A few weeks ago, I had an amazing lavender cold brew coffee (thanks Black Sheep Makery!) at a farmer’s market in Indiana while visiting my friend, Ali. And I’ve been swooning over this delightful combination ever since. So, of course, I had to whip up my own lavender infused coffee drink.
Lavender (Lavandula spp) not only smells and tastes lovely, it also boasts numerous health benefits, including promoting digestion, easing stress & anxiety, and relieving headaches & insomnia.
To further boost the uplifting, nervous-system-nourishing properties of this herbal latte, I added lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus), a medicinal mushroom that is beneficial to the nerves + brain and has been used for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cognitive impairment, and depression.
Research has also found that lion’s mane lowers blood sugar and cholesterol (Liang et al., 2013). It has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Studies have even indicated its potential use in cancer treatments, due to its “anti-cancer” activity (Kim et al., 2013; Li et al., 2014).
Lion’s mane and lavender are the perfect additions to your morning coffee, gently boosting mood and supporting cognitive function.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Add 1/2 tsp lion’s mane powder and a lavender sprig to the bottom of a large coffee mug. Pour hot coffee over top and whisk together gently.
- Whisk in panela or brown sugar, if desired. Then pour in milk of choice. I used fresh goat’s milk, but you’ll want to use whatever type of milk you like best.
- I like to leave my lavender sprig in my beverage and allow the flavor to deepen as I sip. But, you can leave it in for 5-10 minutes to infuse and then remove it, or just take it out once the lavender flavor has developed to your liking.
References
Chong, P.S., Fung, M.L., Wong, K.H., and Lim. L.W. (2020). Therapeutic Potential of Hericium erinaceus for Depressive Disorder. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(1): 163. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6982118/
Kim, S. P., Nam, S. H., & Friedman, M. (2013). Hericium erinaceus (Lion’s Mane) mushroom extracts inhibit metastasis of cancer cells to the lung in CT-26 colon cancer-tansplanted mice. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 61(20), 4898–4904. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf400916c
Li, G., Yu, K., Li, F., Xu, K., Li, J., He, S., Cao, S., & Tan, G. (2014). Anticancer potential of Hericium erinaceus extracts against human gastrointestinal cancers. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 153(2), 521–530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2014.03.003
Liang, B., Guo, Z., Xie, F., & Zhao, A. (2013). Antihyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic activities of aqueous extract of Hericium erinaceus in experimental diabetic rats. BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 13, 253. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-13-253
