Best Mushroom Cocktails: Top Psychedelic & Non-Psychedelic Recipes To Make At Home

Mushroom cocktails could refer to a few different things and we wanted to make sure to cover them all. 

With a vast array of flavors, functions, and more, mushroom cocktails are becoming more and more popular (in one way or another).

The main way people are making “mushroom cocktails” include:

1. Magic Mushroom Cocktails —- Looking to kick off your psychedelic journey with a refreshing beverage? Alcohol and mushrooms don’t mix well but there are still delightful ways to “lift off” on your journey.
2. Mushroom-Infused Cocktails —- Gourmet and functional mushrooms can give your cocktail an earthy flavor and potentially even fight off some of the toxic effects of the alcohol content.
3. Mushroom Replacements for Alcohol —- Mushrooms aren’t going to make you feel drunk (though some certainly alter your perception) but some can help with similar problems people turn to alcohol for.

As research starts to “catch up” with indigenous knowledge, mushrooms of all shapes and colors are growing in popularity.

Magic Mushroom Cocktails

If you’re planning to create a trippy cocktail, it’s probably best to keep alcohol out of it. This doesn’t mean you’re stuck with taking your mushrooms dully or unpleasantly though.

Mocktails — non-alcoholic cocktails — bring the same drinkability to the experience you might expect without alcohol.

While some can enjoy a light amount of alcohol with their magic mushrooms, the combination of effects can feel disorienting and unpleasant, even in small amounts. If you want to add some of the alcoholic taste to these, you can add some natural herbs to mimic the flavor. Some examples of this include:

• Anise (Pimpinella anisum) — With a similar taste to licorice, anise is in several liquors and liqueurs
• Elderflower (Sambucus) — This floral herb can add a delightful flavor to any mocktail
• Mint (Mentha) /Tea (Camellia sinensis) — Either or both of these herbs can provide tannins (the same thing that makes wine taste “dry”)
• Lemon — Either on its own or with some sugar as a simple syrup, notes of lemon are present in many alcoholic drinks (lemon may also increase potency or shorten the time of the onset of psilocybin)

Research your favorite form of alcohol and its tasting notes/the herbs it uses and you can likely recreate nearly anything to some level. 

Here’s a couple of magic mushroom cocktail recipes to get you started!

First — A Couple of General Tips

1. If you add ground-up magic mushrooms instead of a tincture or other liquid form, avoid ice as the powder might stick to it making you wait until the ice melts for the full dose.
2. Some of the mocktail recipes below create a pitcher of the mocktail beverage, adding the mushrooms to the drink afterward. You can share the pitcher among friends, dose it out slowly over a couple of hours, or have a refreshing leftover beverage throughout your journey.
3. Though most don’t call for it, you can add a lemon tek to any of your cocktails by soaking your dried, ground mushrooms in lemon or lime juice before adding to the rest of the cocktail (with or without the solids)
4. Most recipes pair best with a liquid form of magic mushrooms — this is a long but not complicated process, here’s how to make a tincture with your magic mushrooms:

1. Trip & Tonic Lemon Tek

A gin and tonic only has two ingredients but people often add lemon, lime, mint, or other flavors to these as well. Gin is a unique flavor but mint and elderflower often make up a portion of the tasting notes — you may also want to put a small amount of peppercorn in there for the “spicey” flavor gin has.

My favorite version of the drink uses the following ingredients:

• Desired dose of magic mushrooms (Preferably dried and ground into a powder)
• 1 oz. elderflower and/or mint (Syrup, Extract, or Simple Syrup)
• 1 lemon
• Club soda
• Ice

Here’s how to make an all-star “Trip and Tonic” for your next psychedelic journey:

1. Place your dose of magic mushrooms in a small cup
2. Cut a lemon into quarters and squirt the full lemon into the mixture 
3. Allow the lemon and mushroom to sit for 10–15 minutes to perform a lemon tek
4. Combine with ice (unless using dried mushrooms), elderflower simple syrup, and club soda

2. Teonanacatl Sunrise

My favorite cocktail is the Tequila Sunrise but I’d never want to mix the experience of being drunk on tequila with tripping on mushrooms. Luckily, there are some ways you can recreate some of the flavors of tequila with little to no alcohol.

Ingredients:

• Desired dose of magic mushrooms
• 1 tsp elderflower (Syrup, Extract, or Simple Syrup)
• 1 tsp agave (Syrup, Extract, or Simple Syrup)
• Orange juice
• Grenadine or cranberry juice

Don’t expect fresh agave to taste like tequila but the mixture with elderflower is delightful and will go a long way in reccreating the flavor profile.

