Wunderground was launched in 2021 at the helm of serial entrepreneur Jody Hall. Jody began her career at Starbucks, spending 12 years helping the company expand from 30 to 3,000 stores, and later moved on to launch Seattle-based cupcake bakery Cupcake Royale and CBD company The Goodship. Jody got the inspiration for Wunderground in 2017, when she was at an event listening to mycologist Paul Stamets talk about the tremendous health benefits of mushrooms. She learned that mushrooms had been used in Eastern cultures for thousands of years and that the West was only just beginning to take notice of their functional benefits. Jody sensed that these adaptogenic mushrooms were going to become the “next big thing”, and leveraging her decades of experience in the coffee industry, she quickly got to work.

Aiming to develop the tastiest blend possible, Jody assembled a team of seasoned operators that included many of her former Starbucks colleagues. The team experimented with various adaptogenic mushrooms and blends of roasted beans from smallholder farms, testing dozens and dozens of different recipes. They spent two years developing a relationship with a supplier of organic, wood-grown mushrooms in China and worked with food scientists and product developers to perfect the taste. That summer, Wunderground launched direct-to-consumer with its ground and instant mushroom coffees, instantly making waves within the category. The team aspires to share the amazing benefits of mushrooms — from immunity to brain clarity to emotional balance — with their community, one cup of coffee at a time.