What is lion's mane?
Lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus) is a culinary mushroom that looks nothing like a mushroom — a shaggy white globe of cascading spines, like a pom-pom growing out of a tree. It's the signature ingredient in our Lion's Mane Coffee: 500mg of dual-extracted lion's mane in every cup.
Reviewed by Andrew Langevin — mycologist & contributing author, Mushroomology (Brill, 2026).
Whole lion's mane mushroom
Lion's mane extract powder
A mushroom that looks like a waterfall.
Lion's mane grows on hardwood trees — oak, beech, maple — across North America, Europe, and Asia. Instead of a cap and stem, it forms a single white clump of soft, icicle-like spines. Foragers prize it because nothing else in the forest looks like it.
In the kitchen, lion's mane has a reputation of its own: cooked fresh, its texture and flavour are often compared to crab or lobster. It has centuries of history in East Asian cooking, where it's treated as a delicacy, not a supplement.
Dual-extracted, measured, on the label.
Whole mushrooms don't dissolve in coffee — extracts do. Ours is dual-extracted (water plus fermentation) from both the mycelium and the fruiting body, then dried to a fine powder that disappears into the cup.
Extraction is a quality decision, not a marketing one: it concentrates the mushroom into a consistent, measurable powder. That's how we can print the same number on every bag — 500mg per serving — instead of a vague "proprietary blend."
What it does to the taste: almost nothing.
Lion's mane extract is mild and slightly earthy — at 500mg per cup, it doesn't fight the coffee. What you taste in Lion's Mane Coffee is the coffee itself: bold and smooth, with cashew notes from the roast and a hint of maple from real maple sugar.
That's deliberate. If your coffee needs to hide its mushroom, there's too much marketing in the bag and not enough coffee.
Lion's Mane, on the record.
| Species | Hericium erinaceus |
| Form | Dual-extracted powder (water + fermentation) |
| Source material | Mycelium and fruiting bodies |
| Amount per cup | 500mg, printed on the label |
| On the label | Organic lion's mane extract |
| Found in | Lion's Mane Coffee |
What researchers have found.
This section summarizes published composition and characterization research about lion's mane as an ingredient. It is not a claim that Shyne products diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any condition.
Researchers characterized the β-glucan in Hericium erinaceus as having a β-1,3 backbone with β-1,6 and β-1,4 branching. A purified preparation contained 514 g/kg of (1,3)-β-glucan with (1,6)-linked side chains — roughly 68% β-glucan by total carbohydrate weight.
Chen SN et al., Current Research in Toxicology, 2022 ↗A 2023 review catalogued over 70 characterized bioactive metabolites in Hericium erinaceus, including β-glucan polysaccharides, hericenones (fruiting body), and erinacines (mycelium). The genus is documented as an edible culinary mushroom with use across East Asia and Europe.
Review article, Nutrients, PMC12030463, 2023 ↗A biosynthetic pathway study confirmed that hericenones are primarily produced in the fruiting body while erinacines — a class of cyathane diterpenoids — are characteristically found in the mycelium. Shyne uses dual extraction to draw from both tissues.
Influences of substrate and tissue type on erinacine production, PMC11969743, 2025 ↗Don't take our word — read the pack.
The full ingredient list and nutrition facts, exactly as printed on every pack that uses lion's mane.
Lion's Mane Coffee
Where you'll find it.
Asked & answered.
Does lion's mane improve focus or memory?
Lion's mane is one of the most talked-about culinary mushrooms, and you'll find plenty of research discussion online. Shyne is a coffee — a food, not a natural health product — so we don't make health claims about it. We put 500mg of real, dual-extracted lion's mane in every cup, print the amount on the label, and let you decide what it does for your mornings.
Can you taste the lion's mane in the coffee?
No. The extract is mild and dissolves completely. Lion's Mane Coffee tastes like a smooth, bold coffee with cashew and maple notes — most people can't tell there's a mushroom in it at all.
Is your lion's mane from fruiting bodies or mycelium?
Both. Our extract is dual-extracted from the mycelium and the fruiting body, which lets us capture compounds from each part of the organism in one consistent powder.
How much lion's mane is in each cup?
500mg of lion's mane extract per serving. It's printed on the label — no proprietary blends, no guessing.
Taste what's on the label.
Every ingredient, measured and printed on the bag. Free shipping across Canada. 60-day money-back guarantee.