Healthy Coffee - The Next Trend?

You won’t find the latest trend in coffee at Starbucks, or at your local grocery store. The most likely way you’ll come across it is by hearing one of your friends ask, “Do you drink coffee? Good! Here’s a new brand for you to try.”

That’s right. The newest twist in your morning pick-me-up is being sold by direct marketing. It’s an MLM business model to be exact. Some people might shy away from that, but while the business model might have a bit of a bad rep, the product doesn’t.

Smooth, rich and full-bodied, this slightly bitter blend is a gourmet, organic Arabica from Brazil, but that’s not it’s claim to fame. This, say the makers, is no ordinary coffee. It’s the world’s first “Healthy Coffee.” They’ve added Ganoderma Lucidum, or Reishi mushroom extract to infuse it with, “more than 300 nutrients, 250 of which are antioxidants.”

Malaysia based Gano Excel, the original creators of Reishi Coffee go on to tell us that Reishi is an adaptogen, helping your body to combat any stress related problems you may have.

So does it taste like mushrooms? Not really. They are the origin of the slightly bitter taste, but the coffee masks the mushroom flavor quite effectively. Blind tests have shown that the mushroom is imperceptible.

Gano Excel coffee comes in little packets of powder, but it’s not instant. It needs to be added to cold water, and heated slowly to thoroughly dissolve the Reishi.

How much traction this new trend will achieve is anyone’s guess. Gano Excel is a 12 year old company with branches in over 40 countries, and a global sales volume of over $500 million, so it’s probably not going anywhere any time soon. This does sound impressive, but it’s still just a tiny piece of the pie as far as coffee goes, since coffee is the second largest commodity in the world, second only to crude oil.

Oh, by the way, do YOU drink coffee?....