Kratom Tea vs Pills: The Final Verdict

Kratom tea is more cost effective, but pills are much more convenient. Additionally, kratom tea kicks in much faster than pills, but takes longer to prepare. In this post, I’m going to give you the rundown of both tea and pills so that you can make an informed decision about which is better for you.

For those who like getting straight to the point, I created a table for you depicting the advantages of kratom tea vs pills, which you can see below. 

Most people are aware of the fact that it takes roughly 30-45 minutes for your stomach to break down pills and be absorbed into your bloodstream, but it’s not unusual for it to take up to an hour or two in some cases.

On the contrary, kratom tea is a beverage, which means the alkaloids are absorbed into your bloodstream within a matter of minutes, literally 5-10 at most.

However, you must keep in mind the time it takes to prepare a tea. If you’re making a hot infusion, the most common type of tea involving the steeping of kratom in boiling water, you’re looking at a minimum of 15 minutes of steeping time. This does not include the time it takes to boil the water (roughly 10 minutes) and the time required to filter the kratom powder out of your tea (roughly 5 minutes). In other words, you’re looking at roughly 30 minutes to prepare your tea plus the 5-10 minutes to feel the initial experience.

Therefore, kratom tea’s total duration is roughly 30-40 minutes while pills can take 30-45 minutes. It’s a very close call.

If saving time is your priority, I’d choose pills, as they don’t require preparation. You simply need a cup of water and you’re good to go.

However, there is an exception. Assuming you purchased pre-packaged kratom tea bags, the faster option would, in this case, be kratom tea.

Because kratom tea is in liquid form, it is absorbed faster and packs a stronger punch. Hence, the overall duration of the experience is shorter than pills.

Pills are slowly released into your bloodstream, which is why the experience lasts longer. It’s a trade off, and allows you, the user, to decide what is more important, potent results or longer duration.

Now, you might be thinking, “can’t I just drink more tea and keep the experience going?” The answer is yes, but there’s a big catch.

If you use kratom multiple times a day, everytime you use it the results will be much less potent. That goes for kratom in any form, whether it's tea, pills, or powder. You also significantly increase the chances of experiencing side effects, especially if you’re relatively new to kratom.

Therefore, I suggest not using kratom more than once a day, and in fact, only use kratom when you absolutely have to in order to maintain its potent results. The less frequently you use kratom, the more effective it will be for you in the long run. 

Alright, let's move onto potency. From my many experiences of using both tea and pills, tea produces a stronger experience.

Reason being, your body absorbs the alkaloids practically at once, while pills are slowly broken down and therefore, slowly absorbed into your bloodstream. This doesn’t mean pills aren’t potent. They just happen to pack a slightly less potent punch than kratom tea.

Additionally, kratom tea can be more easily potentiated by using natural substances like caffeine, cayenne pepper, magnesium, and turmeric. Since we’re on the topic of results, you should know that kratom tea and pills can produce all of the same experiences, depending on the strain you used.

For example, kratom tea prepared with a red strain will produce the same outcome as capsules containing a red strain. The same applies to yellow, green, and white strains. By the way, if you’re wondering whether you can store kratom tea in your fridge to retain its potency, the answer is yes, but only for a handful of days. Drinking tea past the recommended time period can have negative health consequences.

So, is kratom tea or pills more cost effective in the long run? The answer to that question is kratom tea.

Generally speaking, kratom pills are encapsulated using vegan material to avoid triggering allergic reactions. Therefore, they require more material, more time, and more labor to manufacture, all of which adds to the bottom line.

The additional costs are of course transferred to the customer in order to make a profit. Kratom tea, on the other hand, only requires powder and hot water, assuming you’re not adding a sweetener or potentiator, but even if you do, the cost is still lower than pills.

Hence, if your goal is to save money, you’re better off investing in a kilo of kratom tea powder to prepare your tea vs buying pills.

Regarding convenience, it doesn’t get much better than pills. Even if you purchase pre-packaged kratom tea bags, pils are still much more convenient. All you need for pills is a cup of water and you’re good to go. They also don’t produce a powdery mess. Kratom tea needs to be prepared, as we’ve previously talked about, which means dishes need to be washed, powder needs to be measured, water needs to be boiled, and stuff needs to be filtered.

You can see how inconvenient kratom tea is compared to pills. Pills can also be easily carried with you everywhere you go, as they’re packaged in a bottle. Yes, pills may cost more per gram than kratom tea powder, but you’re paying for the convenience. 

Last but definitely not least, is the taste. In case you already don’t know, kratom is not the best tasting herb in the world.

Kratom has a very harsh bitter taste with earthy undertones, which is why many people opt for pills, as they bypass your tastebuds.

I usually use kratom powder via the toss and wash, a method which requires gulping down raw kratom powder with water. The taste is highly unpleasant, but I can tolerate it. However, I highly dislike the taste of kratom tea. That should tell you how bitter kratom tea is.

You can add sweeteners like honey or sugar to your tea, but that’ll only get you so far.

Therefore, kratom pills by far take the win regarding taste.

As previously mentioned, since kratom tea is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream, it produces stronger results, and stronger results means a higher probability of producing unwanted side effects.

Kratom tea is more likely to produce side effects than pills. The most common includes nausea. Almost every person whose ever used kratom has experienced this nauseous headache, which is induced by taking more kratom than your body can handle. The more kratom tea or pills you drink past your limit, the more severe the nausea will be. If the nausea is very severe, you may experience vomiting.

I have personally felt the wrath of this notorious side effect multiple times, and I can assure you it’s highly unpleasant. I can also tell you from personal experience these side effects were induced from drinking tea many more times than from using pills. Fortunately, both the nausea and vomiting are not lethal, and will go away on their own within a couple of hours. 

Another benefit of choosing kratom tea is the versatility, assuming you purchased kratom powder and not pre-packaged tea bags. If you purchased kratom powder, you can always take the powder via the toss and wash method I described earlier, meaning you don’t have to prepare a tea every single time.

Just simply take a spoonful of powder, gulp it down with water, and you’re good to go!

It’s unpleasant, but it gets the job done. 

Now that you have all the information regarding tea and pills you should be able to make a decision. However, I did spew out a plethora of content your way, so allow me to simplify your decision even further.

If your goal is to save money or obtain very strong kratom experiences, invest in kratom tea powder. If your goal is to save time, avoid kratom’s harsh taste as well as its side effects, you’re better off with capsules, as they’re much more convenient.

In my opinion, capsules are much more suitable for the majority of people, as lots of us have busy schedules. Additionally, most people can’t stand kratom’s bitter taste, which is the primary reason why people choose capsules over tea or the toss and wash in the first place.