Which caffeine containing herb is your favorite?

Here are the options

1 - Coffee. This is very popular. And contrary to common belief, it’s effects are not just from caffeine. It contains other compounds that contribute to it’s effects.

2 - Tea. This has a good mix of caffeine and related alkaloids.

3 - Yerba maté. This is actually quite popular in certain parts of the world. It contains quite a bit of caffeine.

4 - Guarana. Yet another popular caffeine herb. It has pretty unique effects.

5 - Kola Nut. This is one of the lesser known caffeine containing herbs. It’s quite strong, nearly as strong as coffee. But it’s effects are very different from coffee.

6 - Cacao. This is debatable. Some studies show it has no caffeine, others show it does. I’m no expert on this, so I added it to the list and will let you decide on it.

7 - Banisteriopsis inebrians. Yeah, as surprising as it is this contains caffeine and harmine! I don’t know how much caffeine. I didn’t look into it much but thought it would be interesting to add since people on the Nexus are familiar with Banisteriopsis caapi, and often think caffeine is not good to use with harmala alkaloids. I disagree of course. And this is an example of an ayahuasca additive that clearly contains caffeine.

8 - Other. Please post about what other caffeine containing herb you like. This list is about as thorough as I could get it, but I’m sure it’s missing some interesting herbs.

9 - None, I hate caffeine! Ok, so tell us what's better than caffeine?

Unfortunatly the herbs I know (coffe, tea, maté, guarana) are sources of stomach problems.
Only the well known sweet liquid including cafeine (probably chemical source ?) can be handled without problem... I would prefer guarana, but stomach side effects are too annoying.

Green tea, without any question. White tea is a close runner-up.

Guarana does not have any effect on me. The same with caffeeinated drinks like coke.

Coffee seems to work, at least some sorts of coffee. I'm sometimes buying a premade latte containing 200mg caffeeine. That sometimes activates me.

I have to give this some thought before I vote.

I like tea, coffee, mate, and kola mostly.

I have not tried Banisteriopsis inebrians.

With cacao, chocolate, etc, I cannot feel any caffeine at all. I feel the effects of theobromine solely. So if it does have caffeine, it’s so small that I can’t feel it at all.

Guarana works for me, but it makes me feel tense, and will easily give me a headache if I have too much. It’s interesting, and somewhat psychoactive for me, but because of the tension I get from it, I don’t use it often.

All of these are very different. I drink coffee mostly. Not because it’s my favorite, but rather because it works, it’s cheap, and it’s easy to find everywhere.

I like the taste of tea, but find it too weak. I’d need to drink maybe 5 cups of tea before I really feel much from it. When I drink tea, it’s not for it’s caffeine content, but just for flavor.

Mate is very close to coffee in terms of its effect, but still different. 10 grams and WOW! It tastes great and is very strong. I like the flavor of it quite a lot, but it costs more than coffee, so I rarely use it. If it was cheaper, it could easily replace my morning coffee. I don’t get negative effects from it like I do with guarana. Like normal tea, it’s very easy to prepare.

Kola is very nice, but harder to prepare than the others. It makes great ice tea. This is perhaps the best to use in combination with other psychoactives. I don’t know what’s doing it, but something in kola nut definitely potentiates other psychoactives more so than coffee does. For me, because kola nut is harder to prepare, and it’s effects are more euphoria producing than stimulating, it could never replace my morning cup of coffee.

I think for me it’s a toss up between mate and coffee. Both are very effective for me, but because coffee is cheaper, I use it more. I like the taste of both equally, but if I don’t have milk or cream, I don’t like coffee at all. For me, coffee needs milk or cream, and needs some form of sweetener and then it tastes great, without those it tastes like crap. Mate tastes good as is. It’s sort of like tea. It doesn’t need milk or sweetener to taste good.

I’m very curious about Banisteriopsis inebrians. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is the caffeine content even noticeable?

I vote coffee, im still to try Mate and Guarana.

coffee is fun : ) i really like the boost of strong coffee

tea for taste, though lots of sugar to give it some body

sometimes when i go fishing i take the energy drinks. may seem weird to you. yea we catch big fish ; )

or when im thirsty and want a little kick,
then i take a liter of cola and burp all through the night
works great : )

I like green tea, coffee and mate..

What about Ilex guayusa?

Ilex guayusa! Man...I knew I forgot something to add to the list!!!

Ilex paraguariensis is Yerba maté. Is guayusa (Ilex guayusa) anything similar to maté?

I've tried it with no real effects. Maybe the dose was to low. I've also read, that you need fresh leaves for it to be really effective. But that might as well be a myth.

Damn. I wish I could redo the poll to include guayusa. Too late now.

Hmmm...I actually have some guayusa sitting around that I got as a free sample from a vendor. I forgot all about it. I never bothered to try it. I looked up dosage information for it and couldn't find anything on it so I put it away and forgot all about it. Maybe I’ll try it tomorrow morning instead of my usual cup of coffee.

For mate, the dosage is said to be 3-10 grams. I found 10 grams to be super strong. Maybe 3 times stronger than my normal cup of coffee.

Is anyone here a regular drinker of guayusa? What’s the usual dosage for it?

I've drank guayusa a few times, it's a nice drink, I've never done more than 3 grams, it's got a stimulating but calming thing going on, but it's difficult to say really because I'm not an expert, and I've never drank yerba mate unfortunately...

Kolanut is great.although its not my favorite.
once swim mixed 75 mg mesc acetate with 1g kolanut and 3 datura seeds.
booy, that was a speedy experience.)

coffee because it's common too much gives me a headache though tea is nicer because of this. I don't know why I can drink a monster energy drink and feel fine since it has more caffeine maybe because the combination of ginseng, guarana, vitamins and other things they all balance each other out.

I used to drink a lot of coffee (very addicted) and tea but now I've realized how much it affected my mood.
I'm probably more sensetive then most.
Coffee gives me an equal "come down" to that of speed, only shorter.
I think the high feels kinda like speed.
Teeth grinding, chills up the spine, egocentric thoughts, boring things feel "fun"...coming down is extremly depressing.

But I do have coffee without caffeine which is nice. No (side)effects=)

Tea gives me mild symptoms but noticeable...I really liked tea=(

How would you describe the effects of theobromine?

I'm not a regular drinker, but I've been told a 'usual' dosage is 1-2 tsp. per cup.


....I've just measured 1 level tbsp. of my shredded leaf and it weighs exactly 1 gram.

So I don't know...... 1-2 tsp. is enough for me, but my body is sensitive to stimulants. I tried a larger amount once, like probably 2-3 tbsp. and I was very jittery. Too much.

You'll probably handle it fine though.

Alright, so I'll try 2 grams of guayusa and see how that goes. I’m brewing it right now. It smells similar to Yerba mate.