Strong Mushroom Tea (First Experience)

This is an account of my first experience with mushroom tea. At the time of the trip I was already experienced with an array of hallucinogens including mushrooms.

It was late at night, in middle of winter this year (2014.) We had been drinking beer and wine and smoking herb, just hanging out listening to music. A friend had an eigth of some strain of Cubes (couldn't remember which, but I would assume they were PEs based on the potency.) The mushrooms were in tact, small caps and long thin stems (dry.)

He suggested we make tea so it would be easy to split it between the four of us. Unfortunately, I did not pay close attention to the process he used, too busy talking and whatnot. Regardless, he served it to us in a small wooden bowl which we each sipped and passed around in a circle.

The tea was purely mushroom, no lemon, mint or tea leaves added. The flavor reminded me of oatmeal, and it was fairly warm: not bad at all really.

Because I was used to an eighth being a single dose for one person, I really didn't expect much, if anything at all. I was just grateful to my friend for sharing his mushrooms with us, instead of just gobbling them down or splitting them with the girl he was with. So, we continued talking and drinking a little bit more, and I had pretty much forgotten about the tea...

Well, within about 20 minutes I felt a sudden "lurch" in my body. It wasn't unpleasant at all, just a very noticeable flushing/tingling. One of those moments where you go "oh there it is!" My hands were tingly and a little clammy as is usual when tripping. I knew from past experiences that if the come-up was this perceptible then I was in for a good one. Everyone else sort of stood up and started pacing at the same time, and we all knew it was kicking in. The onset was much more rapid than when ingesting solids, yet felt "clean-burning" so to speak. I was as if a trip-vapor was ebbing up through my belly and into my neck and face, and it just kept establishing itself more and more. We started laughing and repeating "oh yeah, I'm definitely trippin now."

At about an hour and a half into the experience, the room had taken on that beautiful, fuzzy, "artistic" quality I'm used to with mushrooms, and now I was experiencing that sort of "mush mouth" issue where it was a little bit difficult to speak clearly and understand what others were trying to say. We'd start off with "Dude...its like... you know..." and then just laugh at the futility of trying to describe it. The carpet was definitely doing the wavy/geometric dance that everyone loves. Smoke in the air was unbelievable and intentional. We were shining a green laser through an ornate crystal glass and that never fails to blow minds. The body feeling was so loose and warm and just wonderful. Smiles all around.

At one point the person who supplied the shrooms left to go into the other room and lie down, as he was feeling it a bit too hard I guess. He didn't want to be around anyone, which was fine. We were all relatively coherent and just loving the trip. Sadly, probably right around the time we were all peaking, the person who's house it was decided it was time for everyone to go and more or less gave us all the boot. (Probably wanted to go join her friend in the bedroom....) So my friend and I called a cab, since she and I all lived in the same area of town.

The cab came, and I did not like being in a cab at all. To all of a sudden be rushed out of the warm house into the cold in the middle of the night and basically told "deal with it" sort of pissed me off to be quite honest. I would never to that to my friends... but whatever. Everything that was said between my friend, the cabby and I seemed unbearably awkward, and I felt so dumb and clueless. My mind was telling me my friend knew this guy and I couldn't establish what was "really going on," and I remember she didn't even tell him her address, he just brought her there. Since I only lived about a mile away I decided to get out at her house and walk the rest of the way. The whole situation suddenly felt scummy and I wanted out.

So, I started walking. It was a very cold but clear and still night. The area I live in is quiet and has nice geography: hills and fields, some trees here and there. I was much happier alone and out of that God forsaken cab, but I was still very much tripping, to be sure. I still had a beer in my hand, and that made me get paranoid that I was gonna get stopped by police, so I just tossed it in a random trash can. Street lights in the distance all seemed like cars creeping my way, as they would stretch out and recede as I looked at them. Every sound was somebody coming to get me...

 I took control of that thinking and started laughing about it. What do I care if someone sees a young man walking home in the middle of the night? Who are they to put this fear into my mind? I'll walk wherever I please, whenever I please! That thinking led me to start really becoming inspired and nostalgic. I cried a bit about the half-assed person I knew I had been. I made vows to myself to really enjoy each moment of life, to not be quick to anger... to celebrate my oneness with existence. I longed to be with my girlfriend in bed, cozy and warm. So, my footsteps grew faster and more confident until I got home. I lost interest in exploring the trip and I got really serious about not being so serious all the time...

 I went to bed and slept like a rock... felt like a million bucks the next morning. It was a very intense, and very rewarding experience. I learned that tea can hit you much harder than you expect, and that it can exaggerate awkwardness as well as inspire you to be a better, more solid person. I always get that on true trips... these abstract feelings of "solidness" and "sturdiness" as applied to personal character. I always leave a trip with a sharper sense of what it means to be a solid person, a good person... which is why I love it. By exaggerating everything it really gives you the feeling of abstract things in life.