I Traded My Daily Coffee for a Fruity Mushroom Energy Drink—Here’s What Happened to My Focus and Energy Levels

As a religious coffee drinker for over a decade, trying to wake up without my morning java is a struggle. But in an unfortunate twist, I also experience significant morning anxiety (think Sunday scaries, but every day), so I’ve been looking for ways to wake up sans coffee in the hopes that it will help me get a handle on that. Enter: mushroom energy drinks.

With ingredients like whole coffee fruit extract, lion’s mane, reishi, and cordyceps, mushroom beverages are touted as a way to boost energy and focus with less caffeine. There are many different brands on the market, with some products that come in premixed cans and others that come in powder form, to mix into water or another favorite drink. I personally tried the brand Roots Focus after they reached out with samples. I knew it was time to experiment with skipping my morning coffee, so decided to try a Roots Focus review.

Alongside my own research on mushrooms, I spoke with Carla Fabian, RD, a registered dietitian in Wisconsin, and Zarya Rubin, MD, a functional medicine physician, TEDx speaker, and burnout expert, about the benefits of some of the ingredients in Roots Focus. Read on to learn what happened when I ditched coffee for a week and what mushroom energy drinks did for me (as someone who loves coffee).

Why I decided to make the switch

As mentioned, I struggle a lot with anxiety, especially in the morning. But I also struggle to wake up without coffee. I was feeling on what to do, so my therapist suggested I try reducing my caffeine intake to see if it helped. Roots Focus energy drink helped me cut back because it only has 60 milligrams of caffeine—about a third of the amount in my typical tall Americano.

Mushroom energy drinks also interested me because, as a dietitian, I’m always fascinated to learn how different foods can affect our bodies. Besides caffeine from coffeeberry whole fruit extract, Roots Focus also has ingredients like Alpha GPC (a form of the essential nutrient choline) and mushrooms—like lion’s mane, reishi, and cordyceps—which are thought to help with mood, energy, and concentration.

Here’s a breakdown of the benefits of these functional ingredients.

Alphasize alpha GPC

Alpha-glyceryl phosphorylcholine (alpha GPC) is an advanced choline compound that increases the release of acetylcholine—an important neurotransmitter that plays a role in memory, muscular contraction, and mental acuity, per a small September 2015 study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition¹.

Coffeeberry whole coffee fruit extract

Whole coffee fruit extract can help increase the secretion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)—a compound involved in the central nervous system’s development, maintenance, and function—indicating it may improve memory and learning, according to research in a June 2023 pilot study in Nutrients².

Whole coffee fruit extract may also provide a little boost in energy without going overboard. As mentioned, Roots Focus has about a third of the caffeine as a tall Americano, so less chance of the jitters. Plus, according to Fabian, coffeeberry can lend to energy lifts without the highs and lows seen with other supplemental sources of caffeine.

Lion’s mane

According to Fabian, the active components of lion’s mane include erinacines, hericenones, and polysaccharides. While there haven’t been many human studies done on these ingredients’ effect on the brain, some preliminary animal and in vitro studies have found erinacines and hericenones may increase production of the brain’s nerve growth factor (NGF), which may help with memory, learning, and anxiety, per a small September 2023 study in Tropical Life Sciences Research³.

Fabian says lion’s mane is also high in beta-glucans—a type of sugar found in foods like barley, rye, and mushrooms. Beta-glucans may have neuroprotective properties, and may help with other health factors including insulin resistance, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome, per a 2012 study in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism⁴, all of which can affect the health of your brain. “This is especially important given that as we age, our ability to generate new neurons declines,” Fabian adds.

Cordyceps

Cordyceps is a type of fungi used in traditional Eastern medicine for their potential medicinal properties, per the Cleveland Clinic. More studies are needed to confirm their purported benefits, but preliminary research does show it contains anti-inflammatory agents, per an October 2020 review in Phytotherapy Research⁵. A certain type of cordyceps, called C. militaris, has also been associated with an increase in ATP production, which helps provide energy to your muscles, per a small November 2020 animal study in Mycobiology⁶. But again, more evidence is needed to confirm these claims.

Reishi

Reishi—another type of mushroom—is also high in beta-glucans, which can help support immune health and overall wellness by facilitating health cell growth and turnover, according to Fabian and a June 2017 article in Neural Regeneration Research⁷. Reishi is used in many other adaptogenic products that claim to support brain and mental health.

Maca root

Maca root—a plant related to the cabbage family—is used as food and medicine in places like Peru, per the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “Maca is in the Brassicaceae family and exhibits the same nutritional benefits as other members like broccoli, kale, radishes, cabbage, and turnips,” explains Fabian. It contains high amounts of amino acids, iron, iodine, and other minerals, and may help improve mood by helping the body manage stress, according to Fabian and a September 2016 double-blind study in Pharmaceuticals⁸.

