First Timer Magic Mushroom Kit for Beginners

The First Timer Kit is the product we recommend more than any other on the site. It’s built for one person: someone who’s curious about magic mushrooms, has never taken them before, and wants to do it properly without guessing. Four products, one box, $99 instead of $121 if you bought them separately.

The kit is a sampler. The point isn’t to use everything in one weekend. The point is to try each format, figure out which one fits your life, then come back and buy more of the one that worked.

Pierre’s right. The kit ships without a printed booklet, and we used to feel bad about that. Now we feel fine about it, because the instructions are on this page where we can update them when something changes, fix things when reviewers point out we missed something, and add detail that wouldn’t fit on a folded piece of paper. Read this whole page before you open the box. It takes about ten minutes. It will save you from the most common first-timer mistakes.

If you want a deeper read first, our blog has two posts that pair well with this kit: It’s My First Shrooms Trip, What Should I Do? and From Curiosity to Clarity: What to Expect When You Buy Magic Mushrooms Online for the First Time.

What’s in the box

1. Two grams of Golden Teacher dried mushrooms

Golden Teacher is a moderate-potency Psilocybe cubensis strain and the most commonly recommended starting strain in Canada. Two grams is one full first trip for most people, and it’s the dose most reviewers in this kit name as “real but manageable.” It’s not too strong. It’s not so light you wonder if anything’s happening. For more on what makes Golden Teacher the right beginner strain, our strain guide walks through how it compares to everything else in the catalogue.

2. Two pieces of Magic Mushroom Chocolate Choconaut (0.5g each, 1g total)

Choconaut is a precision-dosed psilocybin chocolate. Each piece equals 0.5 gram of dried Golden Teacher, so two pieces give you 1 gram total. Take one for a light experience or both for something closer to a real but gentle trip. The chocolate masks the taste of mushrooms entirely, and it kicks in slightly slower than dried because of the fat content. A good first option if you don’t like the idea of chewing dried shrooms.

3. One gram of Golden Teacher Rooibos Chai tea

A 1 gram dose of dried Golden Teacher pre-blended with rooibos and chai spices. You steep it like normal tea. Easier on the stomach than chewing dried, faster onset than chocolate, and the flavour is genuinely pleasant. Good for people whose main hesitation is “I don’t want to taste the mushrooms.” If you’d rather brew tea from your own dried mushrooms in future orders, our step-by-step tea brewing guide covers it.

4. One bottle of Spore Wellness microdose (25 capsules)

You pick the formula at checkout: Cognitive, Immune, or Energy. Each capsule contains 100mg of Golden Teacher psilocybin plus functional mushrooms (Lion’s Mane in Cognitive, Reishi and Chaga in Immune, Cordyceps and Rhodiola in Energy). Microdoses do not produce a trip. They’re for daily wellness, focus, mood, and energy. Most people take one every three days for about a month.

Which Spore Wellness formula should you choose?

All three formulas use the same 100mg Golden Teacher base. The difference is what’s blended in alongside it. Pick based on what you want help with day to day.

If you can’t decide, pick Cognitive. It’s the bestseller in the line and the most generally useful.

The recommended order: do the trip first, then start microdosing

There’s no rule, but this is the sequence we recommend and it’s the one most reviewers follow. Doing the macrodose first gives you a baseline experience. Microdosing afterward extends the benefit for several weeks. Doing it the other way around isn’t wrong, but it’s less common.

Week 1: do the trip. Pick one of the three trip options (dried, chocolate, or tea). Save the other two for later sessions. Give yourself a day with no plans and no obligations.

Weeks 2 to 5: start the microdose protocol. One capsule every three days. The most-cited schedule is the Fadiman protocol: dose day, off day, off day, repeat. 25 capsules will last roughly two and a half months at that pace. Stop if benefits plateau and take a two week break before starting again. For a deeper look at how often is too often, our blog post How Often Can You Do Magic Mushrooms? covers tolerance and frequency in detail.

Week 6 onward: re-order what worked. By this point you’ll know whether you preferred the dried, chocolate, or tea, and whether the microdose schedule made a real difference. That’s the whole purpose of the kit. The next order is the focused one.

How to take your first 2g of Golden Teacher

This is the section most first-timers come to the kit page for. Do this once before you take anything. For a comprehensive walkthrough, our blog has a dedicated post: It’s My First Shrooms Trip, What Should I Do?

The trip itself, in order:

Eat lightly two hours before. A heavy meal will dampen and delay the come-up, which is the most common reason first-timers accidentally take more thinking it didn’t work.

Take all 2g at once. Chew the dried mushrooms thoroughly, swallow with water. They don’t taste good. It takes about a minute. Some people prefer to grind them and put them in a smoothie or capsule, which works fine.

Wait the full 90 minutes before considering more. This is the single most important rule on this page. Onset is 30 to 60 minutes, sometimes longer. Don’t redose at minute 45 because “nothing’s happening.” That’s how people accidentally take twice the dose they wanted. Our dosage guide covers what to expect at each level.

Settle in. Lie down or sit somewhere comfortable. Put on familiar music. Close your eyes if you want to. The peak comes around hour two and lasts about an hour. The trip runs four to six hours total. Our breakdown of how long magic mushrooms last walks through the full timeline including the afterglow.

