Mushroom Coffee. Yes, there was a sign outside a coffee shop in San Diego that made me stop in my tracks. Mushroom coffee? What did that even mean? Cue brain explosion. Naturally, I went into the cafe and asked the barista.
He served up a whole lot of chatter about reishi, lion's mane, chaga and adaptogens, blah, blah, blah, but I mostly wanted to know what it tasted like. So, I ordered some.
Coffee. It tasted like coffee. Because it is coffee but with a ton of mushrooms added to it. It was a little earthier, sure, but not noticeably so. Fast forward to being home from vacation. I decided an afternoon cup of mushroom coffee might be healthier than my usual coffee (I drink A LOT of coffee). So, I went out there on the Internet and read up on a bajillion different mushroom coffees. I set price parameters and then started buying different brands to find the one I liked best.
Along the way, I read up on what the mushrooms were supposed to give you as adaptogens (in herbal medicine: a natural substance considered to help the body adapt to stress and to exert a normalizing effect upon bodily processes). So, the mushrooms are supposed to help with focus, clarity of thought, thinking, etc. without giving you the jitters. You can see the appeal.
I have to say, as much as I love coffee, I would not have been brave enough to taste-test mushroom coffee . . . .
ReplyDeleteWhen something demands my attention like that, it’s usually a short-term sort of thing that resolves itself: I look it up, satisfy the curiosity, and then it just sort of slips away, leaving me satisfied with whatever I’ve discovered.
Patience sounds like your remedy Joan. I think I need to work on that. I tend to throw myself right into the volcano of whatever. LOL.
DeleteI'll bet we all have our (okay, sometimes odd) ways of procrastinating or distracting ourselves from worry. My main way is re-reading beloved books that I've already read many times. Georgette Heyer Regency romances, anyone? Mary Stewart's "Nine Coaches Waiting" ring any bells? Any Josephine Tey mystery will do for me, as well. Or perhaps a Terry Pratchett favorite, like "Feet of Clay." As for obsessive searching, à la mushroom coffee, I've done this a few times when I was trying to track down the name of a song or musical theme--an earworm--that I couldn't identify. Sometimes rock or pop, sometimes classical. And let me tell you, it's not so easy to "find" a fragment of music. Luckily, my sister Natasha is a genius when it comes to identifying musical bits and pieces--the problem is, I'm not a genius at la-la-la-ing them to her over the phone. But sooner or later, if the internet, Spotify, and my CD collection don't come through for me, Natasha usually does. As for mushroom coffee, Jenn, I'll be on the look-out for a chance to try it, assuming it has made it to Switzerland. But I don't think I'll search for it in quite the same way you did!
ReplyDeleteKim, if Natalie is stumped, try Google Sound Search.
DeleteI like to think I've saved others the ground work. My Shazam app gets quite the workout in the grocery store when I hear a song I can't identify. Ear worms can be even more persistent than brain worms!
DeleteSo, Jenn, I gather you like it enough to continue drinking it. Do you feel any difference? More focus? Less jittery? Other?
DeleteOoh. Someone else likes Georgette Heyer!💕
DeleteJenn, so funny. The idea of mushroom coffee does NOT appeal.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I needed to send my protagonist and her friend about an hour away from where they are on Cape Cod to check out origins of a couple of suspects. The town where I thought they were going did NOT fit the story. Too rural. No real center. No classic New England town hall. I spent a lot of time researching the town.
Then I slapped my head. I'm writing FICTION. I can make up a town! Voila, Belleville was born. Sheesh.
Good one, Edith. I love that!
DeleteEDITH: The mushroom coffee is quite good. It stimulates you without the caffeine, and gives you plenty of other health benefits.
DeleteBut I am a lifelong coffee drinker so these days I add a spoonful of the Four Sigmatic 4 blend mushroom mix to my regular coffee to get the extra health benefits.
I resemble that research! I have done that sort of thing so many times. Me to myself: "You're not writing a dissertation on poison, Jenn. You just need to know enough to make it plausible."
DeleteGrace, I'm finding that the mushroom blends do leave me less jittery.
DeleteJenn, you are hilarious! Mushroom coffee? I love mushrooms. And I love coffee. Still... together? Could be a bridge too far. Do you have it with milk? Sugar? Brown sugar? When we travel with my son-in-law, he brings his own ground coffee, and the drug dogs at the airport usually pick up the scent.
