How to make mushroom tea with psilocybin mushrooms

By now you’ve probably already tried one of our weed tea recipes for a new way to consume your favorite cannabis strains. Now that psychedelics are well on their way to becoming mainstream, and as more and more states and local municipalities have decriminalized them, shroom tea has also entered the mix. 

If you can access psilocybin mushrooms from a source you trust, almost nothing beats a nice brewed cup of shroom tea to kick back, or take yourself on a colorful journey.

The essential guide for making psilocybin tea at home

Shrooms had a great year in 2022: Both San Francisco and the entire state of Colorado voted to decriminalize an umbrella of psychedelics, joining Oregon, Oakland, and other local governments that see the medicinal potential of these substances. It may seem like shrooms came out of nowhere—some called last year the “summer of shrooms” as people embraced community-centered psychedelic nights after spending months in lockdown. 

But shrooms and shroom tea have been around for thousands of years as a spiritual tool, medicinal remedy, and good old-fashioned fun. From the Mayans to the Europeans to 10,000-year-old African cave paintings, shrooms have been a part of human society for far longer than we could ever imagine. 

Recent waves of decriminalization, increased access, and the realization that we as a society need to rethink some things means shrooms have a lot to teach us. And one of the easiest and most effective ways to engage with them is shroom tea.

How to make psilocybin tea

If you can safely access quality, whole shrooms where you live, making shroom tea at home is a fun way to elevate tea time and not worry about anyone finding your stash. You can’t use mushroom chocolates or gummies for these recipes—save those for a different trip.

Shroom species have varying levels of psilocybin and other magical properties, so always ask your source what you’re getting before you pop it in your mouth or brew up a cup. Here’s how to brew your blues away!

Servings

Serving size for mushroom tea depends on your desired potency and how many uses you want out of your brew. This recipe calls for an eighth of shrooms and 2 cups of water. If you want a lower dose per cup, increase the water amount to 3 cups.

There are so many species of mushrooms to choose from. Here are some of the strongest types, including Penis Envy, Flying Saucers, and Liberty Caps.

Equipment required

• Coffee filter or sieve
• Saucepan, pot or kettle
• Clean grinder
• Teapot (optional)

Ingredients you’ll need

Shroom tea is pretty simple once you have the shrooms. Feel free to use your tea of choice. We recommend caffeine-free tea blends, as the caffeine can interfere with a psilocybin trip. 

• 3.5 grams mushrooms of your choice
• 2-3 decaffeinated and/or herbal tea bags (caffeine may impact your trip)
• Honey, herbs, other tea additives 
• 2 cups of water

Estimated time to make

At most, making shroom tea shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes, from preparation to drinking. The longest time frame is for the steeping, which we and other sources recommend for 10-15 minutes. 

Easy shroom tea recipe

Step 1: Prep and grind your shrooms

Just like grinding up your weed makes it easier to pack into a bowl or paper and smoke, grinding up your shrooms for your tea ensures that your infusion is as potent as possible. 

Step 2: Boil water

Put your ground shrooms aside and boil your desired amount of water. You can boil water in your saucepan or pot directly, or boil it in a kettle and pour it in.

Step 3: Add the shrooms and tea bags

If you’re short on equipment, you can add the tea bags and mushrooms to your saucepan (heat off) and steep for 10-15 minutes that way. You can also add the mushrooms and tea bags to a large bowl and pour the water over them if you prefer. 

Step 4: Strain the tea

After roughly 15 minutes of steeping, use a sieve or coffee filters to strain your shroom tea mixture into a teapot to ensure no mushroom bits are left in the tea.  

Step 5: Add any garnishes and enjoy!

This is the perfect time to add honey, ginger, or other tea additives to your brew. 

Step 6: Store your tea

If you don’t want to drink all your mushroom tea in one sitting, store it in a glass container in the refrigerator to preserve the compounds. Use within a week or two for best results.

What are the benefits of drinking psilocybin tea?

Many seasoned mushroom lovers make shroom tea instead of eating whole shrooms or mushroom-infused chocolate bars and gummies for the control and the experience. Shroom tea doesn’t have the sugar, allergens, or the sometimes inconsistent dosing that food products contain.

