Kratom Tea Vs Pill
You might be wondering why you should get advice about where to buy kratom capsules from the one vendor who doesn’t focus on kratom powder. Well, to put it simply, we’re unbiased – and know how hard it can be to find trustworthy brands when you’re new to kratom.
If you don’t know where to buy kratom capsules, we have a recommendation for you. But before we get there, we want to take a moment to explain why we don’t carry kratom capsules. If you’re new to kratom, or are looking for a new kratom capsule vendor, this is the post for you.
Top Tree Herbs Origin Story
Top Tree Herbs recently celebrated a year and a half of business! Our journey began with an unwavering commitment to the kratom plant. Those of you familiar with our story know that our co-founders met in Dr. Carl Hart’s class at Columbia University, and bonded over their mutual belief in critically examining the use of psychoactives throughout societies.
They had many discussions over late night study sessions, fueled by coffee and kratom capsules, about what an evidence-based approach to living a good life entailed.
After graduation, our co-founders Sam and Soren split ways. Sam went the way of the pioneers and moved out West to join a state-of-the-art cannabis remediation start-up.
Soren crossed the bridge to Brooklyn where he worked with Hamilton Morris to research and produce the third and final season of Vice’s Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia.
While adding the finishing touches to the season amidst a raging pandemic, Soren received a call from Sam who had a simple but brilliant idea.
“Do you realize that in Thailand they’ve never swallowed kratom in their thousand years of traditional use?” asked Sam.
“Of course…” retorted Soren.
“And have you, in your years as a kratom consumer, ever had kratom outside of toss and wash or kratom capsules?”
“Well, no I haven’t” replied Soren, the idea rapidly dawning on him.
Our Commitment to Kratom Tea
Since founding Top Tree Herbs with a commitment to engaging with traditional kratom practices, we’ve been committed to respecting the plant and traditions around it. As anyone who’s been involved in the kratom world knows, there have been innumerable attempts to disparage the plant.
Our love of the plant demanded that we be vigilant and hyper sensitive to these negative forces. We believed that educating the public on the traditional practices involved in Thai kratom culture would be a normalizing force.
Yet we also knew that we had to be certain that our products were of the highest quality, or else we risked jeopardizing the entire kratom industry. Our founders’ backgrounds primed them to hit the ground running with their education and normalization campaign.
They knew the key to defend and promote kratom, and return the perspective the world had of it to a common food product, would be tea bags.
Establishing the safest, cleanest, and most ethically sourced kratom supply chain was a task they were unequipped to handle alone. Yet it was a facet of the business they would not compromise on. So began our partnership with the cleanest and most ethical kratom importers in America: Kraken Kratom.
Why we Focus on Tea Bags
Historically, kratom has rarely been swallowed. The reason kratom is rarely swallowed is the same reason we drink tea or coffee and don’t actually ingest the plant matter.
The taste is improved as a hot water brew. And you completely avoid the digestive discomfort that comes with processing dehydrated plant particulates.
It’s the brilliant simplicity that you’d expect from such a storied, indigenous tradition.
Yet in modern day America, where more kratom is consumed than anywhere else in the world, it is swallowed. We’ve detailed the reasons why this is the case in many posts in the past, so we won’t belabor the point.
In short, it boils down to two critical factors. One, shipping dehydrated, micronized powder halfway across the globe is much more economical than sending fresh leaves or even crushed leaves.
Second, there is a vacuum of knowledge of how to consume kratom that culture and tradition historically filled.
This is where we see ourselves fitting in. Top Tree Herbs is committed to normalizing kratom tea by invoking only scientific, evidenced based claims, and promoting traditional consumption practices with a history of safe use. It’s our love of truth, tradition, and the plant itself which motivates us every day.
Kratom Capsules
If you’ve perused our site in the past, you may remember that we offered more than just kratom tea products. Yes, even with our commitment to normalizing kratom through tradition and science, we’ve offered kratom capsules. Our reason for doing so was based on personal experience traveling with kratom tea.
One of the best things about kratom tea is the brewing ritual. First you combine your kratom tea bags with your food safe acid, like lemon juice, in your thermos. Then you boil your water and combine. The tea is left to steep in the thermos for 20 minutes before pouring and enjoying.
There is an intentionality and mindfulness to this practice that is deeply satisfying.
Yet when we’re traveling, brewing tea becomes very difficult. It was Sam’s, our co-founder, tea-less experience at an airport that led us to offer kratom capsules. Apart from the convenience, we figured that we could ensure that existing kratom capsule consumers would be at least getting safe, high quality kratom.
We’re Retiring our Kratom Capsules
Despite our original rationale for selling kratom capsules, we’ve decided to move on. Once we sell out our last remaining kratom capsule inventory, we will return to exclusively focusing on kratom tea bags.
Our mission has always been to help normalize kratom and improve the kratom experience. To do this, we cannot split our time educating on the traditional kratom tea practices and science behind kratom while also offering a product that contradicts this core mission.
To be clear, we do not think it is necessarily bad to swallow kratom powder. We just believe that there is clearly a better way to enjoy kratom. Our love and focus will always be on uniting the kratom community and normalizing a sustainable and healthy kratom practice into our society and culture.
But we are all different. We are all our own person with our own preferences.
If, after trying kratom tea, you decide that you simply prefer swallowing kratom powder, we’re happy you have an option that works for you!
To that end, moving forward, we’re happy to direct you to our friends at Kraken Kratom for kratom powder.
Why go to Kraken Kratom for Powder and Capsules?
Kraken Kratom consistently provides clean and lab tested kratom. They are AKA cGMP certified, meaning they adhere to a high standard of food grade safety.
Their testing facility in Portland, Oregon is an FDA GMP certified facility. And they have strong relationships with Indonesian kratom farmers that comes from their treating them ethically and paying a living wage.
There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other kratom vendors that have cheaper kratom available. However, we firmly believe that cleanliness, safety, and ethics are more important than saving a few dollars here and there.
Building a Tea Category Together
Along with retiring our kratom capsules, we are also beginning to produce kratom tea bags for Kraken Kratom to sell themselves. We are doing this for the same reason we started Top Tree Herbs in the first place. Above anything else, we love the kratom plant.
It is our belief that as the traditional kratom tea practice becomes more well known, kratom will become normalized in our society. This will lead to a greater social acceptance of existing kratom consumers, and open up the gates for more people to give kratom tea a shot.
Our goal is for kratom tea to become mainstream, much like coffee and other herbal teas are today. Kratom tea is a food product with a thousand years of history benefiting many millions of lives along the way.
Kraken Kratom has thousands of regular kratom customers already. We want them to be exposed to kratom tea bags, and finally learn the rich history and tradition of the plant they already know and love.
Our decision was based on belief more than business. To us, the more people who think of kratom as a tea leaf the better. It will ensure kratom’s longevity while improving the quality of the kratom experience for all. Until next time, cheers to better brewing!
