Determining how much kratom to take for your own personal needs is a great first step in ensuring you remain safe and healthy while receiving kratom tea’s beneficial effects. Not every person’s ideal kratom tea serving size is the same.
For any food product or supplement, the amount you consume in the short term and long term matters. You’re probably familiar with an adage adapted from a phrase said by Paracelsus, a Swiss alchemist and early physician: the dose makes the poison.
Why Kratom Serving Size Matters
Paracelcus was the first to recognize that the amount of something that one takes plays a role in the physiologic effects. He summarized his doctrine with the latin phrase sola dosis facit venenum—only the dose makes the poison.
Unsurprisingly, you can improve your kratom tea experience greatly with a bit of know-how on serving sizes.
Some people think different kratom effects come from different strains of kratom, but this isn’t nearly the whole story. In fact, even if you buy the best kratom strain from the best vendor, you may not have a good experience if you don’t know what the proper serving size is.
It’s important understand how much kratom to take prior to consuming kratom, regardless of which type of kratom product you choose.
Related: How strong is kratom extract compared to kratom powder or kratom tea?
So let’s dive into how to brew tea at the serving size that best fits your individual preferences and needs!
The Duality of Kratom Effects
Kratom has multiple sides. When you take smaller servings of kratom, it can be energizing and act as a coffee replacement. When you take larger servings, you can expect a different effect. In the upper range you may notice a strong bodily sensation, and also feel some sleepiness and coziness.
The explanation for the polarity of these effects is still debated. Some researchers believe that it is a result of how kratom alkaloids bind with the mu-opioid receptors in your body. Like kratom, other classic molecules that bind at these receptors have energizing effects at low levels.
Another prominent theory is that the different alkaloids found in kratom mediate the varying effects. For example, smaller servings may contain sufficient quantities of the energizing alkaloids to have an effect. However, it could take a larger serving to ingest enough of the alkaloids that are calming to reach the critical threshold for their effects to set in.
Whatever the pharmacological cause of the paradoxical effects, it’s not a matter of debate whether you can get both types of effects. Once you figure out how much to take, you can alter your serving size according to some general guidelines and achieve whichever effect you’re aiming for.
Energizing Kratom Serving Size
To enjoy the lower-end effects of kratom, we recommend using one or two tea bags. Each of our tea bags typically contains 3 grams of dried and crushed kratom leaves. Most of the quantity-tier recommendations that you can find on the internet are built around toss and wash, wherein you actually swallow kratom leaf powder. Usually the tiers are broken into three categories. Energizing is 1-5 grams, middle ground is 5-10 grams, and 10+ grams is when the strong bodily effects appear. Tea will follow the same curve as toss and wash. However, since you are not actually swallowing the leaf powder, there are some differences.
Uplift White Vein Kratom Tea
The best varieties of kratom to take for energizing effects are our white vein kratom teas. We called our white vein teas Uplift. We have both raw leaf Uplift (plain white vein kratom tea) and Cacao Uplift (a white vein kratom tea and cacao blend).
Moderate Kratom Serving Size for Balance
Many customers have written to us and explained how they used our tea bags. Primarily, when a customer stated they brewed their tea with 3 or 4 tea bags (9 to 12 grams of crushed leaf), their purpose for drinking the tea was to accompany their practice of dealing with stress and aches and pains.
We’ve found that this is a good range to handle post-workout soreness without putting ourselves to sleep as well.
Balance Green Kratom Tea
Green vein kratom tea is phenomenal for novice kratom tea drinkers. We call ours Balance. We have both Balance (pure green vein kratom tea), and Tulsi Balance (green vein kratom tea blended with tulsi, rooibos, peach, and mango).
It is also our recommended option for moderate serving sizes (3 to 4 tea bags). This amount of kratom tea will help you relax your body while clarifying your mind.
Large & Relaxing Kratom Tea Serving Size
There are many factors to consider before brewing a large serving size for one person to drink. That is to say, there are many reasons why someone would be justified in taking heaping servings of tea.
