Four Sigmatic Review: Is Mushroom Coffee Healthier?

Four Sigmatic Review: Is Mushroom Coffee Healthier?


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Four Sigmatic is one of the original mushroom coffee brands. The company claims that their coffee can support mental focus and energy, and they also sell supplements and creamers.

But does mushroom coffee actually have benefits beyond regular coffee, or are these just marketing claims? Does Four Sigmatic use any questionable additive ingredients? How does it compare to other mushroom coffee brands? And how do real customers rate and describe the effects of Four Sigmatic coffee?

In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we analyze the ingredients in Four Sigmatic Coffee based on medical studies to give our take on whether it’s likely to be healthy and effective, or if it’s a waste of money.

We’ll compare Four Sigmatic to other popular mushroom coffee brands to pick our favorite, and feature unsponsored customer reviews of the brand.

Ingredient Analysis

Four Sigmatic Think coffee ingredients

Four Sigmatic’s best-selling coffee called Think has a refreshingly simple formulation as shown above. There are only three ingredients: organic coffee, organic lion’s mane extract and organic chaga extract.

Organic coffee can help protect against neurodegenerative disease and protect the cardiovascular system according to a 2018 medical review.

Lion’s mane is clinically shown to improve cognitive function, as we documented in our Genius Mushrooms reviews article.

Chaga mushroom was shown in a medical review published in the Phytotherapy Research journal to have anti-cancer, anti-diabetic and anti-viral effects.

Chaga was also shown in a 2011 clinical trial to improve cognitive function in mice with induced amnesia.

Overall, we consider Four Sigmatic’s coffee healthy and likely to support cognitive function. There are no questionable additives and we would recommend this product from an ingredient perspective.

Even the creamers sold by Four Sigmatic are healthy. The ingredients in Four Sigmatic’s Vanilla Creamer are shown below:

Four Sigmatic Vanilla Creamer ingredients

Organic vanilla powder and organic monk fruit extract are used as natural sweeteners rather than refined sugar and flavoring additives like commercial creamer.

Monk fruit extract is clinically shown to have antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory effects, which is the opposite of processed, refined sugar.

We recommend both of Four Sigmatic’s creamers from an ingredient perspective.

Overall, we consider Four Sigmatic to be the healthiest mushroom coffee brand we’ve reviewed on Illuminate Health to date.

But how do real users rate and describe the effects of Four Sigmatic coffee? We’ll feature some unsponsored customer reviews in the next section of this article.

We Tried Four Sigmatic – Our Take

Four Sigmatic UGC

As the author of this article, I wanted to try Four Sigmatic myself to share my experience about its taste and effects.

I've been drinking the Think blend every morning for a few weeks, and I definitely feel like it has nootropic effects beyond regular coffee.

I feel more focused, more concentrated and even more energized than when I drink regular coffee.

Perhaps this is a placebo effect somewhat because I'm already so well-read on the nootropic effects of mushrooms, but either way I plan to continue to drink this coffee regularly.

I don't like the taste as much as my standard dark roast coffee, but I think that has more to do with the fact that it's a dark roast than the brand itself. I prefer light roasts. The taste is a bit bland with an earthy aftertaste that isn't terrible but isn't amazing.

Overall, I would rate this product 7.5 out of 10 primarily due to its effects.

Four Sigmatic vs. Other Mushroom Coffees

A number of different mushroom coffee brands have proliferated recently. Some actually contain coffee and others are mushroom and tea based.

Ryze Mushroom Coffee is one of the most popular coffee-containing mushroom coffee products, and we just reviewed this brand at the above link.

The formulation is quite similar between Ryze and Four Sigmatic: organic coffee with mushrooms. We like Ryze slightly better overall because it uses whole mushroom ingredients rather than extracts, but we consider Four Sigmatic more likely to have a nootropic effect given that it uses extracts (which are more potent).

Both products are priced very similarly (around $1 per serving).

MUD\WTR is one of the most popular mushroom coffee alternatives that’s caffeine-free and formulated with tea instead.

We like this product slightly more than Four Sigmatic for daily use because it uses whole mushroom ingredients rather than extracts, but consider both products to be healthy and free of questionable additives.

We consider Four Sigmatic much more likely to provide a nootropic effect than MUD\WTR given that it contains coffee.

Four Sigmatic is better-priced than MUD\WTR, costing around 25% less per-serving.

Real People Try Four Sigmatic

The “Insider Business” YouTube channel had various employees try Four Sigmatic coffee and share their thoughts:

A YouTube creator named John Plumley shared his thoughts on Four Sigmatic and compared the brand to regular coffee:

Where to Get the Best Price

Four Sigmatic is sold at a variety of online retailers. Here’s a price breakdown at the time of updating this article:

Think Coffee (2-Pack)

Brand website: $38 (plus shipping, link)

iHerb: $33.20 (free shipping, link)

Amazon: $29.96 (free shipping, link to official Amazon listing)

Brand website: $57 (plus shipping, link)

Walmart: $56.98 (third-party seller, link)

iHerb: $47.98 (free shipping, link)

Four Sigmatic is currently cheaper on third-party retailers than on the brand's official website, but the brand's website offers subscription deals that can bring the cost below that of sites like Amazon and iHerb.

Real Customers Review Four Sigmatic

Amazon is a better resource for honest customer reviews than a brand’s website in our opinion.

Four Sigmatic Think Coffee (the product we reviewed in our Ingredient Analysis section) has been reviewed over 16,000 times on Amazon, with an average customer review rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars.

The top positive review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named “Madison” who suggests the product has helped with ADHD:

“was diagnosed for the first time with ADHD and PTSD last year…I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker, but I do really love this stuff. I have almost completely replaced my adhd medication with this (with dr supervision!!). I don’t crash with this coffee like I do with highly caffeinated drinks and my adhd meds.”

The top negative review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named “Always Right” who claims the product is mislabeled in regard to serving size:

“WELL the can says 30 cups and I can tell you I was INCREDIBLY careful to use the scoop provided and I gor TWENTY yes, TWENTY cups.”

Four Sigmatic has an average customer review rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Facebook, and 4.7 out of 5 stars on Google.

Pros and Cons of Four Sigmatic

Here are the pros and cons of Four Sigmatic as a brand in our opinion:

Pros:

  • Healthy formulation
  • Should improve focus
  • May have adaptogenic effect
  • Zero unhealthy additives
  • Positive online customer reviews
  • Affordable per-serving

Cons:

  • Mushroom extract doses are hard to find
  • Doesn’t appear clinically tested
  • Brand website charges for shipping
Stay up-to-date on our research reviews

Conclusion

Four Sigmatic is a top brand in the mushroom coffee industry for a reason. Their formulations are clean, potent and affordable.

We’re impressed by both the coffee and creamer products, and recommend both from an ingredient perspective.

We consider Four Sigmatic coffee likely to support cognition and overall health. We prefer it to non-caffeinated mushroom coffee alternatives like MUD\WTR from a nootropic perspective, but slightly prefer Ryze over Four Sigmatic because Ryze uses whole food ingredients rather than extracts and publishes the mushroom blend dose.

Nearly all of the online customer reviews we came across while researching this brand were positive.

For customers interested in trying Four Sigmatic, we recommend checking out iHerb before the brand’s official website, because at the time of publishing this article, the mushroom coffee is at a steep discount at that retailer.