ReplyDeleteHALLIE: See my comment about mushroom coffee above. I drink my regular coffee black and add the mushroom powder. It gives a slightly earthy taste but you really don't notice it. And I used to do the same thing re: ground coffee as your son-in-law when travelling but never had problems with the sniffer dogs.
DeleteBrown sugar in coffee? Wait, what? Oh, no.......Jenn falls down another rabbit hole.
DeleteJenn, talk about your rabbit holes, sheesh! That said, I would try mushroom coffee. It doesn't sound like my kind of rabbit hole, but everyone has one.
ReplyDeleteAudio books. That's mine. Audible is having a sale and the other night I listened to samples of countless audio books. 2-1/2 hours so far. I do it every time they have a sale. I spent 3 hours one afternoon last week going through the "plus" catalogue.
Chirp had a sale of your audio books and I took the opportunity to fill in the blanks. I bought a couple of Kate Carlisle's too, and now I'm going to be obsessed with finding more on sale. Well, just saying, you have your rabbit hole, I have mine!
JUDY: WOW, I never thought about listening to a bunch of audiobook samples before buying. Well, same with ebooks, I never look at the sample pages either.
DeleteI only starting listening to some last year since my COVID-brain fogged mind and blurry vision prevented me from reading both ebooks and hard copy books.
I looooooove audio books, Judy. Sale did you say? Hmm. I'll be right back!
DeleteJudy, thanks for nothing! LOL Just kidding.
DeleteTalk about a rabbit hole. Lots of Debs Crombie's titles, and Rhys Bowen's on their mystery lists.
I know. I own almost all of Debs's already and tons of Rhys's on audio. Also lots of Jenn's. Looking for missing titles later;-))
DeleteI never buy an audio book without listening to a sample, and I can easily go down Judy's multiple sample rabbit hole. I'm very fussy about narrators and sometimes it will take multiple listens for me to decide if I can handle a whole book in that voice.
DeleteAbsolutely, Debs! And if they mangle one of my favorite characters or get an accent really wrong...then just NO.
DeleteJENN: Enjoy the mushroom coffee!
ReplyDeleteYeah, a few rabbit holes for me include :
1) searching for some health supplements to help deal with my food allergies and leaky gut/microbiome issues. It has been naturopathic medicine that had the best (remedy) solutions to help/heal these conditions but there's a lot of differing opinions and approaches being given online.
2) I booked my flights to ABQ for LCC on Monday, and then spending too much time downloading visitor guides to Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and searching for places to eat, things to do. And then I got BOGGED down reading Public Health Agency of Canada and US CDC webpages on the ever-changing procedures needed for COVID-testing to be able to fly to the US and return to Canada.
Right? And to think I used to think taking off my shoes before boarding was annoying. All of these protocols, while smart and all, are another hurdle for traveling.
DeleteYou and I share a rabbit hole. My other one is green powder for smoothies, but I'll spare you all.
Jenn, my naturopath recommended dried mushrooms for boosting immune system when you travel, so I believe they are Good! My rabbit hole is airline flights. Doesn't even have to be my trip LOL.
ReplyDeleteROBERTA: The flight search for me was easy. The search for a good multi-trip annual travel insurance plan that covers trip interruptions caused by COVID took me a few hours!
DeleteI can spend hours searching for the right flight. I get it.
DeleteAnd every time you go from Delta to American, the price has increased!
DeleteJUDY: That's why you should use a VPN and incognito mode on your browser so that the history/cookies/IP address are not saved when you go back to continue your flight search.
DeleteWHAT? It KNOWS?
DeleteGosh every body went for mushrooms, and I went full on psychotherapist. I was about to 'helpfully' analyze your thought process, reassuringly of course, then I read some btl's and oh yes! Jenn is being funny (and it was) "why so serious? murmurs the Joker. So this is my thought process. total compulsive run on subject hops. Feel better? hope so. sips cinnamon tea, wonders about mushroom tea.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Coralee. I think my thought process is work avoidance with a dash of I drink too much coffee how can I make it a healthier choice. Cinnamon tea? That sounds lovely.
DeleteCelestial Seasonings Bengal Spice. Cheers..
DeleteCoralee, one of my personal favorites!
