Did I brew my kratom WAY too strong?

[KrataKava]

Hey y’all. I’m pretty new to kratom. Been drinking it…not quite a year? Several months, once every 1-2 weeks. I used to drink it at a kava bar, but they use the gritty, powdered stuff, which I don’t like. I much prefer the tea, and a month ago, I finally found a tea shop that sells crushed leaf kratom! It’s pretty much the only one in my city.

So two weeks ago, I tried making my own kratom tea for the first time. It turned out okay, but it gave me some indigestion, but I kind of eyeballed it.

Today, with this ice storm, I thought I’d make some more. I just got done brewing it but haven’t drunk any yet. It’s so dang hard to find instructions on brewing a good kratom tea online. Everything is about the powder. Even the YouTube videos. I believe the folks at the shop said a teaspoon of leaves (or was it two?) per cup of water, which is simple enough, but I like to make it in bulk in a pot. So I tried again today, again kind of eyeballing it and doing mental math.

I steeped it a lot longer than necessary, at least an hour. I was steeping it passively while eating lunch and cleaning up. Then I strained it into a mason jar. I honestly don’t know the volume of the jar. It looks like maybe a half gallon? See pictures. Anyway, the tea filled up half the jar, and it was VERY dark, so I got concerned that I really overdid it. So then I filled up the remaining half of the jar with ice to dilute the tea.

I’m still concerned that it may be too much, and I don’t want to develop an addiction. So for comparison, look at my picture. The bag of crushed tea leaves is 14 grams according to the sticker. The mason jar is I *THINK* about a half gallon…maybe more. And then for reference, I’ve got an actual gallon jug of water.

Should I pour the tea into the gallon jug and dilute with even more water or keep it how it is?

Also a few more questions that have popped in my head while typing this long post:

1. Can I reuse the kratom leaves for a second wash? I hate to trash them. If so, how to store them?

2. Is it safe to store kratom tea indefinitely? If so, should it be refrigerated or left at room temperature (especially if I’m going to heat it up for consumption)?

It isn’t letting me post the photo here, so I’ll try to do so in the comments…

[e_poison]

To post an image you'll need to use a host like imgur and then embed it here, or there's a little icon when creating a post/comment to attach a picture.

As to the question yourself, 14g for a gallon is actually on the very low end (for powder) so no I don't think you overdid it. In general kratom tea is actually VERY dark, so nothing to worry about there.

Maybe someone who knows more about using crushed leaves to brew tea can chime in. I normally use the powder when making tea and don't have much experience with leaves.

[MAENGDONG712]

With your little usage plan id reccomend only making what you plan to consume maybe 4 cups of water and 2 ish packed tablespoons of crushed leaf which in my experience is roughly 5 grams of crushed leaf.

Get your 4 cups of water rolling bubbling so slightly. Dump your leaf in and a half tablespoon of lemon juice. Let it keep slowly bubbling not boiling a small bubbling and rolling effect. For 15 min. Turn off let sit until room temp. Strain it and slow sip that maamajamma. Some water will evaporate... so youll have. A nice medium big glass of goodness..at the usage you describe I would advise about making any to store.. Just as easy to make it freah each time..

[GreenAnimal]

Also a few more questions that have popped in my head while typing this long post:

1. Can I reuse the kratom leaves for a second wash? I hate to trash them. If so, how to store them?

2. Is it safe to store kratom tea indefinitely? If so, should it be refrigerated or left at room temperature (especially if I’m going to heat it up for consumption)?

1. Don't reuse the leaves for a second tea. Just throw them out.

2. Always store your kratom (powder and leaves) at room temp in a dry container. The fridge would allow too much moisture in.