We consider a very large serving to be around 9 or more grams of crushed-leaf kratom, or 3 or more tea bags.
Who should consume large kratom tea servings?
If you do not meet the criteria for large servings, you risk getting an upset stomach and dizziness.
You can think of these considerations like you would coffee.
An otherwise healthy, sleep-deprived college student in the midst of finals season may be able to drink his 5th coffee before noon while still complaining about fatigue. The student had built up his tolerance to caffeine over time, and could drink serving after serving of coffee with little immediate ill effect.
However, what if someone drank coffee for the first time in their life at that rate? They would likely become sick, then recover in a few hours, probably no worse for the wear.
Don’t forget that unlike coffee, kratom’s effects can shift from energizing to relaxing in larger serving sizes.
These serving sizes are frequently associated with relieving bodily stresses.
Re-steeping Kratom Tea
When you make stronger tea with our tea bags, the second, and maybe even third steep with the same tea bags can be nearly as strong as your first. So make sure you don’t forget to start brewing your next thermos-full when you are done steeping your first batch!
Next, in addition to the amount and rate at which you drink kratom tea, time of days is also an important consideration.
We recommend consuming heavy kratom servings before bed, or when you’re free to rest for a few hours.
Unwind Red Vein Kratom Tea for Large Servings
When brewing teas with our red vein options and with more than three or four tea bags, the effects will be strong. Again, we want to caution everyone to slowly work their way up to this serving size.
Red vein kratom is the main ingredient in our soothing chamomile masala chai kratom blend, Chai Unwind. We also offer a pure red vein kratom tea, Unwind.
Now that you know more about what serving size to choose, let’s go over how to brew your tea.
To make tea that is as strong as powder, you just have to be sure to brew it properly. For 1-2 bags to have the equivalent strength to swallowing 3-6 grams of kratom powder, follow the steps below.
How to Brew Kratom Tea
Each bag of our raw or flavor-infused tea contains 3 grams of crushed leaf kratom.
Smaller kratom tea servings: fewer tea bags and/or shorter steep time.
Larger kratom tea servings: more tea bags and/or longer steep time, plus citric acid.
1. Use a tea thermos
Kratom tea needs to steep for approximately 20 minutes at a near-boiling temperature. We’ve found that a thermos is the best way to maintain the appropriate temperature without being stuck next to a simmering teapot or crockpot.
2. Add lemon juice
Alternatively, you can use apple cider vinegar, orange, lime, another acidic liquid – take your pick! When you put your tea bags into your empty thermos, squeeze half a lemon over them and let the bags soak up all the natural acids and juices.
The citric acid in the lemon (or any of the other options listed above) helps the kratom alkaloids migrate from the crushed leaves into the water. This gives you a stronger tea.
3. Pour the boiling water into your thermos
Cap your thermos and let the tea steep for 20 minutes.
If you’ve got a packed schedule, feel free to get other tasks done while it steeps. For example, you can make kratom tea before going to the gym to give you energy during your workout. If it takes you a few minutes to get to the gym, your tea will be ready just as you arrive!
You can even make your kratom tea at night, and leave the thermos on your bedside table to have when you wake up! For overnight steeps, we recommend our state-of-the-art vacuum thermoses.
4. Steep a second time!
If you used multiple tea bags or steeped your tea for a short time, chances are there’s still a significant amount of active alkaloids left in the tea bags following your first brew. Simply add more lemon juice and boiling water, resteep for 20 more minutes, and enjoy your second round of tea!
A Final Note on Kratom Serving Sizes and Safety
Kratom tea is safe at all reasonable serving sizes. However, as we discussed earlier in this post, you should employ caution as you brew larger serving sizes. The duality of kratom is a blessing when leveraged cautiously by someone who is educated.
However, the unsuspecting tea drinker may be surprised to find that their energy is gradually replaced with tiredness if they mindlessly drink multiple mugs of tea.
Finally, if you’d like more information about how crushed-leaf kratom tea compares to the strength of kratom powder, we have a number of resources you can browse.
Just like kratom’s cousin coffee, the best serving size varies between each individual and type of kratom!
