Mushroom coffee...

[stamasd]

No it's not a real coffee flavoring as far as I know.

At work we have of course a Keurig. One of the types of pods that are usually available and which I prefer - though the coffee itself is nowhere near as good as what I use at home - is Colombian Select. It tastes like regular coffee with no particular special flavor.

Together with that we usually have a local brand of half-and-half available for the coffee. By itself it tastes good but also not with any special flavor.

But when you combine the two, the taste changes. There is of course the coffee taste in the background, but what comes to the front is a very strong earthy aroma; it tastes like mushrooms, with lots and lots of umami. Specifically it tastes like shiitake mushrooms.

It was very surprising when it first happened, but over time I have grown to like it. I do use a lot of umami in my cooking but hadn't thought before of umami in coffee.

The mushroom taste is very consistent, but it only happens when you combine this exact coffee with this brand of half-and-half. If you change one of the two, no mushrooms.

Has anyone noticed something similar with their coffees?

 

[Ad Astra]

Clean the machine! Quick!

j/k. Sure that's not it.


AA

 

[TexLaw]

I haven't had such a thing from a Keurig, but I have had mushroom coffee. It's been some time, but I do recall enjoying it quite a bit. I recall something similar--earthy and umami, but not really "mushroom."

The stuff came in a packet or steeping bag or something--I can't exactly recall. I might need to look into again.

 

[emwolf]

I don't know if the coffee is high in acid and curdling the half-and-half?

 

[stamasd]

Nope no curdling, and the coffee without additions is pretty smooth, no hints of acid.

 

[Ryanshh]

I haven't had something that tastes like mushrooms, however, we were playing around with lattes and milk at my house a few weeks ago. We make a chia seed breakfast pudding with coconut almond milk on Sunday night and eat it for most of the week. We almost fully finish a carton of the milk when we make it and the "milk" says to use within 7 days.

One day we were thinking that a latte sounded good but were out of actual milk, we had the "bright" idea of using the coconut almond milk. The coffee we put it in tastes good every day of the week, the milk tastes a little like almond a little like coconut ... the mixture tasted like rotting ashtray death bomb (we had even tasted each component individually before making it to ensure the parts were good).

My wife and I both eat and drink almost everything and it is rare that we have visceral reactions to food, however, she spat it out and I barely forced myself to finish my cup (I hate waste). Lesson learned...save this mixture for guests who have overstayed their welcome.