MUD\WTR and RYZE have risen to fame within the mushroom coffee realm. Both are marketed as better coffee alternatives providing long lasting energy and medicinal benefits from mushrooms.
I tried both to inform you which is the best mushroom coffee and if either is worth your money.
Quick Verdict
The distinctive taste makes it hard for me to choose a winner, but I pick Ryze. It has the same overall serving amount as MUD WTR but is cheaper, and the taste and aroma are more bearable.
The stack of mushrooms in both products is solid, even if slightly underdosed, and dozens of thousands of reviews share their positive experiences with MUD WTR and Ryze.
However, my experience was nowhere near as good, so I will stick to my Nootrum Coffee Fusion when using mushroom coffee in my morning routine.
| Feature | Winner |
|---|---|
| Ingredients | Draw |
| Dosage | MUD WTR |
| Taste | Ryze |
| Third-Party Testing | MUD WTR |
| Clinical Research | Draw |
| Side Effects | Draw |
| User Reviews | Draw |
| Price | Ryze |
Winner
Based on my testing and ingredient breakdown, neither MUD WTR nor RYZE is as effective as Nootrum Coffee Fusion. Nootrum is a potent mushroom coffee without the horrible taste associated with high doses of mushrooms.
What Is Ryze Mushroom Coffee
RYZE Superfoods manufactures several natural supplements and goods, including RYZE Matcha Coffee and RYZE Overnight Oats.
This review focuses on their organic mushroom coffee, which combines eight ingredients to offer a healthy and beneficial alternative to traditional coffee.
Ryze mushroom coffee is made entirely of organic ingredients and is GMO-free, as one would expect from a product aimed at health-conscious consumers. Each component was carefully selected for its proven health advantages.
You can read my in-depth RYZE Mushroom Coffee review here.
What is MUD\WTR
MUD WTR is a coffee alternative containing 100% organic cocoa, ayurvedic herbs, and medicinal mushrooms.
With approximately a fourth of the caffeine present in coffee, it provides energy, focus, and immune support without jitters, crashes, or disrupted sleep.
MUD WTR offers four distinct blends: chocolate, matcha, turmeric, and rooibos. This review concentrates on the Cacao variant, which is the original recipe the brand entered the market with.
All MUD WTR blends are certified organic, non-GMO, vegan, and gluten-free, and they are made with mushrooms produced in the United States.
You can read my in-depth MUD WTR review here.
Ryze vs. MUD WTR Main Differences
Benefits
Mushroom coffees seek to replace conventional coffee as a more health-conscious option.
Coffee is not unhealthy, but it can be harsh in delivering its benefits, and not all people react well to it, which is why gentler alternatives like mushroom coffees exist.
MUD WTR and Ryze’s primary goal is to deliver an energy boost without the drawbacks of conventional coffee, so they contain much less caffeine.
The other big bonus is that they blend caffeine ingredients (either coffee or black tea) with additional compounds like medicinal mushrooms, herbs, and plants, greatly boosting the potential for a wide range of health benefits.
MUD WTR’s offers free USA shipping and a free USB-rechargeable frother.
Both products have fully organic ingredient lists and are GMO-free, vegan, and gluten-free.
Ingredients
Ryze does not specify the individual doses of the components, leaving us wondering. A single dose is 6 grams, so we can roughly estimate how much of each ingredient is inside judging by the order in which they are placed in the ingredients list.
MUD WTR does things better, and we can find a detailed breakdown of the most important ingredients in the 6 g per serving blend.
Ryze includes organic arabica coffee; each serving contains around half of what you would find in a conventional cup of coffee. The effects of the world’s most popular stimulant include enhanced energy levels, attention, and numerous other health benefits [1].
The 35 mg of caffeine in the MUD WTR cacao blend comes from black tea powder.
Both blends include Lion’s Mane mushroom, which can improve brain health and function, cognitive performance, brain cell growth, blood flow to brain cells, attention, memory, and focus, combat brain fog, mental decline, and other mental health issues [5].
