Brand Spotlight: Four Sigmatic

As a 13th-generation Finnish farmer with an affinity for foraging, Four Sigmatic founder Tero Isokauppila and his lineage have intuitively known mushrooms as unique superfoods for centuries.

And when Tero heard the story of his grandparents brewing backyard-grown mushrooms into coffee during the rationings of World War II, he knew he was onto something.

Our team was able to learn more about Four Sigmatic and these fantastic fungi from Tero at Expo West 2024—let’s take a closer look at this amazing brand.

How Four Sigmatic Started a Mushroom Mania

Despite knowing that functional mushrooms have unique superfood status, Tero recognized that Americans are, well, a little ‘shroom-phobic.

Many cultures worldwide have been using mushrooms medicinally for millennia—and it’s about time we caught on.

Tero explains, “Mushrooms have been around for hundreds of billions of years. But they’ve become trendy as of recently because they’re so well suited for the modern-day challenges that we face. We’re increasingly busier; we need to be smarter at work and at home; we’re increasingly stressed, and our immunity is jeopardized. Mushrooms have solutions for all of these modern-day challenges.”

Aiming to make mushrooms more mainstream (and delicious), he brought them stateside in the early 2010s in the form of mushroom coffee—and the rest is history. 

Now, Four Sigmatic is leading the pack when it comes to functional mushrooms, mixing them into mushroom coffee, coffee creamers, protein powders, elixirs, latte mixes, capsule supplements, and functional mushroom tea. 

So, why are these mushrooms so good for us, anyway?

As Tero tells us, “People come to the mushroom category for the cognitive benefits—they want to be smarter and more productive at work—but once they start using the products, people stay for the stress and mood benefits. People feel less stressed, they sleep better, their gut feels better.”

As we share up to half of our DNA with fungi, their beneficial and bioactive compounds are bioavailable for us to use, with benefits including brain, gut, immune system, stress, and sleep support.   

As many companies have caught on to these benefits, functional mushroom products now seem like a dime a dozen. However, Four Sigmatic has exceptional sourcing and manufacturing practices that put them a step above the rest. 

Many functional or medicinal mushroom brands take the easy route regarding processing and extraction methods. 

Four Sigmatic does the extra work of dual extraction: hot water and alcohol. Dual extraction increases the bioavailability of the mushrooms’ bioactive compounds, including triterpenes, beta-glucans, and polysaccharides.

Plus, other functional mushroom products don’t even contain the mushrooms they say they do or use less useful parts of the mushroom.

Four Sigmatic uses the mushrooms’ fruiting bodies rather than the mycelium in their extracts. The mycelium is the mushroom’s “root system” that can contain no mushrooms at all, while the fruiting body is where all of the good stuff is.

As the brand states, “Even though this method is 5-10x more expensive, time-consuming, and means we choose to not source from the US, we are committed to offering the best, most nutrient-dense, clean, quality, and powerful ingredients possible.”

Rather than growing in a U.S. lab, Four Sigmatic cultivates their reishi, lion’s mane, cordyceps, shiitake, turkey tail, tremella, and maitake mushrooms from an organic family farm in China.

From there, the mushrooms are brought to production facilities in the United States, where every batch is third-party tested for heavy metals, allergens, harmful bacteria, yeasts, molds, mycotoxins, and pesticides. 

Four Sigmatic Line-Up: From Mushroom Coffee to Protein Powder to Tea

All of Four Sigmatic’s products contain functional mushrooms—either a single one (like the chaga elixir) or a combination of mushrooms (like the protein powder).  

As Tero puts it, “Four Sigmatic makes products that are like an index fund of mushrooms—you don’t have to stock pick; you just buy one product that’s one and done and has a blend of multiple mushrooms for all the benefits. But we also make products that are like a sniper rifle or stock-picking that focus on one mushroom.” 

The product you choose can depend on which benefit you’re hoping to gain. Tero explains it best: “If you want cognitive function, use lion’s mane. If you want stress and sleep support, use reishi. If you want energy, use cordyceps; if you want gut health and immunity, then it’s chaga.”

Here are just a handful of the products in the Four Sigmatic lineup:

• Think Organic Ground Mushroom Coffee: Mushroom coffee with lion’s mane and chaga to enhance mental focus, energy, and mood without the jitters.
• Think Organic Creamer Vanilla Coconut: If you didn’t get enough mushrooms in your coffee, add more with a functional creamer! This vanilla and coconut vegan creamer has coconut milk powder, Madagascar vanilla, lion’s mane, L-theanine, and monk fruit. 
• Balance Half Caf Coffee: Mushroom coffee with ashwagandha, eleuthero, and half the caffeine. 
• Elixirs and Cacao: If you don’t want any coffee with your mushrooms, try mushroom elixirs like Protect (chaga), Think (lion’s mane), and Calm (reishi) or Calm Cacao for a hot chocolate-like beverage.
• Peanut Butter Plant-Based Protein: With 18g of vegan protein, 1500mg of mushrooms and adaptogens, and 2g of sugar, this protein powder can’t be beat.

Mushroom Tea: Their newest line of functional mushroom tea includes Think Black Tea with lion’s mane and L-theanine, Calm Herbal Tea with reishi and ashwaganda, or Mood Herbal Tea with reishi, tulsi, and lemon balm.

Four Sigmatic FAQs