RYZE Mushroom Coffee Review: A Label Audit

Two disclosures first.

We sell a competing product. Coffee Studies is published by Nature Lion, which makes a mushroom coffee called Shyne. That is a real conflict, so this review is built to be checked. Everything below is a fact RYZE publishes, a count you can repeat, or an absence you can confirm in five minutes.

This is a label audit that now answers the buyer's questions too. The subscription, the taste, the Target price and a lead notice, from RYZE's own terms and from independent tasters.

How this review was done

We read RYZE's product page, its lion's mane, king trumpet and cordyceps pages and its story page, and searched them for the words that let you judge a mushroom product. Then we added its terms, refund policy and About Us FAQ, the Trustpilot profile, the Target listing, the California Attorney General's Proposition 65 record and the independent reviews named below, on 30 September and 29 October 2026. ^[1]

What RYZE tells you

Quite a lot, and it deserves credit.

All six species, by name. Cordyceps, lion's mane, reishi, king trumpet, shiitake and turkey tail, with pages for several. Many blends hide behind "mushroom blend".

A caffeine figure. About 48 mg a cup for the medium roast and 80 to 90 mg for the dark, by RYZE's own FAQ. A brewed 8 oz coffee averages around 95 mg, so the medium roast is about half a cup. The FDA's daily reference for healthy adults is 400 mg. Lower caffeine is the product's clearest, best-supported feature, for a plain reason: part of each serving is mushroom powder, not coffee.

Real research, with DOIs. Its cordyceps page links a 2016 exercise trial in the Journal of Dietary Supplements and a 2020 Mycobiology paper on cordyceps and cellular energy. Most brands gesture at "studies" without naming one.

A per-serving price, shown where you choose. It is the first-order price. That is the next section.

How the subscription works, and how to cancel

The product page sells a subscription, and that is what most of RYZE's unhappy customers write about. Here it is from the company's own pages.

The page. The only chooser is a bundle picker, and the add-to-cart form carries a hidden plan that delivers every 30 days. The price block shows the first bag at $27, down from $45, as 40 percent off today. Under it sits the $36 refill that ships in 30 days, with a note that you can adjust or cancel anytime. "Buy once" and "one-time" do not appear on the page. A one-time bag is on the Shop All page, at $45. ^[1]

The terms. Section 8: billed every 30 days to the card you gave, until you cancel, and you must cancel 24 hours before the next shipment to stop it. Cancel by email (alex@ryzesuperfoods.com), by message to @ryzesuperfoods on Instagram or Facebook, by text to 617-221-3852, or in the customer portal. No phone line, no minimum term. The terms also let RYZE charge any other card you have on file if the first one fails.

Refunds. Unopened bags with the seal intact only, with one exception. The Love-It guarantee refunds one opened bag within 30 days of delivery, on a first subscription order, not a one-time purchase.

What customers say. Trustpilot: 4.6 from 13,930 reviews, 91 percent five-star, and RYZE replies to 98 percent of negative ones. We read the 40 most recent one-star reviews, which span only 12 September to 29 October 2026, and the 40 most recent two-star, which reach back to 2024.

A typical one-star, from 15 September 2026: a one-time purchase, care taken not to subscribe, and still an email about a "next order" shipping soon. RYZE's standard reply says both options are offered and the recurring details are shown before and during checkout, in several cases that auto-ship was selected on the first order, and then it cancels and refunds. ^[5]

Both things are true. The subscription is disclosed, and the page is built so the subscription is what you get. For one bag, use Shop All and pay $45, or go to Target.

What it costs, everywhere it is sold

An earlier version of this page quoted RYZE at $0.82 to $0.90 a serving; those are the first-order and starter-kit prices. On a subscription the running cost is $1.10 to $1.20, and a one-time bag is $1.50. Target's $17.99 bag, in stores nationally since January 2026, is the cheapest way to try it with no commitment. ^[7]

What it tastes like, from people who are not us

Earthy rather than mushroomy, with a residue some mind and some do not. We do not taste-test a competitor, so these are other people's notes.

• VICE, September 2026: earthy but not overly so, with no forest-floor taste or aftertaste. Dissolved in about ten seconds of stirring, hot or cold, without clumping, though some residue settled and wanted a stir before each sip. Priced like a supplement, not an instant coffee, and it adds up on a subscription. ^[8]
• Taste of Home, 2026: more acidic and tang-forward than the other brands in its test. ^[11]
• My Subscription Addiction, January 2026: grainier and more mushroom-forward than Everyday Dose. ^[12]
• Chowhound, April 2025: near the bottom of its ranking, for a greasy, oily mouthfeel and a cup that stayed somewhat gritty. ^[10]
• Food Network, August 2026: tested only the chai, matcha and ube latte sticks from Target, not the coffee. The chai was very mushroom-forward and the powder hard to dissolve fully. ^[9]

The spread is the finding. Four of the 80 recent low-star Trustpilot reviews are about it not dissolving, so residue is a minority complaint, not the main one. ^[5]

What RYZE does not tell you

The three facts that would let you judge the mushrooms, and a few more. Across the product page, three species pages and the story page, these terms do not appear.

