Amanita Muscaria Tea: Step-by-Step Recipe and Dosing

Amanita muscaria tea is the oldest and easiest way to prepare the mushroom. Simmer dried caps in slightly acidic water for about three hours, strain, and sip. The long, low simmer converts harsh ibotenic acid into smoother muscimol, which is the whole point. Here is the exact recipe and how to figure out your dose.

Why tea instead of eating the caps

Raw or lightly dried amanita is heavy on ibotenic acid. That compound is what causes the sweating, stomach upset and restless feeling that gives the mushroom its rough reputation. Heat plus a little acid plus time turns ibotenic acid into muscimol, the compound most people are actually after.

Tea does two jobs at once. It finishes the decarboxylation that drying started, and it pulls the water-soluble compounds out of the cap so you are not chewing on leathery mushroom. If you want the chemistry behind it, our explainer on fully decarbed amanita covers it in plain language.

What you need

• Dried amanita muscaria caps. We use closed caps because they are denser and more consistent than open ones.
• A kitchen scale that reads to 0.1 g.
• Water, roughly 1 cup per 5 g of dried cap.
• Lemon juice or citric acid to bring the pH down to about 2.5 to 3.
• A pot with a lid, a fine strainer or coffee filter, and a thermometer if you have one.

Step-by-step recipe

1. Weigh your caps. Start small. Break the caps into pieces so they extract evenly. Write the weight down.

2. Add water and acid. Put the caps in the pot, add water, and squeeze in a tablespoon of lemon juice per cup. If you have pH strips, aim for 2.5 to 3. Acid speeds up the conversion and protects the muscimol from breaking down.

3. Simmer low and slow. Bring it to a gentle simmer, then drop the heat so it is barely bubbling. You want roughly 80 to 90 C, not a rolling boil. Cover it and let it go for about three hours. Top up with water as it evaporates. A crock pot on low works great for this.

4. Strain. Pour through a fine strainer or coffee filter. Press the solids to get every drop out. You can toss the spent mushroom.

5. Reduce or flavor. The tea is earthy and a little bitter. Honey, ginger or a chai bag helps. You can also simmer it down to a smaller volume so it is easier to drink.

That is it. If you are working with pantherina caps, use the same process with roughly half the weight. The tea keeps in the fridge for about a week or you can freeze it in an ice cube tray for single portions.

How to dose amanita tea

Dose the tea by the weight of dried cap that went into it, not by the volume of liquid. If you simmered 5 g of caps into 2 cups of tea, each cup holds 2.5 g worth.

Traditional-use ranges, pulled from Erowid's amanita dose page, break down like this for dried cap:

• Light: 1 to 5 g, about one medium cap
• Common: 5 to 10 g, one to three caps
• Strong: 10 to 30 g, two to six caps

Those numbers vary a lot with the mushroom, which is why every bag in our amanita collection lists tested muscimol content. Potency swings with region, season and how the caps were dried. Early season caps tend to be stronger. This is why we tell first-timers to start at 1 to 2 g worth of tea and wait a full two hours before considering more. Effects usually come on in 30 to 90 minutes and can last 5 to 8 hours.

If you want to skip the guesswork, a standardized 15:1 high-muscimol extract gives you a known amount per serving. Same idea with muscimol isolate, which is measured to the milligram.

Tips from people who make it a lot

• Do not boil hard. High heat for a long time degrades muscimol. Gentle simmer only.
• Use the acid. Plain water works but takes longer and leaves more ibotenic acid behind.
• Skip the stems for tea. Buying caps only avoids paying for stem weight. The cap skin and the flesh right under it carry most of the actives.
• Have it on a light stomach, not an empty one. A small snack an hour before helps.
• Keep a notebook. Weight in, water volume, simmer time, how it felt. Your next batch will be better.

Our post on amanita muscaria preparation methods compares tea against other approaches if you want to branch out later.

Safety basics

Amanita muscaria is not amanita phalloides. The death cap is a different mushroom with a different toxin. That said, muscaria still deserves respect. Never combine it with alcohol or sedatives. Do not drive. Have a sober friend around your first few times. And only use caps from a source that lab tests, since wild picking without training is how people end up with the wrong mushroom in the pot.

Everything in our amanita collection comes with a COA so you know what you are simmering.

Quick FAQ

Can I make the tea in a coffee maker or French press?
Not really. Those methods give you hot water for a few minutes, which is not enough time to convert ibotenic acid. You need hours of gentle heat. A slow cooker or a lidded pot on the lowest burner setting is the way.

How much tea should I drink the first time?
Start with tea made from 1 to 2 g of dried cap. Wait two hours. Many people find that is plenty for a calm, relaxed evening. You can always go up next time. You cannot go down once it is in you.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Amanita products are sold for adults 21 and over only.