I tried Spacegoods mushroom coffee — it’s the perfect antidote to low-energy winter days

BEFORE you say it, I know: mushroom coffee? Sounds gross.

However, having tried London Nootropics a couple of months back, my mind has been opened to the possibility of coffee with added extras, designed to keep you focused and power you through the dreaded mid-afternoon slump.

I’ve put Spacegoods’ Rainbow Dust to the test to see if it can keep me going through dark, low-energy winter days.

Rainbow Dust, from £29 at Spacegoods

Pros

• I genuinely felt more focused and energetic without any slumps or jitters
• It tastes… okay! And it’s nice to have several flavour options
• Generous dosages of mushrooms and “dual extract” ingredients make the drink more likely to be effective
• Fairly versatile — can be mixed with water, milk, oats, protein shakes, or anything else you can think of
• Fun and approachable branding

Cons

• It does contain coffee, meaning that it isn’t a coffee “alternative”, as such
• It’s expensive
• Hard to mix

Rating: 8.5/10

What is Spacegoods?

A mushroom-based product called Rainbow Dust made by a company called Space Goods admittedly sounds a little late-60s-Beatles, but I can assure you there’s nothing untoward going on here.

Spacegoods, in its oddly charming new-age brand voice, describes it as a “delicious all-in-one mushroom and adaptogen powder blend to unlock your flow state and very best self”.

If that sounds a bit fluffy, let me be more specific: it’s a blend of several mushrooms, herbs and vegetables — plus caffeine — that is claimed to help brain performance. It’s designed to give you sustained energy and focus, without the jittery qualities associated with coffee.

There are several core ingredients to Rainbow Dust:

• Lion’s Mane mushroom
• Cordyceps mushroom
• Chaga mushroom
• Ashwagandha
• Maca root
• Rhodiola Rosea
• Vitamin B5
• Caffeine

If you dig a little further into this list, it becomes evident why each ingredient is included.

Lion’s Mane mushroom, for example, has been demonstrated to help memory, mood and focus; cordyceps is associated with boosting energy; chaga also helps with energy and mood (as well as libido, apparently, which some might class as a bonus); the magical-sounding Rhodiola Rosea is claimed to help fight off stress.

While many of these effects have only been tested in small-scale studies, and Spacegoods is limited in what it’s allowed to claim about its ingredients, scientific interest in these sorts of super-mushrooms is skyrocketing.

Plus, Spacegoods includes the sort of dosages that have been effective in scientific studies — for example, there’s a generous 1000mg of each of the three mushrooms.

Spacegoods also uses a method called dual extraction to make sure that the superstar ingredients can be absorbed into the body as effectively as possible (if you simply ground up dried mushrooms and put them into a drink, you wouldn’t be able to access most of their benefits).

The taste test

Rainbow Dust, from £29 at Spacegoods

So the science is compelling, but is this stuff actually drinkable?

Having tried “adaptogenic coffee” before for articles like my London Nootropics review, I knew what to expect here.

Let’s just get it out of the way; this does not taste as good as a freshly-brewed coffee or a cup of Yorkshire Tea. Anyone who claims it does is either lying or has been drinking really bad coffee.

At the end of the day, this is a mixture of several different dehydrated mushrooms, herbs and vegetables — getting it to taste even palatable is an achievement.

Spacegood has done impressive work on that front: it’s a darn sight nicer than many health drinks.

There are several flavours to choose from (my favourite was Vanilla), which is handy for giving you the best chance possible of getting on with it.

However, the closest comparison is probably a machine-hot chocolate, which is oddly comforting.

There is a slight artificial taste and chemical sweetness, but it’s nothing you wouldn’t get used to fairly quickly.

Also, there are several ways you can drink it — it’s much more enjoyable when mixed with steamed milk like a latte, rather than simply stirred into hot water.

How did I feel?

Especially during the gloomy, dark days of December, which seem to be filled with endless parties and hangovers, I was really impressed by Spacegoods.

It genuinely did provide me with sustained energy and focus, which I find hard to come by at this time of year.

And almost more impressively, I wasn’t struck down by the dreaded post-lunch slump, which is something I often struggle with, particularly if I haven’t had much sleep.

It’s hard to say how much of this could be down to the placebo effect — that’s probably something that would become more evident after sustained use.

And, of course, it’s not a miracle worker — if you’ve had two hours’ sleep after a Santa’s sledge-full of drinks, then a mug of Spacegoods probably isn’t going to get you back to your best.

However, under normal circumstances, I definitely noticed a steady hum of focus and energy that is usually hard to come by.

How much is Spacegoods?

As is so often the case with these sorts of health and wellness products, this is where we reach the main hurdle.

At full price, a 30-serving bag of Rainbow Dust, which is enough to last between two weeks and a month, costs £39.

That works out at £1.30 per portion, although you can get that down by enrolling in a subscription or buying multiple bags at once.

I’m sure the lovely people over at Spacegoods would argue that it’s a darn sight cheaper than buying a coffee out every day, but it’s certainly more than I currently spend on my caffeine habit.

You can currently get Rainbow dust on sale for £29 if you enroll on a subscription, which takes some of the sting out of the price tag.