As a liquid, it has a faster onset than when eating shrooms, and anecdotal evidence suggests that making shroom tea drastically reduces the sensation of nausea that shrooms cause on the come up. For those who don’t want to be tripping for hours, shroom tea tends to metabolize quicker as well.

• No stomachaches. Eating raw mushrooms often comes with the side effect of a cramped tummy. After all, the psychedelic aspect of mushrooms comes from lightly poisoning oneself with fungus, and that can do a number on the digestive system.
• Quicker onset. No two people metabolize shrooms in the same way, even if they’ve taken the same dose at the same time. But the liquid delivery of tea into our intestines’ absorbent tissue means the onset is often cut in half.
• More dosing control. By most metrics, 1 gram of shrooms is usually enough to elicit shrooms’ tamer effects without intense visualizations: colors look brighter, everything seems sillier, and engaging with the world feels good. If you want a super concentrated shot of shrooms or a big mug to casually sip throughout the day, tea gives you a wider spectrum of options for dosing.  
• Discretion. Your environment has a huge influence on your shroom trip, and going outside in nature can lead to profound internal realizations. But taking shrooms outside the safety of your home can get risky, depending on where you live. Making a pot or thermos of shroom tea before heading to the park, for example, ensures that no one will find any evidence on your person and you can take your shroom tea around with peace of mind. Just don’t let it get cold! 
• Suits dietary restrictions. Many shroom vendors infuse them into chocolate bars or gummies for a more familiar product experience, discrete packaging, and dosing instructions. But not everyone can eat chocolate or sugary, gelatin-based gummies.

What are the effects of drinking psilocybin tea?

The effects of drinking psilocybin tea depend entirely on the tea’s potency and type of shroom used. Drinking shroom tea instead of eating shrooms provides the same benefits as eating shrooms.

• Enhanced euphoria and wonder. Most people take shrooms to feel good and tap into parts of their mind that only psychedelics can open. Shrooms not only alter our visual field, but help us tap into the ego, the meaning of life, and things that make us laugh.
• Help with mental illnesses like depression and addiction. New studies on shrooms indicate they can be used to help treat symptoms of depression and help consumers work past addictions like alcoholism. 
• Visual stimulation. It’s perfectly okay if you want to take shrooms to trip balls and see some zany visuals. Shrooms can be fun, and you don’t need to justify your use of them with medical recommendations or self-diagnoses.
• Potential for cancer treatment. Research suggests that shrooms’ ability to curb anxiety and depression may also help cancer patients. Mental state has a huge impact on internal health, and cancer treatment often entails both physical and emotional burdens. Taking shrooms may help patients cope with, and, by extension, better fight their diagnoses.

How long does shroom tea usually take to kick in?

Much like with cannabis-infused tea, shroom tea usually kicks in a lot faster than eating mushrooms whole or in a food product like chocolate or gummies. Because the psilocybin is infused to the water, which enters the stomach and digestive tract a lot faster and more evenly than eating shrooms, expect the onset of shroom tea in around 30 minutes, or even less. 

Metabolic and environmental factors can impact this time. Wait at least a full hour after you’ve consumed your shroom tea before taking any more—the last thing you want is a bad trip where you don’t feel in control. 

How do you dose psilocybin mushroom tea?

Dosing psilocybin tea is easy when you know the strength of your shrooms. Different shroom species have different potencies and amounts of multiple psychedelic compounds; some species may only require a gram for an intense trip, whereas others need a higher amount to achieve the desired effect.

Always check with your shroom source so you know what to expect. If you can’t identify or find out the type of shroom you have, always dose low until you know what amount works best for you. 

You can follow the same principles laid out in Leafly’s shroom dosing guide to determine how intense you want your tea to be. You can also change the amount of liquid you use to dilute the tea’s potency. For example, if you use only 1 gram of shrooms and make it with 8 oz of water, your cup of shroom tea will be a lot more concentrated than if you used 24 oz and thus ingest around 0.3 grams instead.

How long will a batch of shroom tea last?

The shelf life of shrooms and shroom tea is up for debate. For best results, treat your shroom tea like a beverage you got from your local grocery store. Store it in the fridge after you’ve made it, and try to use it up within a week or two after brewing.

While dried shrooms can last for months if stored properly, the liquid aspect of tea cuts its shelf life considerably. Some people keep it for longer, but we can’t guarantee it will keep.