The efficacious dose of Lion’s mane is 1000 mg, which is not matched by either product. Ryze has a 2000 mg mushroom blend containing 6 different mushrooms, while MUD WTR includes 560 mg of Lion’s mane, which is likely the larger dose [5].
Both also contain chaga, which is rich in compounds that provide benefits like stimulating the digestive and immunological systems, enhancing attention and energy, lowering blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and preventing or curing cell mutation, weariness, and certain chronic illnesses and somatic disorders [2][3].
Chaga is also a part of MUD WTR’s recipe with 560 mg, which is likely more than what’s in Ryze.
MUD WTR and Ryze share two more medicinal mushrooms—reishi and cordyceps. Cordyceps supports natural energy, while reishi boosts the immune system [6][7].
MUD WTR has 560 mg of both mushrooms, while the amount in Ryze is not clear.
The two mushrooms found only in Ryze are turkey tail and king trumpet, with the second one not currently proven to have health benefits.
The MUD WTR Cacao blend includes organic cacao, which helps improve blood flow, heart rate, insulin sensitivity, brain and heart functioning, natural energy levels, workout performance, and weight loss [8].
The recommended daily intake of cacao is 500 mg, and MUD WTR has 1900 mg per serving; therefore, it can provide benefits.
MUD WTR also offers a spice combination of cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, and cloves. While most spices can provide health benefits, the 2400 mg spice blend does not include enough to give the entire range of prospective benefits.
Ryze also contains MCT oil and coconut milk, which can provide additional health advantages. However, given the overall serving size, we know they are not in appropriate amounts for optimal benefits.
Taste
My main concern with MUD WTR was the taste. The drink fully lives up to its name. Even with the frother, the powder barely mixes with water, leaving a large lump of MUD in the bottom of the cup.
The flavor is gritty and MUDdy, and even milk and sweetener do little to make it bearable. User reviews show that some people appreciate it more, but it’s an acquired taste, to say the least.
Ryze has a peculiar aroma distinct from other mushroom coffees, let alone conventional coffee. The flavor is earthy with a mild bitterness. The texture is pleasant, but I dislike the taste.
I tried it with milk, creamer, and even flavored syrups, but none of them tasted especially good.
However, flavor is the most subjective area, and some may appreciate it.
Clinical Research
The components in both treatments have been extensively studied in clinical trials, and the results are well documented. I’ve included some relevant research in the ingredients portion of this review, and there are many more if you check online.
Regarding third-party testing, MUD WTR is USDA organic certified, and both come with various other certifications to provide peace of mind to health-conscious clients.
Side Effects
Ryze and MUD WTR contain caffeine but in much lower amounts than regular coffee. This makes typical side effects like jitters and energy crashes unlikely, which is one of the main selling points.
MUD WTR’s caffeine comes from black tea, so the chance of it inducing jitters or energy crashes is minimal, if at all present.
Other probable negative effects come from the mushroom blends. The two products contain several different mushrooms, which can trigger stomach discomfort, like bloating, gas, or pain.
I haven’t had issues with either product.
User Reviews
MUD WTR has approximately 50,000 reviews on its website, with an overall rating of 4.5 stars. Unfortunately, you can’t filter the ratings, and scrolling down feeds you only highly favorable reviews.
Looking at Trust Pilot, however, paints an entirely different picture. With a low score of 2.5, most people agree that the flavor is terrible, which is consistent with my opinion.
The Amazon listing is a mixed bag, scoring 4/5 out of 1000 reviews, which sounds ok, but reading the reviews shows a variety of positive and negative opinions.
Ryze’s Amazon listing has very few reviews, but the website has over 100,000 reviews, which I initially found hard to believe. I haven’t scrolled through all of them, but many people seem happy with their purchases.
However, the reviews expressing disapproval of the taste and lack of noticeable results are also in the thousands.