Which form of mushroom

RYZE does not say, and it is the single most useful fact about any mushroom product. The fruiting body is the mushroom itself. Mycelium grown on grain is the root-like network grown through sterilised rice or oats. It is milled together with that grain, so a large share of the powder is starch. Comparative analyses find materially different compositions between the two. Our guide to the distinction covers why labelling rules let both carry the same species name.

How much of each

Six species, no amounts. Target's listing says 2,000 mg of mushrooms per serving; RYZE's own site states no total, and neither gives the split. That matters because of what RYZE cites. The cordyceps trial it links used around 4 g a day of a cordyceps blend, and the lion's mane cognition trials used 1.8 to 3 g a day of a single species. Citing those while withholding your own amount invites a comparison you cannot make.

Beta-glucans

RYZE names beta-glucans as a mechanism and publishes no figure. A percentage with a named test method is the only number that lets you compare two mushroom products. Nobody in this category publishes one, RYZE included and Shyne included. ^[21]

The lead notice, as recorded

A notice, not a finding. On 15 November 2024 a group called Keep America Safe and Beautiful filed a California Proposition 65 60-day notice, AG number 2024-04863, against Ryze, Inc. and Ryze Superfoods LLC, naming lead in powdered mushroom drink mixes. The Attorney General's record lists no settlement and no judgment. ^[13]

A 60-day notice is a private party's claim that a warning is required, not a test result. We found no Proposition 65 text on RYZE's site or its Target listing, no third-party lab test of RYZE for lead, and no settlement in the state's published lists. A dollar figure and a lead amount circulate on one marketing site without a source; we could not verify them and do not repeat them. If RYZE has test results, publishing them would close this.

The health claims it dropped

In September 2025, after an inquiry by the National Advertising Division of BBB National Programs, RYZE permanently discontinued all the challenged express claims for its mushroom coffee and matcha. This site does not make or judge health-benefit claims. That outcome is the most useful thing to know about the ones RYZE used to make.

The company behind it

Launched in June 2020 by Andrée Werner and Rashad Hossain. Forbes puts the disclosed funding at $4.15 million in total, including a $2.15 million round from Valency Capital in January 2023. The revenue and "net worth" questions people search have one named source, Forbes in January 2026, and its figures are estimates.

Forbes, 9 January 2026; every row is a Forbes estimate, not a company disclosure. RYZE publishes no figures. ^[15]

Forbes also reported that the company was up for sale in 2025 with no credible buyers, and quoted insiders on "insane churn" among subscribers. Churn is the number that matters to a subscription business, and it is the force acting on you at checkout. An earlier version of this page said the company was founded in March 2020 on $2.15 million of seed funding; Forbes dates the launch to June 2020 and the disclosed funding to $4.15 million.

What the research supports

The same thing it supports for every brand: not much, at these doses. Lion's mane has the most human data on cognition, and it is small, short and gram-scale. Cordyceps has one small blend-based exercise trial. Turkey tail's best assessment is a Cochrane review that found the evidence insufficient. King trumpet and shiitake go in at unstated amounts with little human outcome data. ^[22]

Who it suits

A reasonable buy if you want a lower-caffeine morning drink, like an earthy instant, and buy it at Target or one-time so the subscription is your choice.

Look elsewhere if you want to know what you are taking. The form, the amounts and any lead testing are not stated.

Ask a clinician first if you take anticoagulants, antiplatelet drugs or immunosuppressants, or are pregnant or breastfeeding.

What would fix it

Four lines would make RYZE the best-documented product in the category.

1. The form. "Fruiting body extract" or "mycelium grown on oats".
2. Per-species milligrams. Six numbers.
3. A beta-glucan percentage, with the test method named.
4. A one-time option on the product page. That alone would empty most of the one-star column on Trustpilot.

The verdict

RYZE is a competently made, genuinely lower-caffeine instant coffee from the brand that scaled the category. It names its species, states its caffeine and cites real papers. It is sold through a page whose only button is a subscription, at $1.20 a serving once the promotion ends. That design, not the coffee, is what its unhappy customers write about. It withholds the three facts that would let you judge the mushrooms, and it has a lead notice on file with no resolution either way. Buy a bag at Target if you are curious. Read the terms before you click Get Started.