Kratom and coffee

Kratom and coffee complement each other because they come from the same family. Rubiaceae is the fourth largest angiosperm family and consists of over 13,500 species. This includes Kratom, the kratom tree, and coffea, the plant genus from which coffee beans are harvested. Although they both come from the same botanical family and have a long history of recreational use, these plants have some important differences.

 One of the biggest differences is that it is the leaves of the kratom plant that are cultivated for use. Kratom leaves can be consumed in a variety of ways, from chewing the fresh leaf to drying them and crushing them into a powder, which can be brewed into a tea. Coffee is generally brewed from the beans of the plant, which are normally roasted after harvest to support different flavor profiles in the brew.

 Both plants contain different alkaloids — naturally occurring components that cause stimulation, among other effects, in users. While it is common knowledge that caffeine is the main alkaloid in coffee, kratom houses a variety of alkaloids, the most predominant being mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. These two alkaloids are believed to be responsible for kratom’s range of effects, though research is still ongoing into the exact nature of kratom’s active properties.