Which magic mushroom strains are strongest? What lab tests show

The short answer

In the largest study we found that grew, dried and tested many strains the same way, Mak IND had the most psilocybin of 14 Psilocybe cubensis strains, 1.96% of dry weight, followed by Penis Envy at 1.55%. Oak Ridge Light had the least, 0.20%, a 9.66-fold spread.¹ That's a ranking of one lab's samples, not of every batch sold under those names. Single mushrooms of one strain differed by a coefficient of variation of up to 23%,¹ strain names aren't standardized, and other labs testing the same name have reported very different numbers.²³

Which strains tested strongest in the 14-strain study?

Researchers raised 14 strains, each confirmed as P. cubensis by DNA testing, under identical conditions, freeze-dried them and measured six tryptamines. Psilocybin was the dominant compound.¹ The study had no plain Golden Teacher sample, so it can't tell you how Golden Teacher mushrooms compare; its closest entry is a cross, Jack Frost x Golden Teacher, at 1.10%.

Two things limit what the table can say. Each figure is the mean of repeat lab runs on one pooled powder, so it describes one batch of each strain. And the names are trade names the authors checked by appearance; they note that no genetic reference database exists to confirm them.¹

Penis Envy, Albino Penis Envy and Golden Teacher

Penis Envy measured 1.55% psilocybin (standard deviation 0.11%), second of 14, and had the most psilocin of any strain in the study, 0.18%.¹ Albino Penis Envy measured 1.14% (standard deviation 0.20%), fifth.¹ The albino form came out lower here, but that's one pooled sample of each; it doesn't show that albino strains are weaker in general.

Golden Teacher wasn't tested on its own. Five single mushrooms of the Jack Frost x Golden Teacher cross measured 0.68% to 1.24% psilocybin.¹ In a 2025 study from Uruguay, a sample labeled Golden Teacher measured 0.25% psilocybin and 0.05% psilocin. It was one of six samples, and the authors note that strain names are often misapplied.²

B+ shows how far one name can drift. One lab reported 1.13% psilocybin plus psilocin, the average of three lab-grown mushrooms.³ Another found 0.36% in a sample supplied by a user, all of it psilocin; the authors suspect moisture during storage converted the psilocybin.² A third measured 0.16% in kit-grown mushrooms (eight extractions) using a different, heated extraction method.⁴

How much do mushrooms of the same strain differ?

The 14-strain study also measured five single mushrooms from each of six strains, all from the same chamber and picked at the same stage. Psilocybin varied with a coefficient of variation of 12.81% (Mal) to 23.39% (Jack Frost x Shakti).¹

For Sat and Mal, the pooled sample measured higher than every one of the five single mushrooms. Our dataset records both figures as published. Either way, one sample of a strain isn't the strain.

Wild mushrooms show the same pattern. Ten liberty caps of similar size, picked at one Swiss site on one day, ranged from 0.53% to 1.19% psilocybin.⁵

Do other labs rank strains the same way?

No other study we found has tested these 14 names. A 2024 study of five strains from one US research supplier measured psilocybin plus psilocin at 1.36% in Creeper, 1.22% in Blue Meanie, 1.13% in B+, 1.10% in Texas Yellow and 0.88% in Thai Cubensis, averaging three mushrooms per strain: a 1.55-fold spread.³ A 1982 study found 0.57% to 0.97% psilocybin in the caps of three strains.⁶ The six samples in the 2025 Uruguayan study, a mix of user-provided and lab-grown mushrooms, held 0.15% to 0.46% psilocybin plus psilocin, well below the research-lab figures above.²

Grower competitions announce strain winners, but not in a form we can check. The Spring 2021 Psilocybin Cup winner, Tidal Wave, was reported at 3.8% "tryptamine content" by DoubleBlind.⁷ A newsletter later described that figure as a single sample of psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin combined, and gave an average of 1.17% across eight samples.⁸ Growers chose their own entries, the testing protocol wasn't published and the results weren't peer reviewed, so we don't treat them as lab findings.

Why a strain name can't tell you potency

Strain names are trade names. The 14-strain authors verified theirs by appearance and note there's no genetic reference database for them.¹ A 2023 study of the genomes of 86 commercially available P. cubensis cultivars found low genetic diversity and "hallmarks of selfing and clonal propagation". Alleles in the psilocybin gene cluster were identical across most cultivars, though some carried unique alleles that "may translate to differences in biosynthesis".⁹

Strain is also only one of the things that move the number. Flush order, drying, freezing and age all changed psilocybin content in lab studies; see the measurements on our psilocybin potency data page. Color doesn't help: a 1982 survey found no correlation between bluing and psilocybin or psilocin.¹⁰ And a label's "potency" can mean psilocybin alone or a combined figure, as our page on capsule labels explains.

That's why a calculator that assigns one potency per strain is still guessing. Of 36 web calculators in our calculator audit, 11 state the potency they assume. The only number that describes a batch is a recent lab test of that batch.