What Is Lemon Tek?
When life gives you lemons… 🍋 just add magic mushrooms. Here’s everything you need to know about the lemon tek & how to do it yourself.
The lemon tek method of preparing magic mushrooms is very simple:
Grind your dried magic mushrooms into a fine powder and soak them in some lemon or lime juice for about 15 minutes before shooting the whole thing back like a shot.
Mix the juice of one lemon per 2-3 gram dose of mushroom powder together in a shot glass or small cup.
You can add some sugar or ice to further mask the taste of the shrooms.
Lemon tek has 4 main benefits:
- Faster Onset of Effects — The lemon juice helps extract the psilocybin and psilocin out of the mushrooms — making them more bioavailable to the body.
- Stronger Psychedelic Effects — The lemon juice speeds up the conversion of psilocybin to psilocin.
- Improved Taste — The sweet and citrusy flavor of lemon juice masks the bad taste of the mushrooms.
- Less Nausea & Stomach Pain — The lemon juice soothes the stomach and reduces the chances of nausea or stomach aches from taking magic mushrooms.
Lemon Tek Intensifies Magic Mushrooms
Lemon tekking increases the potency of magic mushrooms by up to 20%. It does this by improving the absorption of the active ingredients and speeding up the conversion of psilocybin to psilocin.
Another theory is that the high vitamin C content of lemon juice protects the psilocybin from oxidation (and deactivation).
Lemon tek isn’t going to double the intensity of your shrooms by any means, but it can certainly optimize your mushrooms to ensure you’re getting as much out of them as possible.
Many factors can affect the amount of potency increase you can expect from the lemon tek method. The amount of time the mushrooms are allowed to “steep” in the lemon juice, the pH of the lemons you used, the dose, other food or drinks you consumed prior to taking the mushrooms, set and setting, individual size, tolerance, etc. can all alter the potency of the mixture.
Lemon Tek Eliminates Common Side Effects of Magic Mushrooms
One of the most common side effects of eating dried magic mushrooms is a syndrome referred to as “gut rot.” Many users feel a strong sensation of nausea and stomach pain starting about 30 minutes after eating magic mushrooms.
Gut rot is believed to be caused by various proteins and fibers contained in the mushrooms that the body has a hard time breaking down. They can irritate the digestive tract leading to pain, bloating, and nausea.
One of the biggest advantages of lemon tek is that it can significantly reduce the odds of experiencing this particular side effect.
The combination of manual grinding and citric acid from the lemon juice helps break down various proteins and fibers in magic mushrooms that can irritate the digestive tract. By essentially “pre-digesting” these elements, the digestive tract has a much easier time breaking these elements down.
Lemon Tek Kicks in More Quickly Than Raw Shrooms
The effects of lemon tekking will kick in slightly more quickly than regular shrooms. Most people start noticing the effects after 20–45 minutes (compared to 30–60 minutes). The main reason for this is likely through the increased conversion of psilocybin to the active form — psilocin.
Normally we have to wait for the liver to process psilocybin into psilocin before the effects start to kick in. Just 15–20 minutes of exposure to the low pH of lemon juice is enough to convert much of it to the active form before it can go through the liver.
You can take lemon tek on an empty stomach to further reduce the onset time, although most people find this unnecessary.
Related: Psilocybin vs. Psilocin (Differences & Similarities Explained)
How Do You Make Lemon Tek?
Making lemon tek is straightforward, even if it’s not the most precise process. The only thing you need in addition to your regular shrooms supplies is fresh lemon juice and a small glass.
Ingredients:
- Dried magic mushrooms
- 1–2 lemons (limes also work)
- Coffee grinder, herb grinder, or blender
- A strainer or cheesecloth (optional)
- A small glass cup
- A spoon to stir
Step 1: Grind Your Shrooms
Grind the mushrooms into a fine espresso-like powder. The finer, the better, so take extra time to ensure you have an extremely fine and consistent grind.
How quickly the mushroom powder dissolves in the lemon juice depends on how fine the grind is.
A blender or coffee grinder will work fine, but a stone mortar and pestle work best to get the shrooms into a nice fine powder.
Step 2: Squeeze Some Fresh Lemon Juice
You can squeeze your lemons with your hands or use a juicer. Either way, collect as much of the lemon juice into a glass as possible and remove the seeds when you’re done.
Normally you’ll want to use about 1 lemon per 2-3 gram dose.
Step 3: Mix Your Lemon Juice With Your Powdered Shrooms & Wait
Combine your powdered shrooms and lemon juice together in one cup. Give it a stir, so everything is mixed and then leave it alone for about 15 minutes.
Make sure to wait the full 15 minutes so the citric acid has a chance to work its magic.
