Koh Samui Mushrooms: All You Need To Know
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If you’re a psychonaut planning a trip to Thailand, you might want to add Koh Samui island to your list of places to visit.
This beautiful island is home to a special kind of magic mushroom that has some pretty amazing properties. Locals have been using psychedelic mushrooms here for centuries.
This particular species of mushroom — called Psilocybe cubensis — contains high levels of psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound. When consumed, psilocybin can produce powerful hallucinations and an altered state of consciousness.
There’s some debate about what species Koh Samui mushrooms refer to. In most cases, Koh Samui refers to a particular strain of Psilocybe cubensis that was collected from the island of Koh Samui by the amateur mycologist Mushroom John Allen in the 90s. However, there’s also a separate species of psilocybin-containing mushroom found here called Psilocybe samuiensis, but it’s not common to find these mushrooms or their spores online.
But the plot thickens…
Some experts place this Thai magic mushroom strain under the Mexicanae genus of psilocybe mushrooms rather than Psilocybe cubensis. If this were true, it would make Koh Samui mushrooms the only strain from the Mexicanaue genus that’s found outside North America [1].
Gastón Guzmán, a Mexican mycologist and anthropologist, placed this mushroom in the Mexicanae category due to its rhomboid-shaped spores and its ability to grow sclerotia, a compact growth in the mycelium containing food reserves, which is an evolutionary trait that emerged from surviving extreme temperatures.
But most experts argue that Koh Samui mushrooms are, in fact, a strain of Psilocybe cubensis.
Koh Samui SpecsPotency
Average 🍄
Cultivation
Beginner-Friendly
Species
Psilocybe cubensis
Substrate Recommendation
Rye Grain
Sold By
Black Diamond Mushroom Chocolates
Koh Samui is a popular strain of magic mushrooms thanks to its fast-growing, contaminant-resistant mycelium.
The mushrooms fruit quickly and colonize rapidly, resulting in thick, healthy growth. Although they don’t grow very tall, Koh Samui mushrooms are known to proliferate in very dense clusters.
Koh Samui shrooms are commonly used in traditional Thai medicine to treat various ailments, including fatigue, anxiety, and depression and are also said to improve cognitive function and memory.
People report that the high from these mushrooms is formidable but certainly not the strongest available. The psychedelic experience from this shroom can be confusing or disorientating with strong visual hallucinations. The high is also described as being high-energy and euphoric.
Quantitative analysis on this mushroom strain suggests an average psilocybin content of around 0.63%. Total tryptamine levels (psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, and other related compounds) average at around 0.7% for this strain.
For reference, we consider the average Psilocybe cubensis mushroom to contain somewhere between 0.5% and 0.9% total tryptamines (dried weight).
The Koh Samui magic mushroom is often many people’s first experience with psychedelic shrooms when vacationing in Thailand. They’re especially popular in the form of magic mushroom shakes during the infamous Full Moon parties.