Alright, well I tried 1.5 teaspoons of the powder in a tea (I was given 3 teaspoons as a sample.. my wife had 1 teaspoon). We were both very tired from having kratom twice in the day and sleeping relatively little the night before and having emerald dragon (marijuana-infused alcohol). So there were some conflicting factors. I am usually able to summon energy no matter how tired I am, but my wife usually cannot... generally, once she hass partied herself out, she's out, and even very strong, french-press coffee will not wake her up.
Anyway, we tried the tea... the guayusa came as an extremely fine powder, rather than crushed leaf or something, so it was necessary to drink some of the powder, although I let as much settle to the bottom as possible (one source said it could be toxic if you drink the leaves, possibly because of all the caffeine? You are supposed to be able to make tea for days in a row from the same leaves). I poured almost-boiling water over it in a mug. The tea tasted quite nice, earthy with a unique aftertaste. I definitely liked it... very pleasant. After a few minutes, we started to feel nice and awake. It felt a lot like having had a good amount of sleep and being nice and fresh, at first. Then it got stronger and I found myself moving/dancing around a lot (I tend to do this when I feel good). I achieved a bit of euphoria and talkativeness. Like kratom, it was very calming while being simultaneously stimulating. There was no hint of jitters like with coffee or many other forms of pure caffeine. Both of us remakred that the state felt very healthy, like we had been given nutrients that helped us function despite our fatigued and underslept state.
After a while, we decided to drive down the street to get some fried chicken for dinner. I was high and stimulated, but there was no alcohol left whatsoever at this point (many hours later). I can see how this stuff may have been able to achieve a visionary state after a high enough dose. I found myself having a bit of that feeling of being overwhelmed, where you suddenly can't help but bug your eyes out a little and blink to be able to refocus your vision (don't know if anyone knows what I'm talking about). I usually just associate that with being on a psychedelic and getting hit by a wave of increasing strength. While driving, my peripheral vision was playing tricks on me - I kept thinking mailboxes and things were people until I looked straight at them. Overall my mood was very jovial and I felt quite nice. I do not know what parts of this were interactions with the marijuana and kratom, but before drinking the tea I was feeling pretty much partied out.
I have to mention that after I ate the chicken and biscuits (which were extremely tasty - Bojangles anyone?), I started to feel really strange in the stomach, semi-nauseous and uncomfortable. I ate a lot but not a HUGE amount, not more than I would any other time I was hungry. After about an hour, I was feeling even worse and it was making it impossible to really do anything but try not to feel really shitty. So eventually I made myself throw up to get everything out of my stomach. After that, I felt quite a bit better, although I was spent... we pretty much just went to bed after that and I passed out instantly. I felt totally fine the next day. It may have been due to the food, but it may also have had something to do with the leaf powder in my stomach. I did have the last half teaspoon the next day, and no such problems surfaced, but it was also about 3 times less of a dose, so who knows?
I do know that I'm ordering more to try as a morning coffee substitute for a while, and I will see if the vendor has any leaf, rather than fine powder, so I can use it as the native people did. I'm very curious about its long-term health effects, as it, like yerba mate (a cousin), is full of nutrients as has many, many beneficial health effects attached to it by the people who traditionally use it. And rather than damaging the stomach, it's good for the stomach, and won't give you kidney stones.
So overall, I liked it, and I'd like to experiment more.
PsyGhost - Having a bit too much kratom can cause discomfort... maybe that's what happened. It can be hard to find your right dose. But maybe you'd be better off without it because like opiates it's very addictive to many people. Despite loving kratom, I wish I'd never found it all those years ago because now I withdraw if I don't have it, and spend loads of money on it because it's not cheap.
I think I will proceed with maybe a teaspoon.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
