How to make the perfect kratom tea

How to make the perfect Kratom tea

You don't need much to make the perfect Kratom tea.  Here's a list of what you'll need and a guide of how to make it

You'll need:

• Kratom (if you're new, start small at around 5g / person)
• A small pot
• Lemon or lime juice (or other acidic liquid such as vinegar)
• Sweetener (Sugar, honey or Stevia)
• A fine strainer (a piece of cotton from an old shirt is perfect for this) 

You may think it sounds straight-forward to make Kratom tea, but many have failed by not following some simple instructions.  Most people assume a short soak in water is all it takes to release Kratom's wonderful alkaloids, but it takes a little more agitation than that.  Kratom alkaloids are pretty stable at or below boiling point which allows us to safely bring the Kratom to a medium / low boil without danger of destroying any active alkaloids.  So firstly, we have to simmer the Kratom to extract as many alkaloids as possible. Furthermore, Kratom's many alkaloids are soluble in different solvents so we have to take account of that by making the tea water a little acidic.  You can make the water acidic by adding a couple a squeezes of lemon or lime juice-or even a little vinegar if you have no lemon or lime juice- and can tolerate the taste.

What is the best Kratom to use? That's a matter of opinion (read my other post on Kratom strains) but I prefer red vein varieties in the evening for their sedative, euphoric properties and white vein varieties when I want more stimulation. If I fancy a mellow afternoon, green vein varieties work best for me. 

A double boil is recommended.  For the first boil, add 500ml of water to your Kratom pot along with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and bring to a soft simmer for 20 minutes.  When your 20 minutes is up, let the pot sit for a minute or so to allow the Kratom to settle a little, which will make straining easier.

Now strain your tea through your strainer or old shirt and return the Kratom from your strainer back to your boiling pot.  (You don't need to squeeze your strainer too hard at this point as any alkaloids remaining will be caught in the second boil.)  You should have lost around half of your original 500ml to evaporation so you should be left with around 250ml of tea after your first boil.  Put this aside.

You'll only need to simmer your second boil for half as long and this time use just 250ml of water.  Add another squeeze of lemon juice and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.  Strain your second batch into the same cup as your first, but this time really squeeze your Kratom well.

Kratom tea can be very bitter so now is the time to add something to sweeten it and mask to flavour.  If, like me, you're going to be consuming a lot of Kratom tea, it would be advisable to use something like Stevia to avoid weight gain and tooth decay.  You may be thinking, why not a 3rd boil? well, I've tried a 3rd boil but didn't find it to produce a better tea, although YMMV so go ahead and try a 3rd boil.

Some may be asking why not just toss and wash? Well, different methods of ingestion provide different results.  Tea brings you up quicker and has a more intense effect than toss and wash but does not last as long.  I prefer Tea to any other method of ingestion.

Happy tea brewing!