It’s time to break out the chaga.

What are its medicinal properties?  Blair and Heather of Annanda Chaga have an extensive page dedicated to that on their Canadian website.  

It takes some planning…

Chaga is a beverage best served stewed.  

Without a hot water extraction of the powder, your body won’t have access to the health  benefits locked in chaga.

My $3.99 thrift store crockpot goes into good use as I fill it with  water and a half cup of chaga mushroom powder from Mountain Rose Herbs.  I let this sit alone for two hours on ‘high’ heat.

Near the two hour mark, I  add four black tea bags, two cinnamon herbal tea bags, and a generous sprinkling of a Chinese five spice that I learned to make from GNOWFGLIN’s traditional cooking school.  

Although not strictly keto, I add in a tablespoon of molasses for added minerals and richness.  A few drops of natural almond and maple extract also finds their way into the crock for an added lighter note.

This steeps for another 20 minutes.  

Where does the bulletproof part come in?

If you’re familiar with keto, you’ve probably heard about bulletproof coffee – a term coined by Dave Asprey to describe adding healthy fats to coffee to create a caffeinated, low carb meal replacement beverage to fuel your body with ketones.  

Using 8 oz of my new chai-flavored chaga tea base, I start by adding in a tablespoon of grass fed butter, two to three tablespoons of heavy whipping cream, and a tablespoon of Great Lakes collagen hydrosylate (remember, the hydrosolate in the green can does not congeal in hot or cold liquids, so you can add to beverages with confidence).

I sweeten to taste with monk fruit sweetener.

And the key to any of these beverage combinations – a milk frother like this Bodium I purchased at Target for under $10.   A frother will combine all of these components and prevent your butter from floating to the top in one glob of melted fat.   For all you science geeks, its the key to consuming a heterogenous mixture of water and oil based ingredients in one smoothly finished product.

Don’t have a frother?  That’s ok.  An immersion blender will work ok.  However, the ease of use and cleaning is well worth the extra $10 in my opinion.  

Your goal is a flavorful, rich beverage packed with nutritional value.  

Given the fat and protein, this could be used as a meal replacement.

So although I will include the ingredients list just as I made it, I encourage you to consult the macro view recipe and get creative with items you already have on hand to generate your own unique version of this beverage.

Macro View of the Recipe

• Chaga hot water extract – minimum of two hours steep time
• Tea – black or green
• Herbs to taste
• Added flavorings if desired
• Healthy fat sources
• Protein sources 
• Sweetener to taste, if desired

How can I get creative?  Substitute ghee for butter, almond milk in place of water or flavorings, vanilla protein shake powder in place of other flavors or proteins, etc.  

Micro View of the Recipe

• 22 cups of warm water (some liquid will be lost during two hour brew time)
• 1/2 cup chaga mushroom powder
• 2 tablespoons of Chinese five spice blend
• Maple and almond natural flavoring drops
• 2 tablespoons of molasses
• 4 organic black tea bags
• 2 “Sweet and Spicy” Good Earth herbal tea bags
• Per cup consumed: Four drops of Monk fruit sweetener, one tablespoon collagen, one tablespoon grass fed butter, and two to three tablespoons of heavy whipping cream