Here’s how to make your Teonanacatl — the Mayan word for magic mushrooms — Sunrise:

1. Mix agave, elderflower, and grenadine in a champagne flute
2. Add in your magic mushroom powder or liquid and a splash of orange juice (leave some room at the top)
3. Stir thoroughly
4. Finish with grenadine or cranberry juice

Related: The Teonanacatl Magic Mushroom Strain: Explained

3. Spicy Saturday Morning Cooler (Pitcher)

This psychedelic take on Town and Country Mag’s spicy watermelon mint agua fresca will send you off on your journey contemplating the complexities of taste and texture. There’s a little something in this drink to hit every taste sensation (and maybe you can invent some new ones after the mushrooms set in).

Ingredients:

• Desired dose of magic mushrooms
• 2 cups cold water
• 2 cups watermelon, chopped and de-seeded
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• .25 cup mint leaves
• .5 jalapeño, roughly chopped
• Ice cubes or crushed ice (optional)

Here’s how to make your Spicy Saturday Morning Cooler

1. Combine all ingredients except for your magic mushrooms in a blender
2. Blend until smooth
3. Pour over ice and add your magic mushrooms, mixing thoroughly
4. (Optional) and garnish with a mint leaf and/or lime wedge

4. Myco Mule

“Mule” cocktails are an easy favorite across libations for the spicy kick ginger beer gives whatever it’s added to. This mocktail option is unlikely to cover up the taste of your magic mushrooms fully, but it will make the flavor more enjoyable and interesting.

Additionally, ginger can help ease the stomach for the onset experience of magic mushrooms and many include it in their mushroom tea recipes to begin with.

Ingredients:

• Desired dose of magic mushrooms (preferably liquid form)
• ½–1 lime, freshly squeezed
• Ginger beer
• Mint
• (Optional) Ice

Here’s how to make your Myco Mule

1. In a tumbler glass, squeeze lime over mint and muddle together lightly
2. Add ice if desired along with your dose of mushrooms 
3. Pour ginger beer over the mixture and stir thoroughly
4. (Optional) Garnish with mint and lime wedge

5. Psychonautic Strawberry Spritzer (Pitcher)

Haute & Healthy Living has a strawberry spritzer recipe begging you to add some mushrooms to the mix. Spritzers are refreshing, fruity beverages with plenty of sweetness to counteract much of the flavor of magic mushrooms.

Ingredients:

• Desired dose of magic mushrooms
• 2 cup strawberries, chopped (preferably frozen)
• ½–1 lime, freshly squeezed
• 3–4 tbsp. Honey
• 4 cups carbonated water
• Ice
• (Optional) fresh basil

Here’s how to make your Psychonautic Spritzer

1. Pure 1 cup strawberries, honey, and lime juice thoroughly in a blender
2. Combine mixture with carbonated water and stir thoroughly with a spoon
3. Add sweetener to taste
4. Pour over ice and add your dose of mushrooms, stirring thoroughly

6. Trip-Out Honeydew Cucumber Slushy (Pitcher)

Bon-appetit’s mocktail, the chill-out honeydew cucumber slushy, is an excellent way to guide your lift-off into psychedelic space. Cucumber is a common addition to spas and rejuvenation centers because it can act as a calming agent, making it especially useful for the stressful come-up of magic mushrooms.

Ingredients:

• Desired dose of magic mushrooms 
• 4 cups honeydew, cut into 1″ pieces (preferably) frozen
• 2½ cups coconut water
• ⅓ cup mint leaves
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• ½ cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 2 cups ice

Here’s how to make your Trip-Out Honeydew Cucumber Slushy

1. Combine all ingredients except your magic mushrooms in a blender
2. Blend thoroughly, until there are no chunks of ice left over
3. Pour into a glass with your dosage of mushrooms, mixing it into the rest of the drink
4. (Optional) garnish with mint leaves and cucumber slices

7. Bon Voyage (Pitcher)

This drink involves overnight preparation so don’t expect to slap it together but you’ll be grateful you took the extra time to “pack for your trip” with this one.

This drink adds a psychedelic twist to the chile-lime-pineapple soda recipe from Bon Appetit.

