Mushroom capsules, powder, tincture or spray: what is in each format

Mushroom capsules, powder, tincture and spray differ in what they contain, how a serving is stated and how much alcohol they carry. At Human Pro we make capsules and an oral spray from extracts made on our farm in Flevoland, the Netherlands. This guide compares the four formats by what one daily serving contains.

Our Lion's Mane capsules and the Lion's Mane oral spray serve as worked examples, and every number comes from their labels and batch certificates.

Contents

1. What are the main mushroom supplement formats?
2. What is the difference between a mushroom extract and a mushroom powder?
3. Lion's mane tincture or capsules: what is the difference?
4. Mushroom tincture or powder: how do they compare?
5. What is in a mushroom tincture?
6. Lion's mane powder or capsules: how do you compare one serving?
7. How much alcohol is left in our capsule extracts?
8. How should you store each format?

What are the main mushroom supplement formats?

Mushroom supplements come in four main formats: capsules, loose powder, liquid tinctures and oral sprays. Each format holds the mushroom material in its own way, so each label states a serving in its own unit. Capsules use milligrams per capsule, powders use grams, tinctures use millilitres or drops, and sprays use a number of sprays.

What to compare	Capsules	Powder	Tincture	Oral spray
What is inside	Dried extract or ground mushroom in a capsule shell	Ground dried mushroom, or a dried extract	Mushroom extract in a liquid base of alcohol, often with water	A liquid with mushroom extract, sprayed into the mouth
Serving unit on the label	Capsules, with mg per capsule	Grams per serving	Millilitres or drops	Sprays, with mg per serving
How it is taken	Swallowed with a glass of water	Measured with a scoop or scale, as the label directs	Measured with the dropper, as the label directs	Sprayed into the mouth, no water needed
Alcohol	Our certificates list residual ethanol for each batch	Read the certificate of that product	Alcohol is the liquid base of a classic tincture	Read the ingredient list on the bottle
Taste	None while swallowing	Tastes of the mushroom	Tastes of alcohol and mushroom	Depends on the other ingredients; ours has 11 mg cinnamon extract per serving
Storage	Cool, dry, dark place at 15 to 25 °C, pack closed (our label)	As the label directs, pack closed	As the label directs, bottle closed	Cool, dry, dark place at 15 to 25 °C, bottle closed (our label)

Source: Human Pro product labels and test-results pages, checked 19 October 2026; Directive 2002/46/EC for the label rules.

Human Pro makes two of these formats: capsules of Lion's Mane, Reishi, Chaga and Mushroom Essentials Complex, and the Lion's Mane oral spray. We make no powder and no tincture, so those two columns describe the formats in general, not a product of ours.

What is the difference between a mushroom extract and a mushroom powder?

Mushroom powder is dried mushroom, ground; a mushroom extract is made by soaking the mushroom in a solvent and drying what dissolves. Water and alcohol are the usual food extraction solvents. Both end up as a fine powder in a capsule, so the label wording tells you which one you are buying.

A label that names the species with the word "powder" describes ground material. A label that says "extract" should also name the part of the mushroom it was made from, such as the fruiting body.

Our capsules hold whole-mushroom extract. Lion's Mane and Reishi are grown and extracted on our farm in Flevoland, and both extracts are made from the fruiting body. Chaga is a sclerotium, the dense conk that grows wild on birch in Fennoscandia (northern Finland and Sweden); we buy it raw and extract it on our farm.

Milligrams on an extract label and milligrams on a powder label measure different materials. Compare amounts only between products of the same kind, and check the part used before you compare anything else.

Lion's mane tincture or capsules: what is the difference?

A lion's mane tincture is a liquid extract measured in millilitres or drops, while capsules hold a dried extract stated in milligrams per capsule. The useful comparison is the amount of extract in one daily serving and the part of the mushroom it comes from. A tincture label that gives only millilitres leaves that amount open.

One serving of Human Pro Lion's Mane capsules is 3 capsules of 420 mg fruiting body extract, so 1,260 mg a day, and one pack holds 90 capsules. Ask a tincture seller for the same figure: milligrams of extract per daily serving, and the part used.

The other differences are practical. A tincture carries its alcohol base into every serving and tastes of it, and a glass bottle is heavier to carry than a pack of capsules. Capsules have no taste while you swallow them, and our capsule shell is pine cellulose, so the capsules are vegan.

If you want a liquid format without a dropper, the Lion's Mane oral spray is the one we make. One serving is up to 3 sprays with 333 mg Lion's Mane fruiting body extract and 11 mg cinnamon extract, up to 3 servings a day, with no water needed. Its batch certificate is on the Lion's Mane oral spray lab results page.

Mushroom tincture or powder: how do they compare?

