A calmer morning cup for tired nights, with Shane Heath

Shane Heath once relied on five or six coffees each day, then began bringing a 32 ounce hydro flask of cacao, chai and mushrooms to his job and to jiu jitsu. In May 2018 he bought jars, made a site and started MUDWTR to rethink the morning ritual, one lot and label at a time.

Venice and Santa Monica, California is where that start happened. In May of 2018, Shane Heath bought jars and labels, built a website and launched MUDWTR while 15,000 dollars in debt and holding a full time design role at tech startups.

He spent his childhood in Santa Cruz, California, near the night surf. He took in upwards of one thousand milligrams of caffeine daily and felt the cost at work and at home, through anxiety, poor sleep and less space for creative work. He loved the smell and taste of coffee, and the ritual above all, yet he wanted a morning cup that offered more than a vessel for strong doses of caffeine.

What began as a blend for himself grew into a company now run by a 32 person remote team. The first release was a cacao blend with masala chai and mushrooms, later joined by matcha and turmeric blends, then protein. The brand states each blend is USDA Certified Organic, with mushrooms grown in California, blended and packaged in the United States.

What Well with Luna hears in that story is a night question inside a morning product. This talk traces the powder backward, from the mug to the farm, the drying and extraction step, the lab paperwork and the Supplement Facts panel, with credit for what can be traced and plain words where the chain stays thin.

You kept the early mix in a 32 ounce hydro flask during work, jiu jitsu training and painting, while coworkers kept asking about your mug. What was actually in that early flask before there was a label.

I made this drink for my own use. It came from my private search for ingredients I trusted to meet my need. I enjoy coffee. The aroma, the taste and more than that, I adore the ritual. I was likely having five or six cups of coffee or another caffeinated drink each day and I paused to examine my habits and saw my coffee use was not truly giving me energy.

When I began MUDWTR, I carried 15,000 dollars in debt and held a full time job. So in May of 2018, I started MUDWTR to support people in reconsidering their tie to coffee. At the start I stirred small runs in a commercial kitchen, then we shifted to a co packer as orders rose. The note on day one stayed plain. I am not mad at coffee, only disappointed, so I created something gentler. That care guided sourcing. Our products function in many ways like a lead domino or a Trojan horse. The drink is the doorway, but the supply behind it must hold firm.

Your mother spent her working hours in IT inside one of North Americas largest mushroom growers. How did growing up around that work shape the California origin you now print.

Mushrooms felt ordinary in our home well before they became fashionable, because my mom has worked in the mushroom space since before I was born. That history gave me a place to begin and regard for farmers. Now we state our mushrooms are grown in California. That source forms part of the label story, and it creates expectations for supervision, harvest notes and care before drying and milling.

What that proves rests on the records behind each lot. Grown in California names a place. By itself it does not disclose fruiting body or mycelium share, extract ratio, standardization or assay outcomes. For that a buyer needs the certificate of analysis from a third party lab, showing identity, heavy metals and microbial counts linked to a lot and batch. I want shoppers to study the Supplement Facts panel and the other ingredients line, then request the lot paper. Place carries weight, then the lab confirms what left the farm and what entered encapsulation and fill.

You avoid synthetic pesticides, herbicides and seed oils within blends that are USDA Certified Organic. For someone reading at the nightstand, what does that choice alter on the farm and in the tin.

We put it directly. Our blends carry USDA Certified Organic status with no synthetic pesticides and herbicides and no seed oils. That handling and recipe decision begins in the field and appears in blending and packing in the US. Organic certification limits what a farmer may spray and calls for logs and review, so the claim rests on a file.

In the blending room it keeps the recipe spare. No seed oils used as carriers, no synthetic pesticide residues permitted under the rule. Coconut and creamer parts are picked to keep the blend plant based and to keep body without those oils. For the reader at home, the check stays easy. Find the organic seal, scan the other ingredients line for oils and carriers, and review fill weight and serving count. A 30 serving tin should pour as 30 servings, with steadiness from tin to tin.

Thank you for settling in with us for the evening, Shane. In May of 2018 you ordered jars and labels and began MUDWTR while in debt and working full time. What did that tight start teach you about supply before design.

I adored the coffee ritual, yet I wanted my morning to offer more than a carrier for strong doses of caffeine. First I stirred quiet extras into decaf at night. Then I centered the blend on cacao and masala chai, with adaptogenic mushrooms and spices, including lion’s mane and cordyceps. I brought it in a 32 ounce hydro flask as I worked, trained and painted, and folks kept asking what filled my mug and whether I could prepare some for them.

My mom has been close to mushrooms since before I was born. She handled IT for one of North America’s largest mushroom growers, so I met that world early. I did not grow up as a mycologist, but I learned whom to ask. The brand holds each strain is reviewed for demonstrated efficacy, and I describe lion’s mane for focus, cordyceps for energy and reishi for immunity as my way of framing the set. That flask season mattered because it reflected daily life, not theory. It needed to stir, taste pleasant and travel well.

