroom’ is in the brand’s mushroom coffee or tea.

Some of the top-selling brands are only using mycelium grown on grain instead of what are commonly called mushrooms – the fruiting body. Others that use fruiting body extracts may have high amounts of a carrier that dilutes the beta-glucans. In tests on products with lion’s mane performed by ConsumerLab.com^[5], a third-party testing agency that advises consumers about product quality, they didn’t approve of two top mushroom coffee brands because they claimed to contain mushrooms, but tests showed only mycelium. (Membership in this platform is necessary to see its study.)

The reality is that no matter what a brand claims to sell, what matters most is knowing about the concentration, quality, and bioavailability of the mushrooms in either their coffee or tea.

How to choose a lion’s mane supplement

How Teeccino Chooses Its Mushroom Adaptogens

When I was first developing our Mushroom Adaptogen blends in 2019, I decided two things. First, I’d use mushroom extracts that are made from 100% mushrooms without any carriers like maltodextrin that would dilute the beta-glucans. Carriers are used to keep an extract, which is sticky, from clumping together. I found a supplier who had developed a method of using dried mushroom powder combined with the mushroom extract to keep it powdery — perfect for our mushroom coffees and teas!

Second, I decided to include mycelium grown on a substrate with a high conversion percentage to avoid as much grain left in the product as possible. Even though the science was young, I decided having the ‘whole’ mushroom rather than just part of it was the best way to deliver its health benefits to a cup of Teeccino.

When we use a single mushroom in a blend, we have plenty of room to include both parts of the mushroom. Four of our Miraculous Mushroom blends, including Lion’s Mane Rhodiola, contain both fruiting body extracts and mycelium.

However, now many customers want more than just one mushroom in a single serving. In our new Miraculous Mushroom blends that contain 5 mushrooms, like Adapt & Protect and Cacao + 5, we decided to use only the traditional fruiting body extract in order to provide a significant serving of each mushroom’s beta-glucans for beneficial impact.

What Beta-Glucan Testing Tells You

When you want a potent dietary supplement extract of either or both lion’s mane fruiting body and mycelium to support a specific wellness goal, you’ve entered into a very gray territory. The science of mushroom extraction is new and not yet well developed. So many variables affect the extraction process and as a result, the final product.

Until recently, lab tests could measure beta-glucans and alpha-glucans but not where the alpha glucans came from. Added carbohydrates coming from the grain’s starch that mycelium is grown on or from maltodextrin carriers could show a product has a high polysaccharide result while containing very low beta-glucans. That’s why it matters to buy from brands that disclose exactly what’s in their extracts, including any carriers.

In October 2025, Megazyme^[6], maker of a widely used beta-glucan test, updated its method to better separate beta-glucans from starchy alpha-glucans, including in mushrooms grown on grain. A brand marketing high potency mushroom extracts or pure mycelium should now reveal the percentage of beta-glucans in their product.

If you’re looking for a supplement with a specific health goal, be prepared to search for comprehensive reporting from the brand about their extract and pay a premium price for the product. It should be extracted by both water and alcohol, called dual extraction, and if it’s mycelium, the label should list the percentage of its secondary metabolites.

4 Questions to Ask Any Mushroom Brand

My Chinese advisor, Yi, who has worked in mushroom extraction for nearly two decades, suggests asking four simple questions:

1. What part of the mushroom is the extract made from?
2. How was it made?
3. How was it tested?
4. What is its beta-glucan content?

A good brand can answer all four. For a deeper look, read his article “What is really in a Lion’s Mane extract^[7]”.

How to cook lion’s mane: A Chinese chef’s method

When I ask mushroom connoisseurs in the West about cooking fresh lion’s mane mushrooms, I’m told that dry-roasting them in a pan is the best way to cook them. However, I love how a Chinese chef prepared them for me in a mountain village where they grow vast quantities of lion’s mane for making into extracts. They’re the experts when it comes to all things lion’s mane!

How to Pick Fresh Lion’s Mane

Fresh lion’s mane should look white and moist, not brown or yellow, which indicates aging, and its shape should be round and compact. I was overwhelmed seeing them growing in China – rows upon rows of beautiful mushrooms on logs – just as they grow on fallen trees in the forest.

Blanch, Press, and Saute: A Chef’s Method

Here’s what the local chef did. He tore the lion’s mane ‘tendrils’ into thin branches which he then blanched in a pot of boiling water for around 5 minutes. He quickly strained them in a colander over his sink while pressing them with a wooden spoon to release all the water. Taking the tenderized lion’s mane pieces, he sautéed them in a sauce with some chopped vegetables. Such great texture and so delicious!

More Ways to Cook Lion’s Mane

Lion’s mane’s taste and texture have been compared to delicate seafood like scallops and it absorbs sauces beautifully. The torn branches can be used in anything from stir-fries to soups, curries or tacos. You can make patties out of them if you mix in some other ingredients like onions, garlic and parmesan cheese. Then fry them like a burger or add breadcrumbs and sauté them like a faux crab cake. Dry-roasting is actually my least favorite way of eating lion’s mane, so try all these suggestions for a variety of ways to include lion’s mane in your diet.

One suggestion: keep the water that you’ve blanched the lion’s mane in. Use it for soup stock or sauces. Remember the chitin from earlier? Blanching works like a mini hot water extraction, so that water may contain some of the beta-glucans released from the lion’s mane.

How to Get Lion’s Mane Mushroom Benefits Every Day

I’ve been working with herbs and mushrooms for most of my life, and lion’s mane is one of the most exciting wellness mushrooms I know. Whether you enjoy it in your morning cup of herbal coffee or tea, take it as a supplement, or cook it the way the chef in that mountain village taught me, the key to getting lion’s mane mushroom benefits is the same: know what you’re getting.

Traditional and modern use of mushrooms like lion’s mane typically involves daily intake. Lion’s mane should be enjoyed every day as part of your routine.

Look for extracts rather than plain powder, ask which part of the mushroom you’re getting, and choose brands that tell you exactly how much is in each serving. Now that you know what to look for, you can be confident you’re getting what you want.

We’d love to hear how you enjoy lion’s mane!

Sources

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1. Ma BJ, Shen JW, Yu HY, Ruan Y, Wu TT, Zhao X. Hericenones and erinacines: stimulators of nerve growth factor (NGF) biosynthesis in Hericium erinaceus. Mycology. 2010;1(2):92–98. Read the study
2. Mori K, Inatomi S, Ouchi K, Azumi Y, Tuchida T. Improving effects of the mushroom Yamabushitake (Hericium erinaceus) on mild cognitive impairment: a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Phytotherapy Research. 2009;23(3):367–372. Read the study
3. Ames BN. Prolonging healthy aging: Longevity vitamins and proteins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2018;115(43):10836–10844. Read the study
4. Fu TT, Shen L. Ergothioneine as a natural antioxidant against oxidative stress-related diseases. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 2022;13:850813. Read the study
5. ConsumerLab.com. Lion’s Mane and Chaga Supplements Review. Membership required to view full results. Read the review
6. Megazyme by Neogen. Introducing the new and improved β-Glucan Assay Kit (Yeast & Mushroom). October 2025. Read the announcement
7. Yi. What Is Really in a Lion’s Mane Extract. Yi Loves Mushroom. Read the article