Ask a sports activities diet formulator what NuLiv Science is understood for, and you may hear AstraGin and Senactiv. Few would guess that the corporate’s largest vendor by quantity is a mushroom.
Mushroom powders do not dissolve. They settle, and your final sip tastes like sand. NuLiv Science milled CordycepsPrime all the way down to 25 to 30 microns so it disperses easily and comes again with a lightweight swirl as a substitute of a tough shake.
That shock got here up on Episode #217 of the PricePlow Podcast, when NuLiv’s VP of Gross sales Luis Gonzalez advised us that CordycepsPrime™ strikes extra kilos per 12 months than the rest within the portfolio. It is also the ingredient NuLiv was based on in 1997, and most of that quantity goes to multi-level advertising (MLM) firms reasonably than the sports activities diet manufacturers we often cowl.
Now NuLiv desires to place it in drinks.
Meet the Beverage Secure Cordyceps from NuLiv Science
On October 20, 2026, the corporate launched CordycepsPrime Beverage Grade, a finer-milled model of the identical fermented cordyceps made for ready-to-drink (RTD) drinks, power pictures, mushroom coffees, and shakes.[1] The fermentation and the mushroom keep the identical. The one distinction is particle measurement, which adjustments how the powder behaves in liquid.
Why Mushrooms Battle in Drinks
Practical mushroom powders merely do not dissolve. Stir a standard-grade powder into water and it drops out of suspension rapidly, settles once more quickly after shaking, and may depart a gritty texture that customers discover by the final sip.
In response to NuLiv, that has left beverage builders with three choices for cordyceps: use an extract carried on maltodextrin, depart cordyceps out completely, or settle for the sediment.
“Cordyceps has at all times been robust to get right into a drink with out an excessive amount of settling.”[1]
— Richard Wang, NuLiv Science CEO
Wang, NuLiv’s Chief Government Officer, added that this launch is slightly private for the corporate, since CordycepsPrime is the ingredient NuLiv began with.
What Modified With Beverage Grade
CordycepsPrime Beverage Grade makes use of the identical liquid fermentation course of as the usual grade. The one change is mesh measurement.
The brand new grade is milled to 500 mesh, or 25 to 30 microns. For scale, NuLiv places that at a few third the width of a human hair and 1 / 4 the scale of a grain of sand. At that measurement, the powder disperses easily, settles extra slowly than normal mushroom powder, and comes again along with a lightweight swirl as a substitute of a tough shake. NuLiv says the particles are effective sufficient that there is no perceptible texture within the completed drink.
The corporate’s personal comparability is miso soup: the particles drift down slowly over time, and a mild stir brings every little thing again collectively.
NuLiv is cautious to not oversell this, and we’ll observe its lead. Beverage Grade nonetheless does not dissolve, so a completed drink made with it’s nonetheless a suspension. It simply behaves like a a lot better one.
Specs at a Look
Supply: Cordyceps sinensis fermented mycelium (liquid fermentation), with pressure id verified by DNA fingerprinting, per NuLiv
Particle measurement: 500 mesh (25 to 30 microns)
Standardization: 8% cordycepic acid (used as a batch-consistency marker) and 0.28% adenosine
Composition: Pure fermented mycelium with no residual progress substrate
Certifications: Natural, Kosher, Halal, and Gluten-Free
Documented serving: 500mg, per NuLiv
Ordering: Selectable on the quote stage alongside NuLiv’s normal and normal natural grades
Constructed for Extra Than Cans
NuLiv’s launch supplies listing RTD drinks, power pictures, mushroom coffees, and shakes as the primary targets. Its Beverage Grade touchdown web page additionally names gels, gummies, sachets, and pouches as candidate codecs, so the finer mesh is not strictly a drinks play.
The place CordycepsPrime Comes From
Luis Gonzalez, VP of Gross sales at NuLiv Science, joins the PricePlow Podcast for an intensive podcast masking the complete ingredient portfolio, the groundbreaking 2026 AstraGin® whey protein absorption examine, Senactiv®’s senolytic analysis arc, and extra on Episode #217.