Rhodiola

Rhodiola rosea is an herb that grows in the cold mountainous regions of Europe and Asia. It’s thought to increase energy and mental capacity, resist the effects of stress, and help manage anxiety and depression, per the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH).  The adaptogenic herb has over 140 active ingredients—with the two most notable being rosavin and salidroside, per Fabian.

Rhodiola is included in several supplements advertised for relieving stress and improving mood. Some animal studies have documented the neuroprotective benefits of rhodiola, and salidroside in particular, according to an April 2016 study in Drug Design, Development, and Therapy⁹. However, more research is needed to confirm these effects in humans.

Side effects of functional mushrooms

As much as I was excited to try functional mushrooms for myself, I also wanted to know whether there were any risks to doing so. According to Dr. Rubin, mushrooms may cause an allergic reaction, some GI upset, a rash, and dry mouth (luckily, I didn’t have any of these side effects). They may also affect blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and bleeding and clotting in some people. “Individuals with low blood pressure, those taking diabetes medications, people on blood thinners, or those with bleeding and clotting disorders should use caution or avoid taking reishi mushrooms,” she explains.

Mushrooms should also be used with caution if you have an autoimmune condition. “Mushrooms can also impact the immune system, which may pose a problem for those with autoimmune conditions or taking medicine for autoimmune disorders,” Dr. Rubin adds.

Plus, lion’s mane is often taken for its stimulating effect, so it should be taken earlier in the day to avoid interfering with sleep. Finally, mushrooms have not been studied in children or those who are pregnant and/or breastfeeding or chestfeeding, so it’s best to avoid them in these situations, Dr. Rubin notes.

Bottom line: Check in with your health care provider before adding mushroom energy drinks to your beverage rotation.

My review of Roots Focus

I received all four flavors of Roots Focus mushroom energy drink powder—Fruit Punch, Blackberry Lavender Lemonade, Spicy Pineapple, and Strawberry Watermelon—and was ready to try each. All of them were quite sweet, which I didn’t mind, but my favorites were the Spicy Pineapple (you could actually taste the spice!) and Strawberry Watermelon, which was super refreshing on a hot summer morning.

The drinking experience was pretty different from my normal cup of joe. I usually drink my coffee hot and black, so having an iced fruity drink took some getting used to. That said, if you’re an iced coffee or beverage person, this is a great option—it almost tastes like a Starbucks Refresher.

My morning beverage routine, however, stayed mostly consistent. I’d start the day with my usual smoothie, and then onto the energy drink. I’d mix one scoop of the mushroom powder into 12 ounces of water and shake it up in a water bottle. (I also tried mixing it with a milk frother, but this took extra time, and I didn’t feel like it made much of a difference.)

On the first morning of my swap, I could feel myself waking up within 30 minutes of drinking the mushroom mix, without that typical jittery feeling I get (though I still had a bit of underlying anxiety). By 3 p.m., I felt a headache creep up on me, which I assume was due to not drinking as much caffeine as I normally would (I usually drink a cup of black tea in the afternoon to help me get out of an energy slump).

By days two and three, I noticed a good amount of energy in the morning, and didn’t get a headache like I did the first time around. But I still felt that afternoon energy slump, so in this regard, Roots Focus wasn’t much different than my normal coffee for energy and focus.

After a week of drinking Roots Focus, my body had adjusted to the reduction in caffeine, and overall, I felt noticeably less anxious and jittery. My energy levels lasted until about 3 p.m., at which point I needed to take a break from work to refocus, which was totally fine by me.

The bottom line

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the effect Roots Focus had on my anxiety and energy levels; I’d never thought to use a mushroom energy drink to help with this. That said, I found myself really missing the ritual of drinking coffee in the morning (there’s just something special about the smell of freshly ground beans when you need a boost). While I appreciated the reduction in jitteriness and anxiety, I can see myself still having coffee in the morning at least a few days per week, simply because I love the ritual of grinding fresh beans and brewing a mug.

Given the boost in energy that Roots Focus gave me, I can see myself drinking the mushroom energy drink at lunchtime to help with my afternoon energy levels. I always lose steam by around 2 or 3 p.m., so this drink could be the afternoon pick-me-up I need to power through until the end of the day—without overloading on caffeine late in the day and potentially disrupting my sleep.

If you’re looking to reduce your caffeine intake without sacrificing your energy and focus levels, I’d say give a mushroom energy drink like Roots Focus a try (with your doctor’s “okay,” of course, especially if you have an underlying health condition). It’s a functional, refreshing drink that provides sustained energy without the caffeine overload, which can be particularly helpful for folks who often find themselves in that afternoon slump, but don’t want to disrupt their sleep later on.

—reviewed by Jennifer Gilbert, MD, MPH