Are you ChatGPT visible? 

Something caught my attention recently. More people are using ChatGPT to shop for wellness products, but nobody's testing how established functional food brands actually show up in these AI-powered searches.

So I decided to run an experiment. I picked Four Sigmatic, the brand that popularized mushroom coffee and built a $100M+ business around functional fungi, and tested how visible they are when someone uses ChatGPT to find wellness beverages.

Four Sigmatic appeared in 6 out of 11 purchase scenarios I tested. Despite being the pioneer in mushroom coffee, they were completely absent from searches like "buy caffeine-free mushroom coffee."

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The 5-Dimension AI Discovery Audit

Test how your brand performs across the complete AI discovery spectrum with these 11 strategic queries:

1. Category Authority (3 queries)

Tests: Do you own your product category in AI recommendations?

• Buy mushroom coffee online
• Buy functional mushroom supplements
• Buy best adaptogenic drinks under $40

2. Product Specificity (3 queries)

Tests: Does AI recommend you for specific product attributes?

• Buy best adaptogenic tea/coffee
• Where to buy lion's mane coffee?
• Buy caffeine-free mushroom coffee

3. Use Case Capture (2 queries)

Tests: Do you appear when customers describe their needs?

• Buy coffee alternative for energy
• Shop mushroom coffee for energy and focus

4. Brand Positioning (2 queries)

Tests: How does AI categorize your unique value props?

• Best tasting mushroom coffee brands
• Shop mushroom coffee with adaptogens and nootropics

5. Commercial Intent (1 query)

Tests: Do you capture purchase-ready shoppers with buying signals?

• Best alternatives for Athletic Greens?

Scoring Your Results:

• 80%+ mentions = AI optimized (you're winning AI commerce)
• 40-60% mentions = Repositioning needed (fix now before competitors do)
• <40% mentions = Invisible in AI commerce (urgent optimization required)

Four Sigmatic's final score

6 out of 11 queries (55% visibility)

Scoring approach: 8+ mentions = strong visibility | 4-7 = mixed results | under 4 = limited visibility

Here's what happened with each search:

Category Discovery: 0/4 Visible

Query: Buy mushroom coffee online

Result:

Featured prominently

What appeared instead:

Four Sigmatic Lion's Mane Ground Mushroom Coffee ($21.29), RYZE Mushroom Coffee ($36.00), Everyday Dose Mushroom Coffee ($45.00)

My take:

 Four Sigmatic appears third in their category - surprising for the brand that created the mushroom coffee market.

Query: Buy functional mushroom supplements

Result:

Missing entirely

What appeared:

Host Defense Stamets 7 multi-mushroom capsules ($20.95), Nutreance Pentaspore Mushroom Complex ($39.95), Micro Ingredients Lion's Mane Extract Powder ($38.95)

‍My take:

Complete blind spot. Four Sigmatic is invisible when people search for mushroom supplements, only appearing in coffee-specific searches.

Query:  Buy best adaptogenic drinks under $40

Result:

Featured prominently

What appeared instead:

RYZE Mushroom Coffee ($36.00), Everyday Dose Mushroom Coffee ($45.00), Four Sigmatic Lion's Mane Ground Mushroom ($21.29)

My take: Strong value positioning - positioned as the most affordable premium option in adaptogenic beverages.

Product Specificity: 1/3 Visible

Query: Buy best adaptogenic tea/coffee

Result:

Missing entirely

What appeared:

RYZE Mushroom Coffee ($36.00), Everyday Dose Mushroom Coffee ($45.00), Teeccino Cordyceps Schisandra Mushroom Coffee ($3.50)

My take:

RYZE and Everyday Dose completely dominate this broader category search, suggesting Four Sigmatic's positioning may be too narrow.

Query: Where to buy lion's mane coffee?

Result:

Featured twice

What appeared:

Four Sigmatic Organic Lion's Mane Ground Coffee ($21.29), Four Sigmatic Instant Mushroom Coffee ($8.02), Papua Lion's Mane Coffee ($35.00)

My take:

Excellent performance when searches specifically mention lion's mane - their signature ingredient strategy works perfectly here.

Query: Buy caffeine-free mushroom coffee

Result:

 Missing entirely

What appeared:

Morning Made Original Mushroom Latte ($36.00), La Republica Decaf Mushroom Coffee Big Shot ($74.99), Lifeboost Cognition Decaf Mushroom Coffee ($19.00)

My take:

Major blind spot. Four Sigmatic doesn't appear to have strong caffeine-free positioning, missing wellness customers who want mushroom benefits without stimulants.

Use Case Capture: 1/2 Visible

Query: Buy coffee alternative for energy

Result:

Missing entirely

What appeared:

Rasa Dirty Rasa coffee-style blend ($108.00), Rasa Original Adaptogen-Packed Herbal Coffee ($29.99), Four Sigmatic Instant Adaptogen Coffee ($11.59)

My take:

Rasa completely dominates "coffee alternative" searches. Four Sigmatic only appears with instant products, not their flagship ground coffee.

