Disclosure: I bought and paid for my own coffee, but clicking my affiliate link will give me a small commission. You get a discount, I get a small chunk of change for more yarn! All opinions on the product are entirely my own.
I saw that there’s a Last of Us-themed coffee that was being sold with cordyceps in it. As in the spooky fungus that infects insects, takes over their brains, and turns them into eerily beautiful fungal shells of themselves, or in video game universes, turns humans into massive flesh-eating walking fungal infections. And for some inexplicable reason I decided “yeah sure, I’d try that.” So I ordered some. Will I turn into a raging overcaffeinated clicker? We’ll find out.
The bag notates that this is supposed to be a “high caf coffee,” but the packaging doesn’t say how much caffeine is in each serving. I had to visit their website to find out, but it shows each serving has 180mg of caffeine, with a serving being a 12oz cup made with 4 tbsp of grinds. Considering that your average 12 oz cup of coffee has about 150mg of caffeine, that’s a pretty sizeable boost.
Now for the cordyceps part! It turns out that it’s not coffee with dried cordyceps mushroom added in, but it has cordyceps extract in it. It doesn’t say how much, so there’s no information on what the zombification potential is. Cordyceps is sometimes used as an herbal remedy, but the half-life and bioavailability are too low to be effective, so there isn’t enough evidence to support that it’d have any practical benefits. We only know that it’s safe for human consumption (insects, on the other hand, are gonna have a bad time). The coffee also has lion’s mane extract and a huge dose of vitamin B12 to give extra energy, but again, there’s no clinical evidence for any of that, so it’s just marketing fluff. To be honest, I was hoping it’d be coffee with some ground mushroom mixed in. I was curious to see how it’d change the flavor profile, but alas, I’m left with mere flavorless clicker/bloater extract. I popped some grinds into my trusty Aeropress and got to brewin’.
Full disclosure that I’m not one of those coffee geeks who can tell a fresh batch of Ethiopian roast from a single origin Colombian, but I’m not a pumpkin spice latte kind of girl either. I tasted it black, and also with some half and half added in (I don’t add sugar to my coffee). Verdict: Overall the coffee is mellow and smooth, and it’s got a nice finish in the end, but to be honest I wouldn’t say it’s much better than some of the nicer coffees you’d find at the grocery store? I’d rank it higher than a bag of Starbucks off the shelf, but lower than some nice beans from Counter Culture.
Have I turned into a clicker yet? Don’t know. My eyesight is already crap as is, so I can’t use that as an indicator. I think I might be feeling kind of itchy? But that’s probably actual fungus outside making my allergies flare up. OR IS IT? At any rate, no zombie-level infections have started, but that extra caffeine boost seemed to take effect. About an hour later I was feeling perkier, but not uncomfortably so, so I’ll take that as a good thing. Might be good for me on those mornings when I’m having a rough time getting myself ready for work. Anyway, if you’d like to try any of this stuff, here’s a link with a 20% discount! Overall it’s a pretty good coffee, I’d imagine it’d be fun to give as a gift to someone who’s a fan of The Last of Us, or just for a decent coffee with an extra caffeine boost.
Also a friendly reminder that I’ve got a FREE pattern for the bloater! So you can have your high-caf coffee and a bloated buddy ready to go when The Last of Us Part 2 starts next week! Happy (caffeinated) hooking!
