Quality & Ingredients

Mushrooms are big news. But what makes DIRTEA the best?

Simply put, DIRTEA provides the most pure and potent mushrooms around - 2000mg per serving to be exact. With functional fungi growing in popularity, it’s never been more important to know your sources and find a brand you trust. And as we’re right at the forefront of a mainstream mushroom revolution, we reckon you’ve found a good place to dig up the details. 

So, pour yourself a cup of your favourite mushroom blend as we spill the tea on our ingredients, recipes and processes. And when you sip on your DIRTEA concoction, rest assured, your body and mind are being treated to the highest quality recipe possible. 

So, what goes into them? 

For our core mushroom range, just mushrooms. That’s it. 100% pure, fungi-powered goodness. Introduce yourself to the big six: 

• DIRTEA Reishi
• DIRTEA Chaga
• DIRTEA Cordyceps 
• DIRTEA Lion’s Mane
• DIRTEA Tremella
• DIRTEA Turkey Tail

For our Super Blends, we add only the finest, organic ingredients proven for their transformative powers and natural flavours. Say hello to this tasty bunch:

• DIRTEA Cacao Super Blend
• DIRTEA Coffee Super Blend

Take a look at some of the ingredients we love to add to our pure and potent mushrooms:

• Coconut Milk Powder 
• MCT
• Moringa
• Pink Himalayan Salt
• Maca
• Ashwagandha

So, why choose DIRTEA?

Our mantra says it all: we’re pure and potent from forest to cup. That means you’re getting our mushrooms as nature intended - with 100% fruiting bodies. They’re also third party tested for heavy metals and contaminants and have been extracted using a double extraction process to obtain the active components you need. 

So yes, there’s certainly a lot of choice out there. But there’s only one brand offering you 2000mg per serving and that’s DIRTEA. And our sources and processes are unrivaled - because we followed the science and it took us to the best functional mushroom farmers in the world. When you love mushrooms as much as we do, it’s a passion, not a chore. 

Ok, tell me more about the DIRTEA process

Well, the story of our process begins in the rolling mountains where our forest shaded greenhouses and small family farms are located, far away from the urban lowland centers. All our mushrooms are organically grown, however, the exact location will vary depending on the climate best suited for the strain. For example the Reishi and Lion’s Mane are grown in shade houses in more humid areas, Cordyceps are grown indoors with very specific climate controls, and Chaga is wild harvested. Once grown, it’s time for picking. 

Great, tell me about extraction!

Woah there. Before we jump ahead, it’s worth giving you a quick mycology lesson to better appreciate the care that goes into every batch. 

• A mushroom is the reproductive part of the organism we call fungi. 
• Fungi have two main parts: the mycelium (which can be compared to the tree) and the mushroom (which can be compared to the fruit). 
• The mycelium lives underground and can spread for hundreds of miles. When the mycelium wants to reproduce, one of the ways is to produce a fruit - a mushroom. 
• The mushroom releases spores, which mate to form more mycelium. 
• Our extracts are made from only pure mushrooms and DO NOT contain any mycelium or the grains and wood that the mycelium is grown on. 
• All great mushroom extracts begin with a great mushroom. 

Sounds good! Ok… now for extraction?

Absolutely! It’s the fun part - as every single one of our mushrooms is either hand selected by a team of pickers or forged by farmers. Next, they’re dried and crushed into a fine powder to create more surface area - allowing us to access more of the mushroom during the first extraction.

Depending on the strain, we use large pressure cookers filled with pure filtered water, which heats the cells and cracks the cell wall. We repeat this process up to three times to ensure all the target compounds are separated from the chitin. On its own, chitin is indigestible, but inside, it’s holding the secret: polysaccharides and beta glucans. Once the cell wall is broken, these are released and become bio-available, so our body can metabolize them and we can benefit from their fungal compounds.

Once the pressure cooking is completed, we separate the liquid from the fiber, then concentrate it to reach a specific density. Now, it’s ready for spray drying - which dries up any remaining moisture between the granules to prevent mold.

Next, we run the fine powder through a finer sieve to catch any coarse particles. 

Then the only step left is to test our powder extracts for heavy metals, molds and other unwanted chemicals. When the powders pass the quality control testing we send them onto the final phase of testing to determine the polysaccharide content - by shining UV light through the powder to count the percentage of polysaccharides. We then package the extracted and tested concentrate powders so they look beautiful and are ready to serve. 

Anything more we should know about testing?

• We send every batch to be tested by Eurofin Labs. (DAKKS certified). 
• We test for over 500+ agri chemicals, heavy metals and molds. 
• If a test comes back positive for too many pesticides or any red-flagged chemicals, we do not use it. We source new fruits and start the process again.  
• Our mushrooms are tested before and after the extraction process, we track every batch, and follow rigorous best practices to ensure our mushrooms are the highest quality. 
• All our facilities are GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certified.
• We use the EU organic standard Regulations (EC) 834/2007 and (EC) 889/2008 and the EU pesticides free 539 standard. 

How about your mushroom ratio?

Extraction ratios are an expression of concentration, rather than a measure of active compound potency. DIRTEA extraction ratios are as follows. 

• Lion's mane: 8-12:1 
• Chaga: 6-10:1.
• Reishi: 8-12:1
• Cordyceps: 8-12:1  
• Turkey Tail: 8-12:1
• Tremella: 8-12:1

Wow, that’s a lot of fungi info

Yep, if you’re new to the mushroom world, that was probably a lot to take in. But now you know our process from forest to cup. Following the most rigorous testing and extraction process possible, we’re confident we have the best mushroom powders on the market. When we say pure and potent, we mean it.