What is Chaga Mushroom?
Chaga mushroom is quite different from your typical mushroom. For one, it looks nothing like a toadstool. It looks more like a nugget of gold or charcoal that grows out the side of a tree, and it is more reminiscent of a different type of mushroom: truffles. The biggest difference: chaga mushroom is hard as a rock!
Chaga only grows out of birch trees in boreal forests in the Northern Hemisphere such as Canada, Russia, and parts of the northern U.S. It transforms a birch compound, betulin, into an extremely healthy compound, betulinic acid (and contains tons of other health-boosting compounds, too).
What is chaga mushroom coffee?
When people find out what chaga mushroom coffee is, it may surprise them: it’s not a new thing at all. In fact, chaga mushroom coffee has been enjoyed probably for thousands of years.
Only back then it wasn’t considered a daily tonic or an imbibe-able, tasty coffee. It was instead boiled as a tea (or decoction) for combating weakness, illnesses, and reinvigorating health!
When ground up or processed, chaga mushroom becomes a coffee-like powder. And when made into a boiling tea or coffee, the taste is described as earthy with vanilla- and root beer-like flavor notes. (Sounds amazing doesn’t it?)
What are the health benefits of chaga?
Chaga mushroom coffee and tea have been sipped for centuries, if not possibly millennia, to restore health to the sick and weak.
In modern day terms, these health benefits translate into:
- Reducing cancer risk
- Reducing type 2 diabetes risk
- Protecting against DNA damage
- Increasing immune function
- Anti-inflammation
- Antioxidant action
Where can I find chaga mushroom, or chaga mushroom coffee?
Leading mushroom coffee companies have specific chaga mushroom coffee blends you can buy. Or, you can buy a blend of chaga mushroom with other health-boosting mushrooms.
Such as:
- Four Sigmatic
- MUD/WTR
- Crio Bru
The amazing health benefits of chaga mushroom are only a sip away. Read more about chaga mushroom, healing properties, sustainability, and sourcing from the wild here.
Reference
Paul W. Thomas, Waill Ahmed Elkhateeb, Ghoson Mosbah Daba (2020). Chaga (Inonotus obliquus): a medical marvel but a conservation dilemma? Sydowia 72:123-130.