What Does Chaga Tea Taste Like and Why? The Taste of Birch Chaga

The Sweet Taste of Nature In a Mushroom?

Chaga mushrooms have no mushroom taste unlike your typical grocery store variety.  

The mushroom contains a plant metabolite called vanillin which occurs naturally in the vanilla bean and is used to make synthetic vanilla extract.  Giving Chaga a mild earthy taste, sometimes slightly bitter with a hint of vanilla.

The taste is pleasing on its own or you can combine chaga with other herbs and spices, bone broth or smoothies. You can drink chaga to help support the immune system with other ingredients which will not interfere with the efficacy of the mushroom. Popular ingredients are Chai spice, cinnamon, turmeric or honey compliment the taste of chaga tea very well.

Chaga from other species of trees will taste very bitter or unpleasant because vanillin is mainly found in Birch trees. Chaga should never be taken from other species other than white or golden Birch.

If you are or currently consuming Chaga that tastes extremely bitter or disgusting you need to question what species of tree it came from.

Chaga must also be harvested from a living tree and properly dried and prepared before use. Once harvested the mushroom should also be dried quickly otherwise yeast, mold and mycotoxins form which can make chaga toxic, bitter and very unhealthy. 

Discover ways to help with chaga mushroom identification so that you can identify the correct species of mushroom.

Can You Eat Chaga Powder?

You can consume raw chaga powder if desired , raw chaga powder has very little taste. 

Health Canada recommends you limit your intake of raw chaga to 3.6g per day.  More information about chaga dosage and chaga warnings can be found on our website. 

Usually the taste is a good indicator of its source and quality. 

Learn all about chaga mushroom Tea in our complete chaga tea guide for answers to common questions.