What's in a Lion's Mane mushroom tincture?

There are a lot of Lion's Mane mushroom tinctures out there on the market today — and we've tried a lot of them. With due respect to our competition, the vast majority of them simply do not cut it. So we set out to make our own, a Lion's Mane tincture that hits on that elusive combination of high potency and great taste, and something that athletes would be excited to use every day.

It's not so easy to find or buy high quality Lion's Mane. And then how do you make sure your body can access all the active compounds in the mushroom? The cell walls of these functional mushrooms are made of chitin, a super-fibrous substance, and humans don't naturally produce enzymes to break down chitin. In other words, when eating them, the mushrooms cannot easily be digested and the active compounds inside are not available for the body to use (a.k.a. bioavailable). This is why functional mushrooms are often consumed in extracted forms, like tinctures, to ensure the beneficial compounds are more readily bioavailable and absorbable by the body.

Now, Lion's Mane is easier to make bioavailable than most functional mushrooms. All you have to do is cook it. Rashad likes to grill up Lion’s Mane mushrooms when the weather is good; he says they taste like lobster. You might not get every single active compound when eating Lion's Mane like this, but you can certainly get a fair amount.   

A pic of Umbo's founders (Rashad Evans, Jake Plummer, and Del Jolly, from left to right) grilling up some Lion's Mane mushrooms recently. 

Why use a Lion's Mane tincture? 

We think of taking functional mushrooms kind of like taking your vitamins. Obviously, you should check with your medical professional about what's right for you, but generally speaking, for most people, it's something we think you should do every day, and that Lion's Mane is an all-star mushroom that should be a part of an athlete's daily diet.

If you want to take Lion's Mane every day, then using a tincture is a lot more convenient than firing up the grill. You can easily take it every day, adding it to a morning coffee or smoothie, or just popping it straight into your mouth. Not only will you be able to get more of the active compounds, those compounds will be as bioavailable as possible.

What makes our Lion's Mane tincture the best?

We like to think that our Lion's Mane mushroom tincture is is the best. But how can we be so sure? Here are four reasons why:  

Reason #1: Professional-grade, organic mushrooms

All our mushrooms are grown in North America, on by farmers who have been cultivating and processing functional mushrooms since at least 1996. All of the farms we use are USDA certified organic. And we use a third-party lab to test for microbials, heavy metals, and any foreign matter.

We do not import any of our mushrooms. This is important because mushrooms grown overseas are not required to follow or report the same regulations as those grown here. We do not want our ingredients processed, shipped, or stored, with any harmful chemicals. We prefer to work with a small handful of farms that we can closely monitor, allowing us to have a lot more control over the quality of the ingredients we use. 

Reason #2: Full spectrum of mushroom benefits

We use a mixture of fruiting body and mycelium for our Lion's Mane tincture. But importantly, there are no fillers or additives in our final product. In order to make this happen, the fungi is grown to full maturity over the course of several months and harvested only once the substrate on which it was grown has been at least 95% consumed. Every batch is grown from young cultures, monitored closely through the growth cycle, harvested at the optimum stage of growth, and carefully processed to ensure the highest possible potency.

We prefer a mixture of fruiting body and mycelium because each part of the fungi contains varying concentrations of the beneficial compounds — or, in some cases, they each contain unique compounds not found elsewhere. By including both, we can include everything the mushroom offers in our tinctures.

Reason #3: A triple-extraction process for high potency 

We use a triple-extraction process to ensure our Lion's Mane tincture is potent and highly bioavailable. The three steps of the triple-extraction process takes approximately 120 days. Here’s how it works: 

1. Fermentation: To break down the tough outer cell walls (a.k.a. chitin), ensuring our bodies will be able to absorb and use the active compounds in the mushrooms
2. Water extraction: We use filtered water to draw out the alpha- and beta-glucans, along with other polysaccharides.
3. Alcohol extraction: We use organic cane alcohol to free other active compounds that the water extraction could not, including non-polar triterpenoids.

Then we remove the alcohol — the final product is less than 1% alcohol — and stabilize the tincture using organic vegetable glycerine, which gives our tinctures a slightly sweet taste. 

Reason 4: Tested and used by professional athletes

As you may already know, Umbo was founded by professional athletes. All of our products are created, tested, and used by them and their close circle of friends who are also pro athletes, trainers, and nutritionists. So by the end of the product development process, we have a really good idea of what works best for an athlete. 

Lion's Mane for me is like a multivitamin that I take twice a day. I really believe it keeps my mind sharp, especially for a sport like wrestling. It’s really when I don’t take it that I notice it. It makes all the difference for me.
—Victoria “Vortex” Anthony, Olympic wrestler and MMA fighter

 

When I started taking the Lion's Mane, I noticed that like my mind will get really clear. Like, I'll feel like I could focus a lot better. Clarity. I was locked in. You know what I'm saying? It just because my intention was just really focused on what I needed to focus on, without even forcing it to be.

—"Suga" Rashad Evans, UFC Hall of Fame 

Reason 5: Our customers love it

As of the publication date of this article, at the beginning of 2024, our Lion's Mane tincture was reviewed exceedingly well by our customers, earning an average of 4.9 stars out of a possible 5 stars. 

Here are a couple of quotes about our Lion's Mane tincture, straight from real, verified Umbo customers: 

Potent and tastes amazing. I've tried many mushroom tinctures, but this one tops it. The flavor is amazing. Almost too good. And the potency is strong. Exactly what I want out of my lions mane tincture. This is especially great for people who don't like the strong alcohol taste of most tinctures. I highly recommend this product!"

—Nathan C, 5/16/23

 

"I truly feel more Focused. This is my 3rd bottle & will be ordering more. I tried lion's mane from GNC & I know I didn't feel more cleared headed as I do with your product. Thank you!!❤️"

—Denise B. 10/10/23

That's it. Those are the five reasons we consider our Lion's Mane tincture to be the best available on the market today. Let us know what you think. Even better, try our Lion's Mane tincture for yourself — or learn more about the Lion's Mane mushroom and its benefits for athletic performance.