Ingredients:

• Desired dose of magic mushrooms
• 1 tbsp pink peppercorns
• 1 lime
• 2 dried chiles de árbol (can sub for jalapeños or serranos)
• 3 cups fresh pineapple juice
• ½ cup sugar
• Pinch of kosher salt
• Club Soda

Here’s how to make your Bon Voyage:

1. Crush or grind peppercorns
2. Remove the zest (the green of the peel without the white pulp underneath) in strips using a vegetable peeler or sharp knife
3. Place together in a bowl along with your peppers, sugar, salt, and pineapple juice
4. Stir until the sugar dissolves and transfer to an airtight container
5. Place in fridge and let chill for 8–12 hours.
6. Pour through a mesh strainer and discard solids
7. Place ice in a tumbler glass and pour ¼–½ cup of mixture with club soda
8. Add your desired dose of magic mushrooms and stir thoroughly

Functional Mushroom-Infused Cocktails

Mushrooms provide an earthy flavor to any dish — or cocktail — they’re added to. Craft cocktails have experienced a movement towards adding “functional” or gourmet mushrooms into cocktails as a result.

Luckily, you don’t have to go to a swanky bar to have one, because it’s easy to infuse your own liquor with mushrooms at home. Simply combine dried mushrooms in an airtight container with your liquor of choice for anywhere between 2–14 days. 

Another benefit to these is the functionality of some gourmet mushrooms. Pink Oysters, for example, contain a large amount of antioxidants and may protect the liver from some of the toxicity of alcohol.

Here are a couple of mushroom-infused cocktail recipes to get you started:

1. Vodka Truffle Shuffle

This recipe may seem more advanced but you’ll be grateful you put in the extra work to get this earthy, delicious cocktail.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz mushroom-infused vodka
• Lemon juice
• ½ oz elderflower (syrup, extract, or simple syrup) and/or dill weed extract
• Ice

Here’s how to make your Vodka Truffle Shuffle:

1. Combine mushroom-infused vodka with a squirt of lemon juice and some elderflower or dill weed extract with ice in a shaker
2. Shake vigorously for ~30 seconds to thoroughly mix and cool the mixture
3. In a tumbler, pour a light amount of absynthe and swirl it around to “coat” the glass
4. Strain the contents of the shaker into the tumbler and fill it with ice (ideally, one large cube to prevent it from melting and watering down your cocktail)

2. Myco Julep

A mushroom twist on a whiskey classic. The earthy texture of the mushroom-infused whiskey with the muddled mint and simple syrup will turn this cocktail into your new favorite.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. mushroom-infused bourbon
• Fresh Mint Leaves
• ½ oz. Simple Syrup
• Aromatic bitters and/or elderflower (syrup, extract, or simple syrup)
• A Muddler

Here’s how to make your Myco Julep:

1. Place mint leaves in a tumbler glass with ¼ oz of simple syrup and muddle lightly
2. Add two dashes of bitters and/or some elderflower extract
3. Pour 2 oz of mushroom-infused whiskey or bourbon and fill with glass
4. Garnish with mint leaves

3. Umami Sour

Whiskey sours have been a favorite cocktail for generations but this fungal take on the drink will make you feel like you’ve been missing out all these years:

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. mushroom-infused bourbon
• ¾ oz. lemon juice (preferably fresh)
• ¾ oz. simple syrup
• (Optional) 1 egg white 

Here’s how to make your Umami Sour:

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker (without ice) and shake for 30 seconds
2. Add ice and shake again for 15–20 seconds
3. Strain over ice
4. (Optional) garnish with a few drops of bitters

4. Mold-Fashioned

There’s nothing stale about this new take on an old classic:

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Mushroom-infused bourbon (shiitake is great for this)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 3 dashes of bitters
• 1 tsp. Water
• Maraschino cherry
• (Optional) orange peel

Here’s how to make your Mold-Fashioned:

1. In a tumbler glass, muddle sugar lightly with a cherry and your bitters
2. Add in ice and pour water and bourbon over it
3. (Optional) Garnish with an orange peel and/or cherry

5. Mushroom Margarita (Over Ice)

Living Well Kitchen released this dynamite take on the margarita that’s sure to take your favorite cocktail to levels you never thought possible:

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Mushroom-infused tequila or mezcal (shiitake is great for this)
• 2 tbsp. Lime juice
• 1 oz triple sec
• 1 cup carbonated water
• Ice
• (Optional) salt

Here’s how to make your Mushroom Margarita:

