Kratom tea is a brewed drink made from the leaves of Mitragyna speciosa, a tropical tree in the coffee family native to Southeast Asia. The leaves contain alkaloids that interact with opioid receptors in the brain, producing effects that range from mild stimulation at low doses to pain relief and sedation at higher ones. It has been used traditionally in countries like Thailand and Malaysia for centuries, where workers chewed the leaves or brewed them to combat fatigue, and it has gained significant popularity in Western countries over the past decade.
What’s in Kratom Leaves
Kratom’s effects come primarily from two alkaloids. The dominant one, mitragynine, makes up roughly two-thirds of the total alkaloid content in the leaves. The second, 7-hydroxymitragynine, is present in much smaller amounts (less than 2% of alkaloid content) but is considerably more potent.
Both compounds bind to the same receptors in the brain that traditional opioids like morphine target. The key difference is in how they activate those receptors. Classical opioids trigger multiple signaling pathways, including one strongly linked to respiratory depression and physical dependence. Kratom’s alkaloids preferentially activate only one of those pathways (the G protein pathway), which researchers believe may explain why kratom carries a lower risk of slowed breathing compared to drugs like morphine or fentanyl. The alkaloids also have a completely different chemical structure from morphine and its derivatives, lacking the phenol group that defines classical opioids.
How the Effects Change With Dose
Kratom has an unusual dose-dependent profile. At low doses, roughly 1 to 5 grams of dried leaf, it acts more like a stimulant. Users report increased energy, alertness, and sociability, effects that align with its membership in the coffee family. At higher doses, between 5 and 15 grams, the experience shifts toward sedation, relaxation, and pain relief.
This dual nature is one reason kratom defies easy categorization. Someone drinking a weak cup of kratom tea might feel something closer to strong coffee, while someone brewing a concentrated batch might experience effects that feel more like a mild opioid painkiller. Most people who use kratom regularly report feeling the effects within minutes of consumption, and the effects typically last a few hours.
Evidence for Pain Relief
A randomized, placebo-controlled trial published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine tested kratom’s pain-relieving effects in 26 regular kratom users. Participants were given either kratom or a placebo drink, then subjected to a cold water pain test. One hour after drinking kratom, participants could tolerate the painful stimulus for an average of 24.9 seconds, more than double their baseline tolerance of 11.2 seconds. The placebo group showed no change. Participants also rated the unpleasantness of the pain as lower after kratom consumption.
Notably, the study also monitored participants for withdrawal symptoms during 10 to 20 hours without kratom. No discomfort or signs of withdrawal were reported or observed, and scores on a clinical opioid withdrawal scale remained near zero throughout.
This is still a small study in people who already used kratom, so it has limits. But it provides controlled evidence that the pain relief kratom users describe is real and measurable, not purely placebo.
How to Brew Kratom Tea
Making kratom tea is straightforward, but temperature and acidity matter more than you might expect. The goal is to extract the alkaloids from the powdered or crushed leaf into water without destroying them in the process.
Water temperature between 165°F and 175°F (about 74°C to 80°C) hits the sweet spot. This is hot enough to pull alkaloids into solution and to pasteurize the liquid, but not so hot that it breaks down mitragynine. Boiling water won’t ruin a quick steep, but holding the tea at high heat for extended periods degrades the active compounds. A steeping time of around 10 minutes balances extraction against degradation well.
Some people add a small amount of lemon juice or citric acid to improve extraction, since a mildly acidic environment helps dissolve the alkaloids. If you go this route, keep the acidity moderate. Highly acidic conditions (below pH 4) combined with high heat can destroy mitragynine rapidly. One analysis found that at pH 2 and 80°C, virtually no mitragynine survived. After brewing, many people strain out the plant material and add honey or other flavoring, since kratom has a distinctly bitter, earthy taste that most find unpleasant on its own.
Safety Concerns
Kratom is not regulated as a dietary supplement or approved medication in the United States, which creates a significant quality control gap. The FDA has issued public warnings about kratom products contaminated with Salmonella bacteria and concerning levels of heavy metals like lead and nickel. Because there is no mandatory testing standard, the purity and potency of commercial kratom products vary widely between vendors.
At higher doses, kratom can cause nausea, constipation, dizziness, and drowsiness. Regular use at high doses can lead to physical dependence, meaning your body adjusts to the presence of the alkaloids and you may feel withdrawal symptoms if you stop abruptly. These withdrawal effects are generally described as milder than opioid withdrawal but can still include irritability, muscle aches, insomnia, and mood changes.
Mixing kratom with other sedating substances, including alcohol, benzodiazepines, or prescription opioids, increases the risk of dangerous interactions. Most kratom-associated deaths reported in the literature involve combinations with other drugs rather than kratom alone.
Legal Status
Kratom occupies a legal gray area. It is not federally scheduled as a controlled substance in the United States, meaning it remains legal at the national level. However, individual states have taken different approaches. Connecticut became the seventh state to classify kratom and its derivatives as Schedule 1 controlled substances, with regulations taking effect in April 2026. Several other states and municipalities have their own bans or restrictions in place.
A number of states have gone the opposite direction, passing versions of the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, which keeps kratom legal but sets standards for labeling, purity testing, and age restrictions (typically 21 and older). If you’re considering purchasing kratom, checking your state and local laws first is essential, since the legal landscape varies considerably and continues to shift.
Who Uses Kratom Tea and Why
Survey data consistently shows that the most common reasons people use kratom are pain management, anxiety relief, and help with opioid withdrawal or reduction. Many users describe turning to kratom after finding conventional pain treatments inadequate or after wanting to reduce dependence on prescription opioids.
In Southeast Asia, kratom tea has a long history as a functional drink, comparable in cultural role to coffee or coca leaf tea in other regions. Workers in physically demanding jobs used it to sustain energy through long days. That traditional stimulant use at low doses looks quite different from the higher-dose pain relief use that dominates Western consumption patterns, and it’s worth understanding that “kratom tea” can mean very different things depending on how much leaf goes into the cup.