A mushroom tincture is a liquid measured with a dropper; a mushroom powder is dry and measured with a scoop or scale. They also differ in alcohol content and taste, and in the unit the label uses for one serving. Neither tells you how much mushroom material a serving holds until you read the label.

Powder is either plain ground mushroom or a dried extract, and the label should say which. A tincture is an extract by definition, made in a liquid base of alcohol, often mixed with water. The label of either one should name the part of the mushroom used.

Measuring differs too. A level scoop of loose powder varies with how tightly the powder is packed, while a dropper gives a set volume. Powder tastes of the mushroom, and a tincture tastes of its alcohol base as well.

What is in a mushroom tincture?

A mushroom tincture contains a mushroom extract in a liquid base, which is alcohol, often mixed with water. Its label should name the mushroom and the part used, and state the portion recommended for daily consumption. EU law requires every food supplement label to state that daily portion and a warning not to exceed it.

Two questions decide what a bottle holds: how many milligrams of extract one daily serving contains, and whether a batch certificate shows what was measured in it. A label that gives only drops and millilitres answers neither, so ask the seller before you compare it with capsules or powder.

No health claim has been authorised in the EU or in Great Britain for Lion's Mane, so we don't make one. This page explains how we grow, extract and test it.

Lion's mane powder or capsules: how do you compare one serving?

To compare lion's mane powder with capsules, convert both labels to the amount in one daily serving. Then check that both labels describe the same material, extract or ground mushroom. A capsule label gives milligrams per capsule, and a powder label gives grams per serving that you measure yourself.

The table shows the label serving of each Human Pro format and how long one pack lasts at that serving.

Product	One daily serving (label)	Pack	Days per pack at the label serving
Lion's Mane capsules	3 capsules of 420 mg = 1,260 mg fruiting body extract	90 capsules	30 (90 ÷ 3)
Reishi capsules	3 capsules of 420 mg = 1,260 mg fruiting body extract	90 capsules	30 (90 ÷ 3)
Chaga mushroom capsules	3 capsules of 420 mg = 1,260 mg sclerotium extract	90 capsules	30 (90 ÷ 3)
Mushroom Essentials Complex	4 capsules, with 417.5 mg each of Lion's Mane, Reishi, Cordyceps and Chaga extract plus 2.5 mg niacin (vitamin B3)	See the pack	See the pack
Lion's Mane oral spray	Up to 3 sprays = 333 mg Lion's Mane fruiting body extract and 11 mg cinnamon extract, up to 3 servings a day	30 ml, 90 servings	30 at 3 servings a day (90 ÷ 3)

Source: Human Pro product labels, checked 19 October 2026. Days per pack are our arithmetic from the label.

Mushroom Essentials Complex is always taken as 4 capsules, and its batch certificate is on the MEC lab results page.

How much alcohol is left in our capsule extracts?

How should you store each format?

Store Human Pro capsules in a cool, dry and dark place at room temperature, 15 to 25 °C, and keep the pack tightly closed. The Lion's Mane oral spray has the same storage line, with the bottle kept closed. For a powder or tincture from another maker, follow the storage line on its label.

The best-before date is printed on the pack, next to the LOT number. EU food information rules list a date of minimum durability among the particulars a prepacked food must carry (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Article 9).

Use the LOT number to look up the certificate of the batch you own on our test-results pages. We leave earlier batches online, so an older pack still matches a published certificate.

Frequently asked questions

Can you take a mushroom capsule under the tongue?

Human Pro's capsule labels give one way to take them, and it is not under the tongue. For Lion's Mane, Reishi or Chaga capsules, take 3 capsules (1,260 mg) a day with a glass of water. If you want a format that goes straight into the mouth with no water, the one we make is the Lion's Mane oral spray.

Are mushroom drops the same as a tincture?

Mushroom drops is a common name for a liquid mushroom extract that you measure with a dropper, which is how tinctures are sold. The name alone does not tell you the liquid base or the amount of extract per serving. Read the label for both, and ask for the batch certificate.

Is mushroom extract the same as mushroom?

A mushroom extract is made from the mushroom, but it is not the whole dried mushroom. It holds what dissolved in the solvent, such as water or alcohol, dried back into a powder. Ground mushroom powder is the whole dried mushroom, so a label should say which of the two a product contains and which part of the mushroom it uses.

What to do next

To see how each batch is tested, open the lab results and certificates of analysis, where every certificate shows the method and the laboratory next to each result.

Already have a pack? Match the LOT on your pack to the Lion's Mane capsules batch reports.

Update history

• 20 October 2026: Rewritten in full with a format comparison table, the label serving of each product, residual ethanol from three batch certificates and a safety section.