DeleteNot a coffee fan, not a mushroom fan so this is a double-thumbs down for me. And I've heard of it before.
ReplyDeleteBut I did spend more time than I needed to yesterday searching the website of a small tea distributor in Minneapolis(?) called Mrs. Kelly's tea where I desperately tried to order Butterbeer tea. Alas, I couldn't find an order button. Sob.
Butterbeer tea? No. No. No. Do not drag me into that rabbit hole with you. Damn it, Liz! LOL.
DeleteCome into the darkness, Jenn. Muah-ha-ha.
DeleteI gotta say, I'd try it. Why not. Worst case, it goes down the sink, but I'd never know how it tasted if I didn't try. Besides, I like both mushrooms and coffee. I do like Grace's idea of adding mushroom powder to my already favorite brews. Sounds like a win-win.
ReplyDeleteResearch rabbit holes...mine usually self-limit. My day job was paralegal and research was part of the job description. Knowing when to stop researching was a difficult decision, but one you had to learn or nothing got finished. I'm convinced there is a kismet to research. No sooner do you think you have what you need, then someone, somewhere, posts a news article, journal article, or case that throws everything you know in an entirely different light - follow up research required :)
Yes, Kait, exactly! There is always another answer just beyond my grasp. Maddening.
DeleteMy kids finally convinced me to make the switch to French Truck red rooster blend, which I buy in five pound sacks (free shipping) from New Orleans. Smooth, rich, with a "kick" but not the acidity of dark roast coffee. Mushrooms belong in my food, not my coffee.
ReplyDeleteI do deep dives for specialty plants or architectural elements for my books.
Plants. Your speaking my language there. I'm like a drunk at our local nursery, loading up the cart with indoor and outdoor plants. My people have to go with me to rein me in.
DeleteI would not hesitate to give mushroom coffee a try, though I'd be a lot more likely to do so within the confines of a coffee shop, where I can buy a single cup, than online, where I have to buy a larger quantity. As you describe it, Jenn, it actually sounds pretty good to me!
ReplyDeleteI have two kinds of rabbit holes. Especially recently, I have been going down travel-related ones. I can finally envision the freedom to travel again, and Bob and I have chosen a retirement date (not quite close enough to really discuss yet) so suddenly when a place sounds interesting, it feels like a real possibility that I could visit. So I lose myself to hours of research.
The other is anything for my son. I have only one child, and he's a fully functioning adult. But (she says with no modesty whatsoever) I'm still a way better researcher than he is. So if he brings up some subject where I believe my help would be welcome and productive, I have been known to lose hours following various leads in order to send him one email with maybe a half dozen to a dozen links to the best information I could find. And honestly, this is a case of "sorry, not sorry." It is one way I can still get the warm fuzzy feeling of motherhood without being intrusive.
Oh, I love this. A researcher/mom!!! How lucky your son is. Would you consider adopting me?
DeleteJenn, I'm sure I've had my share of crazy obsessions, but I can't think of one off-hand. I would definitely try the mushroom coffee and now I'm thinking how did someone even come up with that idea. If you were a painter, Jenn, would the paintings you complete while in the thrall of your mushroomed coffee, be considered your mushroom period? Years later, could anyone tell? How has it affected your writing? Do your characters now sit around swilling the stuff?
ReplyDeleteLOL! My mushroom period. I love it. I have not written mushroom coffee into the books yet but perhaps my lessened jitters will give my characters a calmer existence on the page...nah.
DeleteJudi, too funny! I'm just giggling!
DeleteYour description intrigues me enough that I might try it. "Mouse's ears" are also a good protein source. Bonus.
ReplyDeleteFocus was one of my much-used words when teaching (better than other admonitions I might have chosen) but I knew I may have over-used it when it showed up in several students' "you wouldn't have" lines when I had them make their own versions of Viorst's "If I Were in Charge of the World."
LOL. That is a good reminder, especially for students. We live in a very distracting world. And I love that assignment - how clever!
DeleteI'll have to ask Middle Daughter if she drinks mushroom coffee when she's here this weekend. Bet she does. One of her medical professionals had her microdosing for awhile.
ReplyDeleteObsessions? Who, me? I'm still obsessing over what I call "house porn", seven years after I started dreaming about building a new house.