By 2023 the rise blends were in more than 500 Target stores, you had opened the gather cafe in Santa Monica and reached Canada and the UK. What did that wider shelf and a cafe counter reveal about keeping each cup steady.

Selling at retail alters the task. By 2023 our rise Cacao and rise Matcha stood in more than 500 Target stores nationwide, we opened our first cafe MUDWTR gather in Santa Monica, California, and we grew across borders into Canada and the UK. A tin on a shelf and a cup poured across the counter must align, or confidence fades.

In September 2018 we accepted a 25,000 dollar first investment from Paul DeJoe and I left my day job to give full time. That shift allowed more stable output and clearer files. Steadiness means the same growers, the same specs, the same fill weight and the same third party assays by lot and batch, then handling that endures trucks, shelves and a busy bar. You cannot try to please everyone at night or you will feel loved by no one We kept the taste earthy and the branding frank, and placed effort on repeatability rather than smoothing the product away.

Your flagship cacao blend rests beside a 100 percent organic matcha with naturally occurring L theanine and a zero caffeine turmeric with mushrooms and mycelium. How should an evening reader tell those three tins apart.

Begin with source and method. Our matcha blend is 100 percent organic, crafted with spices and mushrooms, with only a fraction of the caffeine of coffee, as well as naturally occurring L theanine. Matcha is shade raised tea, stone ground, so source, picking and grinding register directly in hue and feel. The cacao blend joins cacao with masala chai and mushrooms, including chaga, reishi, lion’s mane and cordyceps with turmeric, so the panel lists more sources in one tin.

The turmeric blend holds zero caffeine, with turmeric, spices, mushrooms and mycelium. Mycelium and fruiting body mark distinct phases of the organism, and shoppers often mix them. Fermentation, drying and extraction shape what becomes powder or oil before encapsulation or tin fill. Read the panel for which part was used and for extract ratio or standardization. When it does not appear, ask. The label starts the trail in lamplight, it does not end it.

You call the products a lead domino or a Trojan horse for calm minds through steady nightly habits. With more than 130 million servings of the rise line sold by 2023, how do you hold that habit idea to method and labs.

Our products behave in many ways like a lead domino or a Trojan horse. The line we come back to at night is create healthy minds through healthy habits. The drink opens the morning in another way, with lighter caffeine and a calm ritual, and the remainder of the day follows. By 2023 we had sold more than 130 million servings of the flagship rise Cacao blend, and in 2022 we sold about 1.4 million units to about 443,000 customers in the past 12 months.

Growth makes traceability more demanding, not less. Early runs were blended by me in a commercial kitchen. Later we moved to a co packer, with blending and packing in the US. So I direct attention to the plain parts. Extract ratio states how much raw stock entered an extract. Standardised tells which marker is held steady. A certificate of analysis ties identity, heavy metals and microbes to a lot. I hold a belief that to stand apart, you must find a way to zig where others zag. For us, that zig means records and restraint.

Our products are in many quiet ways like a lead domino or a Trojan horse

Shane Heath

You often say fix your evening and started from the mud now we rest here For a home that keeps one small tin by the lamp for years, what merits the price, and which link still needs clearer proof.

Fix Your Fix shapes the soft way we talk about caffeine. I carry the CYP1A2 variant, so I clear caffeine slowly and feel it deeply. That reflects my own biology, not a statement about yours. Would I prefer to invite alertness without reliance than pursue sharp caffeine highs. Would I prefer to guard sleep and recovery than praise hustle and overwork. Would I prefer to question caffeine culture than accept but first, coffee norms. Started from the mud now we here simply tells honestly that I began in debt and built tin by tin.

What merits payment is what can be checked. Organic farm logs, California mushroom source, US blending and packing, and lot linked lab outcomes. What stays murky across much of the trade is the middle link. Precise farms by lot, fruiting body proportion, extraction solvents and ratios, and complete heavy metals sheets seldom appear on pack. What change would require is plain. List the growers, share the method, and display the certificate. We acknowledge what can be traced and we name what is not yet.

Closing note from the desk

What remains after this talk is a maker who kept the morning cup and altered what sits inside it. Heath still sounds like a designer fond of coffee, yet he replies like a purchaser of crops, asking for farm names, lot codes and lab pages before adjectives.

MUDWTR began to support people as they rethink their tie to coffee, without jitters, crash and broken sleep, and to ground that shift in certified fields and California mushroom houses through US blending rooms to a legible label. The next task mirrors the work to date, to reveal each link and to state plainly where evidence stays thin.

Product spotlight

Coffee comes as a 30 serving tin priced at 50 dollars. It blends arabica coffee with cacao, masala chai and mushrooms with lions mane and cordyceps, plus L theanine. Stir with hot water and milk or creamer as a morning coffee replacement.

Matcha comes as a 30 serving pouch priced at 50 dollars. It keeps 100 percent organic matcha with spices and mushrooms and gentle L theanine, with a fraction of coffee caffeine. Stir with hot water or milk as a morning rise blend.