Mushroom Hot Chocolate UK: The Best Mushroom Cacao Blends for Winter 2026

Mushroom hot chocolate is a powdered cocoa or raw cacao drink with added mushroom extracts, most often lion's mane, reishi, cordyceps, chaga or tremella, sometimes with plants such as ashwagandha or maca, which you mix into hot milk or water like an ordinary hot chocolate, and the blends we compare contain little or no added sugar.

The category overlaps with mushroom coffee. Some "mushroom coffees" are really cocoa drinks already, such as Clearly Not Coffee and Variety Mode's Gold Dust, while several coffee brands sell a separate chocolate: Myracle Mushroom Chocolate (see our Myracle review), Dirtea Cacao and the Chocolate flavour of Spacegoods Rainbow Dust. Smaller makers such as Quirky Monkey, Merryhill Mushrooms, The Newt and Earth Hug sell mushroom hot chocolates too.

What separates them is what you cannot see in the mug: milligrams of mushrooms per cup, added caffeine, the sweetener and the price. That is what we compare below, using the labels and prices on the brands' UK shops on 29 September 2026. If you are new to the subject, our explainer on what mushroom coffee is and what is in the cup covers extracts, fruiting bodies and mycelium.

Mushroom content is per serving as printed by each brand; sugar is per serving of powder, before any milk.

On mushrooms per cup, Gold Dust leads with 4,000 mg. Brainstoorm is the one built as a morning drink, with a set 20 mg of caffeine: a choc-hazelnut cup with 6,225 mg of declared actives, the most complete formula in our top 5 of mushroom coffees, and no reishi. The cheapest cup is Quirky Monkey's, with about 500 mg of mushroom extract per serving according to the brand, and it is unsweetened, so whatever you add sets the sugar count.

Gold Dust Cocoa is No. 5 in our UK top 5 of mushroom coffees, and the only one in the ranking that is a cocoa drink first. Per 8 g serving (two small scoops), the label lists lion's mane, cordyceps, chaga and reishi at 1,000 mg each (fruiting body extracts, 8:1 according to Variety Mode), ashwagandha 200 mg, maca 250 mg, rhodiola 25 mg, vitamin B5 6 mg, cacao powder and erythritol, plus 50 mg of natural caffeine. That is 4,000 mg of mushrooms, the most in our top 5.

A pouch costs £40.00 for 30 servings (£1.33 a cup). Vanilla is caffeine-free according to the brand; the Hazelnut and Salted Caramel pages we read do not give a caffeine figure. The product page shows a 60-day money-back guarantee and free delivery in Great Britain on subscription, while the shop's returns policy covers unused items in their original packaging for 30 days.

Read one point carefully: the product page FAQ describes a 5-day sample (five 8 g servings of Cocoa and one serving of gummies) that moves to a full-size subscription on day 7, with pause, skip or cancel options, while other sample listings say there is no subscription. Check the terms at checkout. Gold Dust is made by Variety Mode Ltd, a Manchester company registered at Companies House in January 2023. Our Variety Mode Gold Dust review goes into the flavours and the subscription in detail.

Dirtea Cacao lists 2,500 mg of mushrooms per 6 g serving: lion's mane, tremella and reishi, from organic, dual-extracted fruiting bodies with over 40% beta-glucans, according to the brand. The base is raw cacao, with the three mushroom extracts and a vitamin B complex, according to Dirtea. A 180 g pouch holds 30 servings for £43.00 (£1.43 a cup), and 5 travel sachets cost £11.00. Cacao naturally contains a little caffeine, and the page we read gives no figure. Our Dirtea review covers the brand's coffee as well.

Spacegoods Rainbow Dust Chocolate is the cocoa version of one of the best-known mushroom blends in the UK: its ingredients list begins with cocoa powder. The product page lists lion's mane, cordyceps sinensis and chaga at 1,000 mg each, although the help centre says extract ratios differ from one flavour to another. Spacegoods does not publish the caffeine content of the Chocolate flavour, so we cannot give a figure. One bag of 30 servings costs £49.00 (£1.63 a cup), and a 7-serving pack £14.00. Our Spacegoods Rainbow Dust review has the full label and subscription terms.

Quirky Monkey Choc-O-Shroom is the budget choice: £15.99 for 150 g, about 30 servings of 5 g, so roughly £0.53 a cup. It combines raw cacao with dual-extracted lion's mane, reishi and cordyceps sinensis (3.33% each, about 500 mg of mushroom extract per serving in total, according to the brand), plus ashwagandha, maca, MCT oil, Ceylon cinnamon and rose hip. It has no added sugar: the brand leaves it unsweetened on purpose and suggests mixing a tablespoon into a paste with a little hot milk. Orange and Salted Caramel versions cost the same.

You will also see Merryhill Mushrooms (a lion's mane, tremella and reishi hot chocolate in a 180 g pack), The Newt (a lion's mane hot chocolate) and Earth Hug mushroom hot chocolate in UK search results. We could not check their doses and prices on 29 September 2026, so we leave them out of the table rather than guess.

Here the lower price per cup comes with a lower dose: Quirky Monkey's 500 mg in total is an eighth of Gold Dust's 4,000 mg and a fifth of Dirtea's 2,500 mg. That is not a reason to avoid it, only a reason to compare like with like.

Cacao beans contain caffeine naturally, so a cocoa drink is never entirely free of it. The NHS gives under 25 mg for a 50 g bar of dark chocolate and under 10 mg for 50 g of milk chocolate. A few grams of cocoa powder hold far less than a bar, which fits with Clearly's figure of 8 mg per cup of Not Coffee Original for 4,000 mg of cacao.