The garden is another area of obsession. And that is how I wrote my first book, burning with the need to get it written. Is it obsession, or is it dogged determination?
I think it's both, Karen. Obsession was definitely how I started as a writer and now it's more dogged determination.
DeleteKaren, I love to look at houses for sale and see how the houses are built. I love seeing beautiful rooms. It is always fun to look at furniture for sale and how each shop sets up different pieces of furniture together.
DeleteDiana
Jenn, thanks for the morning laugh. You ask if others Go off on intense, unnecessary research obsessions? Who, me? A gift of the internet, of course.Especially when I either 1. have work I don't want to do or 2. having a bout of insomnia. Not coffee, which I don't like but...it becomes urgently necessary to understand how Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were related, or how did Mrs. Alvah Vanderbilt go from a tyrannical mother to a leading suffragette ( actually interesting, but not at 2 AM) Or...a forthcoming book references something I know I read a whole book about as a child. Can I find it? Yes- it took awhile. Can I learn more about the forgotten author? Who died before I was born? Did she write other books I remember reading? Can I order one? It's on my bedside table right now. Details upon request :-) Now? Back to WIP. But I'll share mushroom coffee with the coffee drinker in my house.
ReplyDeleteTriss - I am always fascinated by Alva Vanderbilt. At their mansion, Marble House, in Newport Rhode Island, they still have some of her suffragette china that reads Votes for Women (if I remember right) around the edges. Fascinating woman but, not at 2 in the morning!
DeleteShe actually a[apologized, late in life, to the daughter she forced to marry the next Duke of Marlborough! (It's quite a story, and true) Or I could be researching scenic railroad trips or lyrics to 40's band hits. That's fun too. But maybe not when I should be be writing?
DeleteTriss, you and I are about the same vintage; did you ever take down the encyclopedia to look up one thing and 20 pages and 3 hours later realize you still didn't write your homework paper?
DeleteWere you a secret sister, living in my house? Of course I did. Especially the articles with double-page, full colored illustrations. That's how I learned the name of dog breeds and dinosaurs and what people wore in faraway places and long ago eras. Wasn't it fun?
DeleteJENN, though I have heard of mushroom coffee, I have not seen it anywhere. Not in cafes. Not in grocery shops. Ir seems like a urban myth to me.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, I am looking for solar powered coffeemaker, which does nor seem to have been invented yet. Since I am not a scientist nor an engineer, I do nor know how to put together a solar powered coffeemaker. Perhaps someone will invent it in the future?
There are things that I saw in Europe that I rarely see here. For example, the baby carrier on the front of the bike. I have seen little child "wagon" attached to bikes in Holland. I've not seen that here. Perhaps in other parts of the USA? In England, there were many types of marmalades while we only seem to have Orange Marmalade here in the USA. They had tuna and dill sandwiches in the British version of our walgrens / cvs / pharmaca shops. In Germany they had cucumber and cheese sandwiches. I could easily make these sandwiches at home, though.
Diana
Diana, maybe the solar power could come from the electrical supply for the building.
DeleteKaren, thanks! Perhaps the electrical supply could come from solar power?
DeleteYes.
DeleteNow I want a cucumber and cheese sandwich.
DeleteIn the last couple of weeks I've explored Argyll & Bute in Scotland, Pembrokeshire in Wales, and Shropshire, Devon, Cornwall, and North Yorkshire, to name a few counties, in England. I think tv-binging counts as a rabbithole. This obsession only ended when I ran out of episodes of Escape to the Country, alas. Then of course, there are the hours I've spent online, researching mountainous Italian villages, and homes for let in southwestern France, in Spain, and in Portugal.... made a change from ice and snow.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing that we can do these things now. Back in the day my day dreams were travel magazines and travel books. The Internet is much more to the minute.
Delete"Mushroom coffee" sounds far safer than "mushroom? coffee."
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteOK, I am reading this one more time, to make sure that it is not a joke. Mushroom coffee? Mushroom. Coffee. isn’t coffee coffee? And mushroom coffee would be stuff the color of coffee that is made of mushrooms? but if you say so, Jenn, I am with you wherever you go.
ReplyDeleteI tend to go on binges, at least, of having, for instance, cinnamon raisin toast every day for breakfast until I can’t look at another piece of cinnamon raisin toast. And it happens, like, overnight. Not gradually.
