What Is Cordyceps? Meet the Gym Bro Guru
Cordyceps is a fungus first prized on the Tibetan Plateau, where the wild kind grows more than two miles above sea level. People in Tibet and China have used it in traditional medicine for centuries.
It also has the wildest origin story of anything in the can. Stay with us.
At Milli we call cordyceps the Gym Bro Guru. Always in a tank top, always saying "rise and grind," somehow also super chill. Never skips leg day.
Where cordyceps comes from
The original cordyceps grows in high alpine grassland across Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Its Tibetan name is yartsa gunbu, which means "summer grass, winter worm."
That name is a literal description. In the wild, the fungus grows out of a ghost moth caterpillar underground, then sends a thin brown stalk up through the soil in spring. Worm in winter, grass in summer.
Nature is metal. The Gym Bro respects it.
Every spring, whole villages head up the mountain and spend weeks on their hands and knees looking for stalks the size of a matchstick. It's worth the crawl. Wild cordyceps has sold for more than twice the price of gold.
The cordyceps in modern drinks and supplements, Milli included, is a different story. It's cultivated, with no mountains and no caterpillars involved.
How the world found out
The story Tibetan herders tell is that they noticed it first in their yaks. The animals grazed the high pastures in spring and came back with extra pep. Somebody went looking for what they'd been eating.
The paper trail starts in the 1400s. A Tibetan doctor named Zurkhar Nyamnyi Dorje wrote about yartsa gunbu in a medical text, and Chinese medicine picked it up soon after.
For the next 500 years it stayed a regional secret. Then came 1993.
That year a group of Chinese distance runners broke world records, and their coach gave some of the credit to a training diet that included the fungus. Those records have gotten plenty of side-eye since. The mushroom got famous anyway.
Demand took off, prices followed, and growers started farming cordyceps so the rest of us could try it without re-mortgaging the house.
Why cordyceps is in Milli
Every squad needs the one who shows up on time and keeps the energy steady. That's the Gym Bro Guru.
In the can, cordyceps teams up with lion's mane for a clear, calm head. Kava, damiana and mitragynine round out the squad, with 0% alcohol, no caffeine and 35 calories.
Milli is for adults 21+. Start with one, sip slow, and keep it to two cans max in 24 hours.
Meet the rest of the squad, read up on lion's mane, the Brainiac, or grab a pack. Drink happy. Live Milli.
Cordyceps FAQ
What is cordyceps?
A fungus. The original wild species comes from the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas, and it has been used in Tibetan and Chinese traditional medicine for centuries.
Where does cordyceps come from?
Wild cordyceps grows in high alpine grassland in Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. The cordyceps in most drinks and supplements today is cultivated.
Is cordyceps really a caterpillar fungus?
The wild Himalayan kind is. It grows from a ghost moth caterpillar underground. Cultivated cordyceps is grown without insects.
Is cordyceps vegan?
Cultivated cordyceps is. Milli is vegan and gluten-free.
Does cordyceps have caffeine?
No. Cordyceps is a fungus and contains no caffeine. Milli has none either.
Is there cordyceps in Milli?
Yes. Cordyceps is one of five active botanicals in Milli Original, along with lion's mane, kava, damiana and mitragynine.