Ganoderma coffee: what it is, how it differs from mushroom coffee and what Reishi by another name means
If you have searched for mushroom coffee you have probably seen ganoderma coffee beside it, often in sachets from Malaysian or Singaporean brands. Ganoderma lucidum is the botanical name for Reishi, so ganoderma coffee is Reishi coffee. The products are different from a six mushroom coffee in ways that matter for taste, sugar and what you are actually drinking. This is the plain comparison.
What ganoderma coffee is
Ganoderma coffee is a category that took off in Southeast Asia in the 1990s, largely through direct selling companies. A typical sachet is instant coffee, a Reishi extract, and in most cases non dairy creamer and sugar, mixed into a three in one style powder that dissolves in hot water. Some brands offer a black version without creamer. The Reishi content is usually small and rarely disclosed as a figure. It is sold as a daily coffee with a health halo, and it is still widely available online in Australia.
What Reishi is
Reishi is a glossy red brown bracket fungus grown on hardwood logs and sawdust, too tough to eat and used as a tea or extract for at least a thousand years in China and Japan. Its bitterness comes from triterpenes, which alongside its polysaccharides are the compounds researchers study. It is one of six mushrooms in Mello Mushroom Coffee, listed as part of one blend on the pack. Our Reishi explained article covers the mushroom itself in detail.
How ganoderma coffee differs from mushroom coffee
Four differences. One, the mushroom count: ganoderma coffee has Reishi alone, a mushroom coffee like Mello has six with different compound profiles. Two, the base: ganoderma coffee is nearly always instant coffee, while Mello uses arabica coffee with coconut milk powder and MCT oil and no added sugar. Three, the sugar: most ganoderma sachets are sweetened and creamered, which puts them closer to a cafe style instant than to a black coffee, and a single sachet can carry 10 to 15g of sugar. Four, the caffeine: a three in one sachet is usually 40 to 60mg, so about the same as Mello at about 48mg a serve, though ganoderma brands seldom print the number.
The taste
A sweetened ganoderma coffee tastes like a sweet instant coffee, because that is what it is, with the Reishi bitterness hidden by sugar. A black ganoderma coffee is noticeably bitter, because Reishi on its own against instant coffee has nothing to sit behind. Mello balances the Reishi against arabica and five other mushrooms so you do not taste it; if you have tried a black ganoderma coffee and found it harsh, that is a different balance rather than a property of the mushroom. Our taste guide has the ratios.
What the research says about Reishi
Reishi has a large laboratory literature on polysaccharides and triterpenes and a small human one. A 2012 review of five trials on blood sugar and blood pressure found the evidence too thin to draw conclusions. A 2005 trial of 132 people with fatigue complaints used an extract for eight weeks and measured questionnaire scores. There are animal sleep studies and almost no human ones. Research suggests the compounds are active; what a sachet of sweetened instant coffee with an undisclosed amount of extract does over months, nobody has measured. The same limit applies to Mello, and we say so on our Reishi research page.
Reading a ganoderma coffee label
Three things to find. The sugar per sachet, which is usually the first or second ingredient in a three in one. The Reishi content, which is often listed as ganoderma extract with no figure, and occasionally as a percentage of the sachet; anything under 1% is a flavouring level. And whether the extract is from the fruiting body or from mycelium or spores, which our fruiting body article explains. A product that prints all three is being straight with you; most print none.
The direct selling question
Much of the ganoderma coffee market has been built through multi level marketing, which is not a comment on the coffee but is worth knowing when you read testimonials. Claims in that channel tend to run well ahead of the research, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia has acted on ganoderma products making disease claims. If a product tells you Reishi treats a condition, that is the moment to stop reading.
Which one to choose
If you like a sweet, creamy instant coffee and want Reishi in it, a ganoderma coffee is exactly that, and you should read the sugar figure first. If you want a coffee with no added sugar, a known caffeine number and a blend of six mushrooms rather than one, a mushroom coffee is the closer fit. If you want Reishi specifically and in a meaningful amount, neither coffee is the direct route; a Reishi tea or a standalone extract with a stated dose is.
The caveat
Anyone with a mushroom allergy should avoid both categories. Reishi has been studied in the laboratory for effects on blood clotting and blood pressure, so anyone on medication for either, anyone due for surgery, and anyone pregnant, breastfeeding or managing a medical condition should talk to a GP or pharmacist before adding a Reishi extract from any source. Anyone with a coconut allergy should choose the matcha rather than the Mello coffee. Both Mello pouches are 30 serves, ship free Australia wide and carry a 30 day money back guarantee.