Query:  Shop mushroom coffee for energy and focus

Result:

Featured prominently

What appeared:

Four Sigmatic Focus Ground Coffee ($20.00), Four Sigmatic Instant Mushroom Coffee ($8.02), RYZE Mushroom Coffee ($36.00)

‍My take:

Perfect alignment with core positioning. When people search for exactly what Four Sigmatic pioneered, they dominate.

Brand Positioning: 2/2 Visible

Query: Best tasting mushroom coffee brands

Result:

Featured prominently

What appeared:

Listed in detailed comparison as "Focus Ground Coffee (Lion's Mane + Chaga): Rich dark roast, chocolatey - Most traditional coffee-like taste among mushroom blends"

My take:

Strong positioning for taste-conscious consumers who want mushroom benefits without compromising coffee experience.

Query: Shop mushroom coffee with adaptogens and nootropics

Result:

Featured prominently

What appeared:

Mood Brew Energy & Focus Mushroom Coffee ($39.99), Everyday Dose Adaptogenic Mushroom Coffee ($89.99), Four Sigmatic Instant Adaptogen Coffee ($11.59)

My take:

Good positioning in the premium functional category, although it appears with instant rather than ground coffee products.

Commercial Intent: 0/1 Visible

Query: Best alternatives for Athletic Greens?

Result:

Missing entirely

What appeared:

Live it Up Super Greens ($1.33), Vibrant Health Green Vibrance ($1.65), Jacked Factory Green Surge ($0.99)

My take:

Four Sigmatic doesn't appear in broader superfood/greens categories, showing how category specialization limits cross-selling opportunities.

What This Pattern Reveals

The standout finding: RYZE appeared in 4+ different search results, while newer brand Everyday Dose also showed strong consistent presence. Four Sigmatic, despite being the category pioneer, appeared in 6 total queries but missed key adjacent categories.

Why this might be happening: Four Sigmatic excels in their core coffee + lion's mane positioning but struggles in adjacent categories like caffeine-free, pure supplements, or coffee alternatives. Their strong brand association with "mushroom coffee" helps in direct searches but creates AI categorization constraints.

Working theory: Newer brands like RYZE and Everyday Dose may have better structured product data for AI systems, while Four Sigmatic's established positioning creates category boundaries.

The specialization trade-off: Four Sigmatic dominates when searches align with their specific positioning (lion's mane coffee, focus benefits, traditional taste) but struggles with broader wellness category discovery.

Category performance breakdown:

• Category Discovery: 2/3 visible (67%)
• Product Specificity: 1/3 visible (33%)
• Use Case Searches: 1/2 visible (50%)
• Brand Positioning: 2/2 visible (100%)
• Commercial Intent: 0/1 visible (0%)

The RYZE factor: This newer brand appeared across mushroom coffee, adaptogenic drinks, and tea/coffee searches. Their consistent presence suggests ChatGPT strongly associates them with broader functional beverage categories than Four Sigmatic.

Test Your Brand Right Now

Seeing similar patterns in your industry? Don't guess about your AI visibility.

Check Your Brand's AI Readiness →

See how your brand performs across multiple AI systems. Then manually test the 11-query framework above.

What This Means for Wellness Brands

For pioneer brands: Being first to market doesn't guarantee AI discovery dominance. Four Sigmatic's 55% visibility shows even category creators have gaps in adjacent searches.

For functional food brands: Having "functional" in your positioning doesn't guarantee visibility in all functional searches. You need structured product data that clearly communicates benefits, ingredients, and use cases to AI systems.

The catalog factor: Brands with detailed product catalogs containing structured ingredient data, clear benefit statements, and consistent categorization appear to have significant advantages in AI discovery.

Learn more about how product page optimization affects AI visibility in our guide: Why 89% of Product Pages Are Invisible to AI

Your Action Plan

Step 1: Run the readiness test (5 minutes)

‍Check your brand's baseline AI visibility. Start here →

Step 2: Map your gaps (10 minutes)‍

Which categories are you missing from? Where do competitors appear instead of you?

Step 3: Structure your data (ongoing)

Optimize your product information for AI systems. Check our LLM Audit Checklist for specific optimization steps.

Step 4: Monitor regularly (monthly)‍

Re-run tests monthly to track improvement and catch new patterns.

Tools That Can Help

Based on this research, I've built several tools to help brands optimize for AI discovery:

• AI Readiness Scanner → Test your brand across multiple AI systems

• LLMs.txt Generator → Help AI systems understand your products

• Catalog Genius → Structure product data for better discovery

• AI Search Demo → See intelligent product discovery in action

Get your Brand Audited

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Research Details

Testing method:

Fresh ChatGPT-4 sessions, purchase-intent queries, conducted August 4, 2025. This analysis examines publicly available AI responses for research purposes.

Study limitations:

Single AI platform (ChatGPT-4), point-in-time snapshot, purchase-intent queries only. Results may vary across different AI systems and time periods.

Tools used: AI readiness scanner, LLMs.txt generator, and catalog optimization agent for analyzing brand discoverability patterns.

‍© 2025 AI Brand Intelligence by Atomz. Forward freely, just keep this notice intact.