Drink water. Hydrate. Don’t drive.

Plan to be free of obligations for the rest of the day and the next morning. Even after the trip ends, you’ll feel introspective and slightly tired for several hours.

If the trip feels too strong

Even at 2g of Golden Teacher, doses can hit harder than expected depending on body weight, recent meals, and mindset. If you find yourself in a difficult headspace:

• Change your environment. Move to a different room, dim the lights, or step outside if you have someone with you and the weather is mild.
• Put on familiar music. Something you know well and find comforting, never anything new or intense.
• Drink water. Eat something light if you can.
• Remind yourself: it will end. Mushroom experiences always pass within a few hours, and intensity always peaks before it fades. You are not stuck. You are not losing your mind. The drug will wear off.
• If a sober person is with you, talk to them. Saying it out loud is often enough to take the edge off.
• Lie down, close your eyes, and let it move through you. Resisting almost always makes it worse. Surrendering almost always makes it better.
• Avoid mirrors. Avoid scrolling on your phone. Avoid reading anything heavy.

At 2g of Golden Teacher, overwhelming experiences are uncommon. Knowing in advance what to do if it happens makes it less likely to happen at all.

Starting the microdose protocol after your trip

Wait at least two days after your trip before taking your first microdose capsule. Then begin the schedule:

This is the Fadiman protocol, named after psychologist James Fadiman who codified it. There are other schedules (Stamets stack uses different ratios and includes Lion’s Mane and niacin, for example) but Fadiman is the most studied and the easiest to follow as a starting point.

Microdosing is not psychoactive. You will not feel high. The effects show up as small improvements in mood, focus, energy, or creativity that compound over weeks rather than appearing in a single moment. If you don’t notice anything in the first two weeks, that’s not unusual. Keep going through the bottle and reassess at the end. For a research-backed read, our blog covers microdosing for pain and psilocybin and depression.

What to order next, based on what you liked

This is the actual purpose of the kit. Once you’ve tried each format, you’ll know which one fits your life. The four common paths from here:

Storing what you don’t use right away

The 2g of dried Golden Teacher and the unused chocolate and tea will keep for many months if stored properly. Cool, dry, dark, in a sealed container. Avoid heat, humidity, and direct sunlight. Our full storage guide covers vacuum sealing, freezing, and long-term storage.

The Spore Wellness capsules keep at room temperature in their bottle. No special handling required.

Common questions about the First Timer Kit

Is this enough for one person or could two people share it?

It’s designed for one person. The 2g of dried, the 1g of chocolate, and the 1g of tea are three separate trip occasions for one person. The microdose bottle is also a single user supply. Two people sharing would each get only a partial trip and half a microdose course, which is not what the kit is built for. Order two kits for two first-timers.

What if I have a difficult trip?

At 2g of Golden Teacher, overwhelming experiences are uncommon, especially if you’ve prepared properly with set and setting. The “If the trip feels too strong” section above lists what to do if it happens. The short version: change your environment, put on familiar music, drink water, and remind yourself it will pass. Most difficult moments resolve within 30 to 60 minutes once you act on them.

How long until the microdose effects show up?

Some people notice mood or focus shifts the first day. Most notice gradual changes over the first two to three weeks. A small percentage notice nothing in the first month, in which case the formula or strain may not be the right fit and a different microdose product is worth trying.

Can I take the microdose capsules and still drive or work?

Yes. Microdoses are sub-perceptual and do not impair function. That’s the entire point. Many users specifically take them on workdays for focus and mood. Take it in the morning with breakfast, go about your day normally.

What if I don’t like one of the products in the kit?

That’s part of the design. The kit is a sampler so you can rule things out as well as in. If the chocolate isn’t for you, you’ve learned that for the cost of one piece. Skip chocolate on your next order. The whole point is to figure out what works without committing to a 14g bag of something you won’t use.

Why doesn’t the kit come with printed instructions?

Two reasons. First, instructions on a piece of paper can’t be updated. The advice on this page has been refined dozens of times based on customer feedback. The paper version would be wrong by now. Second, plain packaging matters. The fewer items inside the box that say “magic mushrooms” on them, the better the privacy of the order.

Can I use the kit if I’m on antidepressants?

Talk to your prescriber first. SSRIs, MAOIs, and several other classes of antidepressants interact with psilocybin. SSRIs in particular tend to dampen the experience significantly, which can lead first-timers to redose to a heavy dose without realizing it. This is not a kit to use without a conversation with your doctor if you’re on prescribed medication.

Do you ship the First Timer Kit across Canada?

Yes. Every province and the territories, anywhere Canada Post delivers. Plain Xpresspost packaging, full tracking, no signature required. Orders paid before 11 AM PST go out the same business day. Most arrive in 2 to 5 business days. Full shipping policy here.

What if I’m completely new and still nervous?

Start with the chocolate or the tea instead of the 2g of dried, both of which deliver a 1g dose that’s lighter and shorter. Save the 2g for a future session once you know how your body responds. There’s no rule that says you have to start with the strongest item. Many reviewers do the chocolate first, then the dried two weeks later. For broader context on what to expect emotionally and physically, our blog post on the benefits of shrooms is a calm overview.