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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Movies & More

Latest Seattle craze? Adding some fungi to your coffee

Above: Seattle's Wunderground Coffee blends coffee beans with, uh, mushrooms? (Photo/Forbes.com)

You can find as many kinds of coffee drinks as you can find different kinds of coffee drinkers.

It’s possible to order your coffee, for example, any of the following ways: black, latte, cappuccino, americano, espresso, doppio, cortado, lungo, macchiato, ristretto, flat white, affogato, café au lait … and even Irish.

I’ve tried a number of them, though I’m partial to a genuine Italian cappuccino (not the tragedy that Starbucks makes) whenever such a choice is available. In the mornings only, of course.

One thing I’ve never done, however, is try coffee infused with mushrooms. As the food writer Leslie Kelly asks in her most recent story for Forbes.com, “who the heck would have considered adding mushrooms to coffee?”

Apparently, Seattle-based entrepreneur Jody Hall would. Hall is the brain behind Wunderground, which carries as its prime directive the quest “To create delicious functional beverages that deliver craveable experiences, inspire wonder and make our minds and bodies healthy, focused, and strong—an antidote to the new normal of stress and anxiety.”

The key? Finding “the perfect balance to pair with our adaptogenic mushrooms and taste incredible.”

Kelly promises that the coffee doesn’t taste likes mushrooms.

“There’s no earthy funk or weird aftertaste,” she wrote. “Just the roasted-right flavor coffee drinkers want but with a micro-dose of mushroom goodness and a jolt that’s slightly softened by the presence of those ingredients.”

She wrote a lot more, about Hall and Wunderground and even about “adaptogenic” mushrooms and their supposed “healing properties.”

Check out the article for yourself. Me, I’ve to go warm up my Nespresso machine.

Dan Webster

Dan Webster has filled a number of positions at The Spokesman-Review from 1981 to 2009. He started as a sportswriter, was a sports desk copy chief at the Spokane Chronicle for two years, served as assistant features editor and, beginning in 1984, worked at several jobs at once: books editor, columnist, film reviewer and award-winning features writer. In 2003, he created one of the newspaper's first blogs, "Movies & More." He continues to write for The Spokesman-Review's Web site, Spokane7.com, and he both reviews movies for Spokane Public Radio and serves as co-host of the radio station's popular movie-discussion show "Movies 101."