Magic mushrooms, shrooms, boomers, or whatever you want to call them, are a common way to experience psychedelic effects. There are over 200 species of psilocybin-producing mushrooms that have been discovered. The most common species is called Psilocybe Cubensis. Each species and strain has different characteristics that affect your trip, but I’ll focus on that in another post.

Once you’ve decided which strain you want to take, you should decide your dosage. Once that is complete, it’s time to decide how you want to consume your shrooms. The way you choose to consume shrooms can affect the duration and intensity of your trip, which is why it is important to understand the differences between them. Here are the different ways to consume magic mushrooms:

Eat Your Magic Mushrooms Raw

This is definitely the easiest way to consume magic mushrooms because it requires the least amount of effort. That being said, shrooms do not taste very good on their own. They are quite bitter and earthy.  Because of this, you will probably want to find some way to mask the taste. My favorite way to eat them raw is by putting them inside of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but you can put them inside or on top of any food you want. 

Lemon Tek

Lemon tekking is the process of using lemon (or lime) juice to extract the psilocybin from the magic mushrooms before consumption. There are debates regarding how the science of this process actually works, but the most important element is that it does in fact work. A benefit to using this method is that it typically reduces nausea that is sometimes onset by eating shrooms. This is because the pH of the lemon or lime juice is similar to the pH of stomach acid, meaning your stomach doesn’t doesn’t need to do as much work to break them down. 

Using the lemon tek method will cause your trip to come on faster than it normally would. Expect to start feeling the effects within 10 – 45 minutes, as opposed to the usual 30 – 90 minutes. The effects and duration will also be more intense and last for a shorter period of time overall. I wouldn’t recommend this method if it’s your first time consuming shrooms, as the quicker onset and intensity can be a lot to handle if you’re not already aware of what mushrooms feel like.

How to prepare your mushrooms using lemon tekking:

1. Use a grinder or food processor to grind mushrooms into a fine powder
2. Transfer ground mushrooms into a glass and soak in the juice of 1-2 lemons
3. Let sit for 15 – 20 minutes
4. Optional, use cheesecloth to strain the mushroom bit out of the mixture into a new glass. It is completely fine to consume the juice with the mushroom bits still in it, but most people prefer not to.
5. Drink the mixture straight up like a shot, add water, or pour into another drink such as tea to consume

Tea

Magic Mushroom tea has a similar effect to lemon tekking. The duration of your trip will be shorter and more intense. Tea will also help reduce nausea and mask the taste of the mushrooms by using delicious tasting tea. This is also my personal favorite way to prepare mushrooms. 

How to prepare mushroom tea:

1. Finely chop up the mushrooms and pour into mug or bowl
2. Boil 1 – 2 cups of water
3. Pour boiling water over the mushrooms in the mug or bowl
4. Add 2 non-caffeinated tea bags into the mixture and let steep for about 15 minutes
5. Optional, strain mushroom bits out of the mixture using cheesecloth or a coffee strainer
6. Drink the tea warm or add ice and serve cold

Edibles

Shroom edibles have been becoming increasingly popular in the last few years. There are many legitimate businesses that make mushroom chocolate bars that come in a variety of flavors such as milk, dark, cookies and cream, and more. However, because shrooms are still legal you need to be careful with any edibles you purchase as you never know if someone has mixed them with something else. This goes for any type of psychedelic you purchase as well. Make sure it’s coming from a trusted and reliable source.

You can also make your own edibles by chopping or grinding up dried mushrooms and adding them to foods or desserts you make. Most people prefer to add mushrooms to desserts as the sweet flavor masks much of the bitter mushroom taste. There isn’t any “official” evidence to back this claim up, but there also hasn’t been much anecdotal evidence suggesting that cooking shrooms at a high temperature degrades their properties. Because of this, feel free to add them into any baked desserts or dishes as well. Proper dosage is important here, so make sure you measure your mushrooms properly before adding them into your food. It’s always safe to start with a low dose as you can always add or eat more, but can never take it back. The trip itself will be similar to eating them raw.

Capsules

This is a popular method for anyone who just wants to take a pill and be done with it. It is very rare you’ll find someone who already sells shrooms in capsule form, so you will most likely have to prepare your own. This can be a time consuming process, but it allows you to be in complete control of dosage and make it easy for you to take your shrooms in the future. All you need to do is buy a capsule machine like this one and some gelatin capsules. Then use a grinder or food processor to grind up your mushrooms and fill your capsules. You should also expect your trip to be similar to eating them raw with this method.

Let me know your favorite way to consume your shrooms in the comments below!