Step 4: Strain (Optional)
At this point, you’ll be left with a dark-colored, mushy liquid. Some people strain the liquid through a mesh strainer or cheesecloth to remove the little bits of mushies floating around. This will still provide strong psychoactive effects.
However, many people (myself included) will just knock the whole thing back as-is — ensuring the mixture delivers the full dose of magic mushrooms.
Step 5: Drink Up!
No more wasting any time — drink up!
I recommend shooting the whole thing back quickly and following it up with a few sips of water or juice to wash it down.
Other Ways to Prepare Magic Mushrooms
Despite how simple lemon tek is, this is considered one of the more advanced ways of using magic mushrooms.
The simplest method is to eat the dried or fresh mushrooms whole. They don’t taste great, but they’re palatable if you chase them down with juice or something sweet.
You can also make magic mushroom capsules (the best option for microdosing), prepare a magic mushroom tea, or add your shrooms to foods such as pizza or chocolate.
You can make a psychedelic tincture by soaking magic mushrooms in vodka or MCT oil for a few weeks or infusing it into some honey to make blue psychedelic honey.
Lemon Tek FAQs
Your questions… answered.
If you still have questions about the lemon tek method, please reach out to high@tripsitter.com.
1. What Shrooms Are Best For Lemon Tekking?
Any psilocybin-containing mushroom will work well with the lemon tek method. The higher the psilocybin level, the more dramatic the potentiating effects are going to be.
The most common species of magic mushroom used for preparing lemon teks is Psilocybe cubensis, but Panaeolus cyanescens, Psilocybe azurescens, and Psilocybe semilanceata work great too.
Magic truffles are a great option as well. Dried, powdered samples of Psilocybe tampensis and Psilocybe Mexicana, both of which form truffles rather than mushrooms, work perfectly fine as a lemon tek.
Within the Psilocybe cubensis species, you can use any strain you like. Again, the most dramatic increase in potency will come from the more potent strains themselves because these samples contain the most psilocybin. Some of the strongest strains to consider are Tidal Wave, Penis Envy, and Fuzzy Balls.
You can also choose to use dried mushrooms or fresh mushrooms — both work great, but you’ll likely notice a bigger improvement in potency when using the fresh mushrooms with lemon tek.
2. How Long Does a Lemon Tek Shroom Trip Last?
The average lemon tek shroom trip lasts for several hours, although it’s typically shorter than the average shroom trip. Durations vary between lemon tek trip reports, but most people say their lemon tek trips last around 4–6 hours (compared to 4–7 hours).
Interestingly, many lemon tek trips end abruptly, forgoing the waves that many people experience during an ordinary shroom trip’s comedown phase. It’s unclear why this happens, although it is most likely related to the head start lemon tekking gives to the psilocybin to psilocin process.
Also see: How Long Do Magic Mushrooms Last?
3. Can You Microdose With Lemon Tek?
Yes, anything involving sub-perceptual doses is considered a microdose. So as long as you only consume around 0.2 grams or less equivalent of magic mushroom powder, it’s a microdose.
One method of preparing lemon tek microdoses is to use an ice cube tray and add 0.1 or 0.2 grams of mushroom powder to each cube. Then add enough lemon juice to each tray to cover the mushrooms. Let it sit for 15 minutes, then fill the rest of the way up with water and toss it in the freezer. Each cube is dosed as one microdose. Use one ice cube in a smoothie to dose.
Related: Guide to Microdosing Magic Mushrooms
4. Can I Mix Lemon Tek With Tea or Elixirs?
Yes! You can mix your prepared lemon tek with anything you like. It works especially well as an addition to teas containing herbs like lemongrass, ginger, or cinnamon. The added citrus flavor compliments these teas very well, and the medicinal ingredients in these teas further help to reduce nausea or stomach discomfort.
You can also use your lemon balm to make other concentrated elixirs. Extracts of ginseng, spirulina, ashwagandha, chaga, reishi, and cacao are all great synergistic ingredients for making your own psychedelic health elixir.
5. Can I Use Other Citrus Juices Instead?
You bet! Lemon or lime juices are the most popular juice for preparing lemon tek, but other citrus fruits will do a similar job too. Basically, any fruit that contains a high level of vitamin C and citric acid will do the trick. This includes oranges, kumquat, and grapefruit.
Some other (non-citrus) fruits that contain citric acid can also be used, but these won’t work quite as well as lemon or lime. These include pineapple and strawberry juice.
Wrapping Up: Lemon Tek for a More Intense Shroom Trip
Lemon tekking is a popular way to get more out of your magic mushrooms and offers an excellent solution for masking the taste of dried shrooms.
Soaking mushroom powder in lemon or lime juice may decrease the time it takes your body to convert psilocybin to psilocin, giving your trip a faster start, more intense peak, but slightly shorter duration of effects.
Other citrus juices will work, too — try using orange juice or lime juice instead.
