So, Ryze vs Beyond Brew, let's start with the bad news, neither of these brands made it into our breakdown of the best mushroom coffee alternatives for 2024, and there's a couple of core reasons.
The big one is that both Beyond Brew and Ryze are horrendously under dosed, meaning that more than half of their ingredients are so far below the ideal range that there's no chance of them being effective. We're talking less than a tenth of what's been shown to be effective in most cases.
And even though they probably do contain enough beta glucans (an ingredient common across all mushrooms that helps with immunity and gives some brain boosting benefits), to do something. Both Ryze and Beyond Brew promote themselves using claims that come from compounds unique to specific species. Which, simply put, requires more of those specific mushrooms.
Now, that's not to say that they're useless, just that you're only going to get about 1/5th of the benefits you're being promised by either of these two, we generally recommend that you check out Nootrum Powder (which uses extracts standardized for the microcompounds that give functional mushrooms their unique effects, not just beta glucans like Ryze and Beyond Brew).
Ultimately, what we have here is two brands that released their formulas in a time when the market was less educated and the competition was less fierce, as a result they're relatively dated products that are surviving on brand recognition rather than the fact their formulas are particularly good.
Now that said, let's get to the actual breakdown of the two.
| Aspect | Beyond Brew | RYZE |
|---|---|---|
| Base Ingredient | Peruvian cacao, offering a chocolate-like flavor | Organic Arabica coffee, providing a traditional coffee taste |
| Mushroom Blend | Six organic mushrooms: lion’s mane, reishi, chaga, cordyceps (sinensis and militaris), turkey tail | Six organic mushrooms: cordyceps, lion’s mane, reishi, turkey tail, shiitake, king trumpet |
| Additional Ingredients | Prebiotics and probiotics for gut health | MCT oil and coconut milk for a creamier texture |
| Caffeine Content | Approximately 12-14 mg per serving, suitable for those reducing caffeine intake | Less than 50 mg per serving, about half the caffeine of regular coffee |
| Flavor Profile | Rich, hot chocolate-like taste | Smooth, creamy coffee flavor with subtle earthy notes from mushrooms |
| Health Focus | Emphasizes gut health due to prebiotics and probiotics | Focuses on cognitive enhancement and immune support |
| Pricing | Approximately $37.99 for 30 servings | Around $27 for 30 servings, making it about 29% cheaper than Beyond Brew |
| Preparation | Mixes easily with hot water; can be consumed hot or iced | Similar preparation; can be enjoyed hot or iced |
| Availability | Available through the company's website | Available through the company's website |
Now, we've got the easy table overview, but there's more to this, obviously a few things like the flavor difference between Ryze and Beyond Brew are pretty easy to spot, and you don't really need a long winded paragraph to tell you that coffee and chocolate taste different, same applies for price etc. So, I'm going to get onto which ingredients are likely to be dosed effectively in each of these.
Step-by-Step Analysis of Ryze and Beyond Brew
I'm going to start by taking you through the analysis, first up legally ingredients have to be listed from largest to smallest. This is going to be where the math comes in and we work out whether it's possible the proprietary blends contain enough of what we're looking for, or are just there to hide the fact that these blends are doing little of what they promise.
Step-by-Step Analysis
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Serving Size Assumptions: Both Beyond Brew and RYZE generally provide about 5-7 grams per serving for the entire blend, including coffee or cacao bases, mushrooms, and additional ingredients like MCT oil and probiotics.
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Ingredient Order: Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. Given that the primary base (coffee or cacao) typically constitutes at least 50% of the serving size, the mushrooms are likely to make up the remaining portion, estimated at 2.5-3.5 grams combined. Ryze is a bit easier as it tells us that the mushrooms make up 2 grams per serving.
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Typical Mushroom Proportions in Blends: There's two ways we could do this, one where we assume each of the six types of mushrooms in these products is roughly equal in proportion, each mushroom would contribute about 333mg-600 mg per serving. This would mean you won't get any of the unique benefits of Lion's Mane or Cordyceps etc, and you'll only get the benefits of beta glucans from Ryze or Beyond Brew.
However, if we're being optimistic, then we'll assume that the first listed mushroom (Cordyceps for Ryze and Lion's Mane for Beyond Brew) this would mean you could theoretically get enough of each, although only just, and even still if it's a decent extract. -
Clinical Dosage Comparison:
- Lion’s Mane: Clinical studies suggest a daily intake of 750 mg to 3,000 mg for cognitive benefits due to erinacines and hericenones.
- Cordyceps: Studies generally recommend about 1,000 mg to 3,000 mg daily to achieve noticeable effects related to cordycepin.
Even Then We're Being Optimistic About Ryze And Beyond Brew
Even then both of these would have to be notably above average quality extracts. But, let's assume that what we have here is Ryze being better for energy (as cordycepin boosts ATP production) and Beyond Brew being better for brain health as erinacines from lion's mane boost your brains NGF.
What About The None Mushroom Ingredients?
Beyond Brew wins out here, in that the probiotics should work completely fine, the cinnamon is unlikely to be a full gram, the functional dose, or it would dominate the taste. But, even still cinnamon only actually improves blood sugar regulation in diabetics. All the studies show it does nothing for healthy individuals so the marketing around blood sugar spikes is nonsense.
As for the ginger, it's possible, for the best anti inflammatory effects you'd want it to be at a gram or from a particular extract (which again isn't the case in beyond brew), but it's likely to have some mild stomach settling effects.
In short Beyond Brew wins out on secondary ingredients, largely due to the probiotics.
Beyond Brew vs Ryze Conclusion
Basically it comes down to a choice between cordycepin and probiotics or lion's mane as they're the only ingredients that are functionally dosed.
So Beyond Brew is better for gut and energy and Ryze will be better for brain health.
Still, Nootrum has the correct doses for both, and standardized, at the same price. So generally we'd recommend that instead, it's a tea blend though rather than a chocolate of coffee.