1. Add liquor, lime, and triple sec to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake for around 30 seconds
2. (optional) Wet the rim of the glass with lime and roll it in salt
3. Add ice to the tumbler glass and strain the shaker into it
4. Top with carbonated water
5. (Optional) garnish with lime wedge

6. Umami Martini

This phenomenal recipe comes from cocktail time with Kevin Kos. If you want to simplify the recipe, you could make a martini with a mushroom-infused gin as well, but this is for when you really want to go above and beyond:

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Dry Gin
• .5oz sake
• Ice (bonus points if you make ice from green tea)
• Soy sauce-infused picked mushroom (directions below)
• 3 drops mushroom olive oil (directions below)
• Soy Sauce

To make soy sauce-infused picked mushrooms:

1. Fill a small jar with pickled mushrooms
2. Cover with soy sauce
3. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

To make mushroom-flavored olive oil:

1. Blend 3 grams of dried mushrooms with 1 ⅓ cup of olive oil
2. Filter through a coffee filter and refrigerate

Here’s how to make your Umami Margarita

1. Place ice in a mixing glass to chill it for several minutes and then discard the ice
2. Add gin and sake to the glass along with more ice and stir
3. Strain into a martini glass
4. Add pickled mushroom and three drops of olive oil
5. Add 3 drops of soy sauce over the spot you dropped the olive oil

7. “The Sunday Sipper”

This delightful myco-cocktail from the Gastranom Blog will quickly become your go-to mushroom drink of choice:

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz. Vodka
• .75 oz. Amaro Lucano
• .75 oz. Lemon Juice
• 6 drops Truffle Oil
• 6 drops of Dill Tincture
• Absinthe
• Ice

Here’s how to make your Sunday Sipper:

1. Rinse or spray your glass with absinth
2. Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake for about 30 seconds
3. Strain into glass
4. (optional) garnish with a lemon wedge

Mushroom Alcohol Replacements

You certainly can trip with psilocybin-containing mushrooms or achieve dreamlike states with muscimol-containing Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric) mushrooms. “Drunkenness,” is another story, and mushrooms aren’t likely to fully mimic the effects of alcohol

There are herbal replacement options — like Piper methysticum (Kava) — capable of this, but mushrooms are better at achieving similar goals to alcohol. Instead of thinking of the drunken state as the primary reason, consider why you might reach for it.

Mushrooms may help when they are adaptogens — substances that help the body adapt to stressors to return to a level of homeostasis (or, balance within the mind and body). Different adaptogenic herbs and mushrooms may help achieve various goals when it comes to balance so it’s important to know the difference.

Through adaptogenic mushrooms, you could replace alcohol if you wish to use it as a way to unwind in stressful situations or as a social lubricant in group settings.

Adaptogenic Mushrooms To Relax After a Long Day

If you’re trying to replace alcohol and you’re turning to it specifically to unwind after a long day at work, you may want to reach for some Hericium erinaceus (Lion’s Mane). While it won’t put you in an altered state of consciousness, research suggests it’s beneficial for managing anxiety and depression [1].

If your day-to-day life is leaving you drained and anxious at the end of the day, studies have shown potential for an effect both after a single dose and through prolonged use. The former might occasionally be true for alcohol but the latter isn’t — prolonged periods of alcohol consumption can lead to and/or worsen depression.

Adaptogenic Mushrooms That Are “Social Lubricants”

Cordyceps sinensis mushrooms have a long history of use for energy and improvement in exercise capacity and research agrees [2]. In this pilot study, researchers made a fermented product using Cordyceps and found it to increase the metabolic rate and lung capacity compared to the placebo group.

Both of these form a crucial function when it comes to energy and mood. Your body is burning more fuel while enabling elevated oxygen levels and both of these improve energy levels (and, therefore, sociability) goals.

References

1. Ryu, S., Kim, H. G., Kim, J. Y., Kim, S. Y., & Cho, K.-O. (2018). Hericium erinaceus Extract Reduces Anxiety and Depressive Behaviors by Promoting Hippocampal Neurogenesis in the Adult Mouse Brain. Journal of Medicinal Food, 21(2), 174–180. https://doi.org/10.1089/jmf.2017.4006
2. Chen, S., Li, Z., Krochmal, R., Abrazado, M., Kim, W., & Cooper, C. B. (2010). Effect of Cs-4® (Cordyceps sinensis) on Exercise Performance in Healthy Older Subjects: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16(5), 585–590. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2009.0226