Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), known for its vibrant red and white-spotted surface, has long been used as a hallucinogenic substance to induce altered states of consciousness in individuals seeking them. We will discuss here how you can harvest and prepare this potent mushroom into fly agaric tea for yourself.

Amanita mushrooms belong to the Amanita genus, and some members are commonly referred to as death caps or death fungi. Of its species, Amanita muscaria is one of the least harmful and, when consumed in small doses, can produce psychoactive effects similar to psychedelics. Since their toxins are water-soluble, most can be safely eliminated through prolonged boiling in water.

Amanita muscaria is an annual mushroom that thrives in temperate and boreal deciduous forests in Europe, northern Asia and North America. It forms close and mutually beneficial relationships with birch trees; their fruit bodies often forming dense mycorrhizal networks with them.

A partnership between Amanita muscaria and birch trees helps Amanita muscaria disperse its seeds during fall rainstorms, enabling mushroom to germinate and mature during summer rains. Once matured and producing fruit, its caps become covered with white warts resembling fly wings; with age their color fading from bright red to brownish orange. Amanita muscaria’s stem has thick white walls topped by an outer thick bulbous base and jagged edges.

Medieval Amanita muscaria mushrooms were frequently employed as insecticides during medieval times, with crushed caps being sprinkled into saucers of milk to release ibotenic acid, which attracted and poisoned houseflies – this ancient practice gave rise to their name: Fly Agarics.

Fly agaric mushrooms can be very dangerous to consume without proper preparation, with reports of sickness and even deaths as a result of doing so. While deaths from eating this mushroom are rare, most who consume it experience some form of psychoactive and hallucinogenic effect that ranges from drowsiness and nausea to distorted vision and sounds, sweating and even euphoria.

Author Amanita Dreamer suggests the key to accurately dosing with these mushrooms lies in adjusting the amount of liquid added to your tea. She advises beginning with smaller amounts before gradually increasing consumption until reaching your ideal intensity level.

When selecting Amanita muscaria for making tea, select only fresh specimens with intact gills. Deteriorated mushrooms with faded colors or ragged spots could indicate they’ve gone bad, and must not be harvested as these could contain harmful pathogens. It is also crucial that when harvesting Amanita muscaria you actually harvest Amanita muscaria; other members of Amanitaceae family might appear similar; any misidentification could prove fatal!