Wild Cordyceps sinensis grows from the top of a single sort of caterpillar larva excessive on the Tibetan plateau. That slim habitat has made it one of the vital costly uncooked supplies in conventional Chinese language medication, and harvests have declined as worldwide demand has climbed.[2] Industrial provide depends on cultivation and fermentation as a substitute.
NuLiv’s story begins there. The corporate was based in 1997 by brothers Michael and Austin Wang. Austin had secured one of many first patents on Cordyceps sinensis produced by means of liquid fermentation, and Michael agreed to assist convey it to market. On the podcast, Luis defined that the unique aim was supplying mushroom extracts that have been secure sufficient to make use of with sufferers, at a time when high quality materials was laborious to search out.
NuLiv offered solely mushrooms till round 2010, when AstraGin reached the U.S. market and pulled the corporate towards sports activities diet. Michael’s son, Richard Wang, now runs the corporate.
Liquid Fermentation, No Grain
Many mycelium elements are grown on grain, and the completed powder consists of that colonized substrate. NuLiv grows CordycepsPrime in a liquid medium with no grain or wooden, and says no residual substrate stays within the completed powder. By NuLiv’s numbers, it takes 5,000kg of progress medium to provide 1,000kg of completed ingredient.
NuLiv additionally says its manufacturing companion holds the one authorities allow in China to provide fermented Cordyceps sinensis and reishi (Ganoderma lucidum).
The Quiet Quantity Chief
So how does a mushroom outsell AstraGin? In response to Luis, it comes all the way down to who’s shopping for. He estimated that NuLiv’s mushrooms can value three or 4 instances as a lot as typical market materials, which retains most sports activities diet manufacturers away. MLM firms, alternatively, run a few of the strictest high quality and security documentation necessities within the trade, they usually cannot danger uncooked materials that misses spec.
“Most of our purchasers do not even know we promote mushrooms.”[3]
— Luis Gonzalez
That provides Beverage Grade an attention-grabbing viewers. NuLiv already works with a protracted listing of sports activities diet and power manufacturers by means of AstraGin and Senactiv, together with GHOST, which makes use of AstraGin in its canned power drinks. A beverage-ready cordyceps offers those self same prospects a cause to have a look at the mushroom facet of the catalog.
What Formulators Ought to Know
Mushroom coffees and mushroom-forward RTDs have grow to be a typical sight on retailer cabinets, and the beverage aisle is the place texture issues are hardest to cover. Just a few sensible notes for manufacturers contemplating Beverage Grade:
Plan for a Suspension
Slower settling continues to be settling. Manufacturers ought to plan for a “swirl gently” course on the label, take into consideration whether or not clear packaging will present sediment over time, and run shelf-life testing on the precise completed product reasonably than counting on a water check.
Thoughts the Dose
NuLiv paperwork a 500mg serving for CordycepsPrime. Revealed human trials on fermented Cordyceps sinensis mycelium have used extra, from roughly 1g per day in a 12-week trial[4] to 3g per day in a six-week trial.[5] Merchandise aiming for the quantities utilized in medical settings could require a number of servings per day.
That is one other place the place a extra dispersible powder might assist, since a gram of ordinary mushroom powder in a can is a sediment drawback ready to occur. Manufacturers ought to nonetheless check sensory and settling at their precise goal dose.
Identical Mushroom, New Format
CordycepsPrime has spent almost three many years as NuLiv’s quiet quantity chief, principally in capsules and powders offered by means of channels that sports activities diet followers hardly ever see. Beverage Grade retains the identical fermented mycelium and makes it simpler to work with in liquid, eradicating one of many extra frequent causes beverage builders have left cordyceps off the label.
Manufacturers can request samples by means of NuLiv’s CordycepsPrime Beverage Grade web page. We’ll take a more in-depth take a look at the CordycepsPrime analysis as we be taught extra.
Curious which drinks decide up Beverage Grade first? Join NuLiv Science information alerts beneath:
