It's very subtle. It makes me feel warm and tingly all over. I don’t get euphoria from it or feel stimulated from it. Other people say they get euphoria from it though. I prefer caffeine by a long shot.

The guayusa tastes a lot like yerba mate. We'll see how it goes. I'm a little sleepy at the moment, so hopefully it will pick me up.

I had yerba mate this morning instead of my usual coffee, so this is a good chance to see what the difference is between guayusa and mate.

2 grams of guayusa was noticeable for sure, but not that strong. It's hard to tell the difference between mate and guayusa. I need a little more experience with guayusa. I think I like the flavor of mate more, but the two are very similar.

One thing that’s very different is that the guayusa leaves are a lot tougher than the mate leaves and seem to be more difficult for the hot water to penetrate.

I’m not sure, but it seems like guayusa feels more like coffee than mate does. Anyone else notice this? Maybe I just need to drink more to be more sure about his. I’ll try 4 grams later.

ahh I need to try guayusa...I think its used in the mornings by amazonians to recall dreams..I really like yerba mate..

I need to get rid of this addiction though..Im a slave to caffine..its my last crutch and I hate how much I love it..too much of it give me shaky anxiety...but if I dont have any I get mild headaches that never seem to end...

Last week I went without coffee and ate a restricted diet and drank lots of aya, but by the end of the week my head was killing from lack of caffine..even though I was drinking green tea..dranksome coffe after 3 days of that and it cleared up within 5 minutes...tea is just not enough when you are a coffee drinker..and I dont even drink every day..it seems I can get by for 3 days or so with just tea but then with drawl really kicks in..its way harder to quit coffee than it was to quit cannabis for me..

But I love the stuff as well it feels nice and euphoric and helps me think...

Does anyone know of something that helps with caffine withdrawl?..mostly just for the headaches?..I like to use coffee only for certain occasions like with low doses of bufotenine and mescaline to make it more mentally stimulating etc..but I dont like being addicted it.

Try kava mixed with passionflower. That works wonders for tension related headaches.

Guayusa is definitely more like a coffee buzz for me than yerba mate is. More of a straight caffeine buzz, but also it has it's own thing going on, with whatever else it is that's in there.

Before you brew it next time, obliterate the leaves a little in a coffee grinder/magic bullet type device. That will give you a stronger brew. I have shredded leaf and I still have to break it down further....to leaf bits/powder.

How are you brewing it by the way?

Another thing to mention is that guayusa is very low in tannins compared to yerba, coffee, green tea, etc... so it can be steeped for a longer time to bring out more of the flavor and strength.

Ron, I thought you might appreciate this:

http://goldenworks.us/rawherb.html

A very good supplier (people I know personally) that carries a whole host of herbs, including guayusa, yerba mate, guarana, kola nut, green tea, white tea, cacao seed, etc...

Fair prices, high quality herbs.

Well, I guess I am the only one who likes cacao. I prefer theobroma cacao 25x- about 1.5-2g in a cup of coffee or yerba mate. From what I understand the 15x has extra caffeine added so it is standardized, but the full spectrum 25x does contain caffiene... It seems to smooth out the effect of strong coffee a bit and the theoboromine lasts all day. Also it mixes very well with kratom...

I love .75g UEI kratom and 2g 25x in the morning that is the best morning tonic I have ever come across.

That said I usually opt for tea or just coffee but only due to the cost of the cacao 25x.

hXXp://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgspub/xsql/duke/plantdisp.xsql?taxon=1010
(reference for t. cacao containing caffeine)

I like cocoa the most personally..but I dont think it really has caffine init..or not much..the effects I get from it are different...more theobromine most likely and other alkaloids..less addictive than coffee for me.

That’s funny Dimitrius. Right before reading this thread I was thinking maybe I’ll try giving the leaves a wiz in my magic bullet for a few seconds. And then I open up this thread and you said the exact same thing I was thinking of doing!

God I love the magic bullet. I use it all the time. You know those infomercials about the magic bullet saying you’ll never use your blender again. That’s so true. My blender is collecting dust in the cabinet. The bullet is so much more convenient to use.

Earlier today I brewed it as I would any other typical herb. I put it in an open tea strainer that sits over the mug, poured hot water in, mixed the herbs in the strainer, steep for 10 minutes, pressed the leaves and removed them. I pressed pretty hard. The leaves are tough leaves.

They are whole leaves. It would be much better if they were cut finely like my mate is.

I’m going to try using the bullet to cut it up like you mention and I’ll use the same dose as before. I don’t have much left so I want to get the most out of what I have.

it's also used as an ayahuasca additive if I recall correctly.

Can someone describe the effects of kola nuts to me? When itcomes to caffeeine, it's usually more like a yes or not situation for me...either it works or it doesn't.

Haha, yeahhh, that ain't gonna do it.

Magic bullet makes all the difference. It's such a cool device.

You might look into buying an Aeropress too. Anyone who loves tea or coffee will LOVE owning an Aeropress.

Gahh, I'm starting to feel like an ad machine lately. But I can't help it. I like to share good things I'm aware of with those who might be interested or benefited.

That would work well too.

If using whole leaves or hand ground leaves, I'd definitely use them at least three times.

That stuff is hard to break up really small with the fingers. It just keeps 'flattening' between the fingers. It's not like breaking buds or something. A mortar & pestle is pretty much useless too.




I had some peculiar effects while lying down right after drinking some, at a 2-3 tsp. dosage. Had it not been early in the morning and had everything else been in order, I could have drank a light ayahuasca or pharmahuasca without the slightest hesitation.....it just sorta put me in a ready-to-go state....or rather, ready-to-be 'in there' state. I can see how it is used to "give strength to deal with Ayahuasca".

I had my second try. I definitely prefer mate over guayusa. While similar, mate tastes a little better, and the effect is smoother, more like kola nut. Guayusa is more rough like coffee.

The time I used 10 grams of mate, I had some interesting slightly “psychoactive” effects from it. It seemed to alter my sense of hearing. Things sounded different, sort of more crisp. I could also hear the “sound of silence” more than usual. I never got that from anything else that contained caffeine. I wonder what causes those effects.

Does guayusa cause similar effects at high doses?

^^I'm not sure of the source, so don't quote me on this, but I heard that guayusa can be steeped in water over night, and this can produce more psychoactive effects when consumed.

Personally, I like a very nice coffee from time to time, several forms of tea, and mate...but I don't drink either of these that often. I'm also a hot chocolate fan, and make a stockingly good hot chocolate out of raw cocoa powder, raw cocoa butter, milk and honey...hmmmmm.

theobroma cacao

and it's not debatable, it has a slew of xanthines including caffeine.
it just happens to have more of 3,7-dimethylxanthine

I think that just caffeine or combination of xanthine's could easily cause those effects in higher doses.

A mild caffeine 'overdose' could be considered to have pleasant narcotic effects.

yerba mate is great.

but it wasn't till i hung out with an Argentinean, and learned the traditional preperation, that i got a real taste for it.

tea bags dont cut it. i used to make it in a french press, but drinking it from a gourd with a bombilla is nice and STRONG.

warm water, not too hot. keep the water in a thermos, keep refilling, and u can drink from a gourd of herbs for a while before it is depleted.

My favorite is maté. It doesn't upset my stomach like coffee and I like the effects more and the taste is just wonderfull.

Most of my life I've been drinking tea but it doesn't really have much effects in my opinion.

I've been addicted to coffee and it was really bad for my stomach, so I stopped.

Got some powdered guayusa from a vendor ordering yopo-seeds. And used 2.5g. The effects were quite matéish but more up like coffee. Liked the taste too, added a tiny bit of honey and it was wonderful.

I like coffee, it gives me a great energy boost, and it makes me feel euphoric, unfortunatly, i can't drink it too much, when the caffeine rush is over i feel a bit low, the reason why caffeine makes me feel good is probably because caffeine slows down the demolition of serotonin.

I have a problem with serotonin due to my ssri ussage, so coffee, or caffeine in general isn't too good for me, still, i love it, it comes handy when i feel tired, but i know it's pretty addictive stuff, after a while your body kinda relies on the caffeine intake, and i don't like the feeling to depend on anything.

It's cozy too, drinking coffee with family or friends, it has something warm and cozy.