Price
| Product | 1 bag / 1 bag | 2 bags / 1 bag with subscription |
| Ryze | $36 / $1.20 per serving | $66 / $1.10 per serving |
| MUD WTR | $60 / $2.00 per serving | $40 / $1.33 per serving |
My Experience With Ryze And MUD WTR
None of the two products managed to substitute my morning coffee after the test run I gave them.
As I mentioned in the taste paragraph, MUD WTR can be challenging to drink. The mushroom doses and the entire blend have a solid benefit potential, but the mixture becomes excessively thick and MUD-like.
The energy boost is mild, and the remaining benefits are difficult to observe due to their nature.
The awful taste and low energy boost compared to traditional coffee were too much for me, and I ended my MUD WTR trial earlier than planned.
Ryze tastes better, but not by much, and I was not overly enthusiastic about sipping it every morning. Perhaps if the effects were more noticeable, I would have been more eager to drink it, but I was not impressed by its benefits either.
Should You Choose Ryze Or MUD WTR?
My experience with MUD WTR and Ryze might lead you to believe I wouldn’t recommend either, but this is not true. While I didn’t like them at all, I acknowledge that taste is subjective, and some might find them more pleasant to drink.
Furthermore, the mushroom benefits can be more pronounced for some users, as is noticeable in the thousands of user reviews these two mushroom coffees have.
But for me, they are not worth it. What I would spend my money on, though, is Nootrum Coffee Fusion, which has almost double the dose, tastes much better and is comparably priced to its rivals.
Best Mushroom Coffee
Nootrum Coffee Fusion
Properly dosed mushroom coffee to give you the health benefits of mushrooms with your morning caffeine.
CHECK CURRENT DEALS
References
- Poole, R., Kennedy, O. J., Roderick, P., Fallowfield, J. A., Hayes, P. C., & Parkes, J. (2017). Coffee consumption and health: umbrella review of meta-analyses of multiple health outcomes. BMJ, 359.
- Tian, J., Hu, X., Liu, D., Wu, H., & Qu, L. (2017). Identification of Inonotus obliquus polysaccharide with broad-spectrum antiviral activity against multi-feline viruses. International journal of biological macromolecules, 95, 160-167.
- Hu, Y., Teng, C., Yu, S., Wang, X., Liang, J., Bai, X., … & Qu, J. (2017). Inonotus obliquus polysaccharide regulates gut microbiota of chronic pancreatitis in mice. Amb Express, 7, 1-11.
- Duncan, M. J., & Clarke, N. D. (2014). The effect of acute Rhodiola rosea ingestion on exercise heart rate, substrate utilisation, mood state, and perceptions of exertion, arousal, and pleasure/displeasure in active men. Journal of Sports Medicine, 2014(1), 563043.
- Duncan, M. J., & Clarke, N. D. (2014). The effect of acute Rhodiola rosea ingestion on exercise heart rate, substrate utilisation, mood state, and perceptions of exertion, arousal, and pleasure/displeasure in active men. Journal of Sports Medicine, 2014(1), 563043.
- Lai, P. L., Naidu, M., Sabaratnam, V., Wong, K. H., David, R. P., Kuppusamy, U. R., … & Malek, S. N. A. (2013). Neurotrophic properties of the Lion’s mane medicinal mushroom, Hericium erinaceus (Higher Basidiomycetes) from Malaysia. International journal of medicinal mushrooms, 15(6).
- Hu, Y., Teng, C., Yu, S., Wang, X., Liang, J., Bai, X., … & Qu, J. (2017). Inonotus obliquus polysaccharide regulates gut microbiota of chronic pancreatitis in mice. Amb Express, 7, 1-11.
- Petrone, A. B., Gaziano, J. M., & Djoussé, L. (2013). Effects of dark chocolate and cocoa products on endothelial function: a meta-analysis. Current Nutrition Reports, 2, 267-273.
Affiliate Disclosure:
The links provided may earn us a small commission at no additional cost to you if you choose to purchase the recommended product. This support allows our research and editorial team to continue providing high-quality recommendations. As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising initiative, we are able to earn advertising fees through providing links to products on Amazon.com. Please rest assured that we only recommend high-quality products.