Sometimes I’ll be looking up a topic for a tiny bit of my book, and then keep going and going and going and going, and eventually think – – why was I looking for this?
I think our brains may be a time you get scattered these days.
That's hilarious, Hank! I do the same. Especially for breakfast. I ate scrambled eggs with spinach for so many years, I can't look or smell it anymore.
DeleteNow, cinnamon raisin toast? Oh, Lordy!
SO delicious! For now, at least. oxox
DeleteYes, I do that, too. Eat something or wear something until I'm utterly sick of it.
DeleteI’m not a coffee drinker but I live a few counties away from big mushroom growing areas here in Pennsylvania. When one drives through those areas the air is “fragrant” with aromas of manure used to enhance the soil that mushrooms grow in. So...I’m having some difficult separating that from the whole mushroom coffee as healthy and appealing idea. Yes, I do eat mushrooms so don’t know why the idea of mushroom coffee is bothering me!
ReplyDeleteIt was weird for me, too, at first.
DeleteI get stuck on stuff like that. Not necessarily anything coffee related since I don't like coffee. But I will get stuck on something and research and think about it when I should be doing something productive.
ReplyDeleteProcrastination. The Internet absolutely does not help with this.
DeleteI go down rabbit holes EVERY SINGLE DAY. It’s one of the reasons I can’t seem to get to bed at a decent hour. I read in the news that a neighbor has been arrested? Then I research to see if it’s happened before, and if so, was the person convicted? (Most of the time.) What happened to that author I really liked twenty years ago but who doesn’t seem to be writing any more? Has the person died? Is he/she writing under a different name? Are there any books I have missed? I’m going on vacation to a place I’ve never visited. What is the history of the city/town/region? What kind of birds might I see there? What about the natural history of the place? Or maybe I read a news item about something, and something insignificant in the article strikes me as something I would like to know more about, so I spend some time researching it. Oh, look! It’s almost 1AM!
ReplyDeleteGrace, I would like to try that mushroom powder. Off to research it!
DebRo
DEB RO: Here is the link to the 4 Sigmatic mushroom blend I use. It has 10 different functional mushrooms to support immune function, which is what I am hoping to improve.
Deletehttps://us.foursigmatic.com/products/10-mushroom-blend
But there are simpler blends for focus, relax, balance etc.
https://us.foursigmatic.com/categories/all-products
Thank you!
DeleteDeb
LOL! Yes, to all of that. I feel like that's exactly how my brain works.
DeleteGet stuck on things? I go down so many rabbit holes that Google has awarded me Major Googler status. You know the song from Cheers that has the lyrics "...you want to go where everybody knows your name"? That's Google and me. I can be trying to go to sleep and think of something, and though I try to resist, I often grab my phone and Google. But, I do learn so many fascinating things, and I even retain some of it.
ReplyDeleteNow, mushroom coffee? I love my coffee and I love my mushrooms, but I just imagine the coffee tasting musty. I'm not sure I want to taste that combination, although I probably will sometime. Jenn, I salute your research and dedication to finding the mushroom coffee for you. For now, I'll stick with my Dunkin Donuts coffee and an occasional Jamaican Me Crazy brew.
Ha! Yeah, it's the retaining part that gets me. I figure i don't need to retain it because I can just look it up again.
DeleteJenn, I thought you were going somewhere else entirely with the mushrooms... :-) And while I would certainly love something that would help me FOCUS, I might be more inclined to try Grace's mushroom powder.
ReplyDeleteAnything can send me down a rabbit hole, but researching using Google Maps is the worst--or the best, depending on how you look at it.
Maps. I love maps! Google maps can be addictive!
DeleteLOVE Google maps.
DeleteI love my matcha lattes with almond milk made from a matcha/mushroom mix from a fabulous company, Addictive Wellness. The couple who own it send personal notes and even replaced the mushroom chocolates that didn't survive (along with all our fridge and freezer food) after our Holiday Farm Fire here in Oregon (although our house miraculously survived).
ReplyDeleteMushrooms have helped me with immunity, happiness, energy, and FOCUS. They are amazing. And they don't taste when they are in coffee if you buy good mushroom powder. Check out Addictive Wellness. I love supporting them.
One caveat: some mushrooms interfere with medications. Check that before using.
I will absolutely check them out! Thank you!
Delete