Added caffeine changes the picture. Gold Dust Cocoa adds 50 mg per serving, half the NHS figure for a mug of instant coffee, while its Vanilla has none according to the brand. Brainstoorm Chocolate contains 20 mg of NewCaff caffeine. Myracle describes its chocolate as naturally caffeine-free and Dirtea gives no figure: read that as "no caffeine added" rather than zero, given the cacao.

If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, the NHS limit is 200 mg a day from all sources, so count your hot chocolate with your tea and coffee. The same goes for anyone who is sensitive to caffeine.

This is where labels vary most: several blends use no sugar at all, others a sweetener. Per serving of powder, before any milk:

• Brainstoorm Chocolate: no added sugar, sweetened with xylitol; about 12 kcal per cup, according to Mush N Go.
• Gold Dust Cocoa: sweetened with erythritol, with no fillers or gums according to Variety Mode; calories not given on the page we read.
• Myracle Mushroom Chocolate: 40 kcal per serving, with no added sugar, fillers or sweeteners, according to the brand.
• Quirky Monkey Choc-O-Shroom: unsweetened, with no added sugar according to the brand.
• Dirtea Cacao: calories and sugars not given on the page we read.
• Clearly Not Coffee Original: sweetened with Reb M, a stevia-derived sweetener; the Unsweetened version has no sweetener.

The milk usually matters more than the powder: a full mug of whole milk, or a sweetened plant drink, adds more calories and sugar than any of these powders, so check the carton as well as the pouch. Myracle and Variety Mode both say their powders can be made with water.

Reishi appears in many cocoa blends: Gold Dust, Clearly, Myracle Mushroom Chocolate, Dirtea Cacao and Quirky Monkey all list it. No health claim for reishi is authorised in Great Britain (the register lists the claims submitted for it as not authorised), so we will not tell you what it does in the evening. What we can set out is what the research says about its safety.

• A reference chapter by Wachtel-Galor and Benzie (2011) notes that many beliefs about reishi rest largely on anecdotal evidence, traditional use and cultural customs; human data remain limited.
• A small 1990 study from Wuhan found that reishi, 1 g three times a day for two weeks, reduced platelet aggregation in 33 patients with atherosclerotic disease. It is old and small, but it is a reason to ask your pharmacist first if you take blood thinners or have surgery planned.
• A 2004 case report in the Journal of Hepatology described liver toxicity linked to a reishi formulation. One case, but worth knowing if you have liver problems.

The other evening question is caffeine. Gold Dust Cocoa has 50 mg added, and a 2013 study found that caffeine taken even six hours before bed disturbed sleep, although at a much higher dose (400 mg). If you want a late cup, choose a version with no added caffeine. Brainstoorm, for its part, contains no reishi at all.

If you want a chocolate drink to replace your morning coffee, Brainstoorm Chocolate is built for that: a choc-hazelnut cup with 20 mg of caffeine and 6,225 mg of declared actives (lion's mane, cordyceps and chaga at 1,000 mg each, maca, acacia fibre, cacao, ashwagandha and rhodiola), no reishi and no added sugar, at £38.00 for 30 servings (£1.27 a cup) with a 60-day money-back guarantee. It is No. 1 in our ranking of the best mushroom coffee in the UK.

For a cup later in the day, pick a cocoa blend with no added caffeine, such as Gold Dust Vanilla (caffeine-free according to Variety Mode), Myracle Mushroom Chocolate or Quirky Monkey, and keep the reishi notes above in mind. Brainstoorm contains 200 mg of ashwagandha, like Gold Dust, so the usual advice applies in pregnancy: ask your midwife or GP first.

For the wider picture, our guide to coffee alternatives and their caffeine per cup compares cacao with chicory, tea and rooibos. The links to shops on this site are affiliate links, and our top 5 only lists partner brands.

What does mushroom hot chocolate do for you?

Under UK rules, nothing can be promised: no health claim for lion's mane, reishi, cordyceps or chaga is authorised in Great Britain, and no trial has tested a mushroom hot chocolate. What it does offer is a cocoa drink with a printed dose of mushroom extracts, often with little or no sugar. Judge it on the label: mushrooms per cup, caffeine, sugar and price.

What is the best mushroom hot chocolate?

It depends on what you want from it. Gold Dust Cocoa has the most mushrooms per cup (4,000 mg) but 50 mg of added caffeine. Myracle Mushroom Chocolate and Dirtea Cacao have no added caffeine. Quirky Monkey is the cheapest at about £0.53 a cup. For a morning choc-hazelnut drink, Brainstoorm has 20 mg of caffeine and no reishi.

Is mushroom chocolate a thing?

Yes. Several brands sold in the UK offer cocoa or raw cacao powders with mushroom extracts added, including Variety Mode, Myracle, Dirtea, Quirky Monkey, Merryhill and The Newt, and some mushroom coffees, such as Clearly Not Coffee, are cocoa drinks already. You mix them into hot milk or water like any hot chocolate, and UK searches for them rise in winter.

Can I drink mushroom hot chocolate at night?

You can, but check two things. Caffeine: Gold Dust Cocoa adds 50 mg and Brainstoorm contains 20 mg, while Gold Dust Vanilla, Myracle Mushroom Chocolate and Dirtea Cacao have none added. Reishi: many blends contain it, and there is a small study on platelets and a case report on the liver, so ask your pharmacist if you take blood thinners or have liver problems.