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I'm drinking Rooibos Vanilla Tea and I like to dissolve an 80 mg caffeine pill in it. I hand press the pills myself from pure caffeine powder. However, the pill doesn't dissolve very well in the tea. Instead, it either breaks into smaller pieces which float around or it doesn't dissolve at all.

Is there a creative way to make them dissolve, such as using some sort of binding agent? I already tried to use capsules, but I don't like the idea very much, because you have to open them and pour out the powder.

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    Why not just not press into a pill in the first place?
    – ElendilTheTall
    Commented Feb 14, 2015 at 20:26
  • If you have the powder, why not just use that?
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Commented Feb 14, 2015 at 20:26
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    But you have to measure it to make the pills, right? You can get little Ziplocs like drug dealers use. I have a box of 1000 that cost like $5.
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Commented Feb 14, 2015 at 20:29
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    Why not just swallow the pill?
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Feb 14, 2015 at 20:46
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    You could also get eppendorf or pcr tubes and a tray/rack/box. They come in a lot of sizes, including pretty small ones, and they're definitely designed to open and close really easily - I'm guessing they'd be much easier to use than capsules.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Feb 19, 2015 at 2:17

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If it really has to be pills, then I guess you need to mix in something that dissolves more easily than the caffeine powder. Powdered sugar seems like a good candidate. I found a couple references to people using it as a binding material for other pills, so presumably it'll work.

Depending on how you're making your tea, you could also add the pill while you're boiling the water, to give it more time to dissolve, and to make sure it gets the full heat.

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  • How do I make sure the powdered sugar and the caffeine make a homogeneous mixture?
    – bytecode77
    Commented Feb 14, 2015 at 20:54
  • @bytecode77 Put a lid on it and shake the hell out of it. I do that with pure artificial sweetener powder.
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Commented Feb 14, 2015 at 20:56
  • And I believe the powdered sugar will press/bind better than the caffeine powder anyways, so you don't really have to worry about getting the right amount - if it's too much, it'll just be a little extra sweetener in your tea.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Feb 14, 2015 at 20:57
  • Gonna try that :)
    – bytecode77
    Commented Feb 14, 2015 at 20:57
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Pressing it is probably contributing to making it clumpy. You could also experiment with mixing it with cool water before you mix it into the hot water you use for tea(or vice versa). I have had that experience with some powders. (Note: I don't have experience with pure caffeine, but I've had to do this with a lot of medicines when I was younger and had to crack open pills because of problems with swallowing.)

EDIT: Upon further research I redact my suggestion to use a spoon/scoop. It is difficult to measure it accurately enough and with the concentration of the pure caffeine powders I looked at being much higher than I expected, far too easy to get an overdose. I would think you can:

1.) Get a spoon -about- the right size. 2.) Quickly measure it on a digital scale you leave on your counter, and then just swipe it into your cup. 3.) Wipe the scale off.

quite quickly. Measure it out while your water boils.

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    Not really a good idea for pure caffeine - 80 mg is a tiny amount, and I don't think you could consistently measure it with a spoon. I recommend a milligram scale.
    – user5561
    Commented Feb 14, 2015 at 23:58
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    So mix the caffeine powder with enough sugar, or whatever, that a half a teaspoon will contain 80 mg caffeine. If you don't like sugar as a diluent, then maybe L-Theanine. The stuff I get comes with a handy little 200 mg measuring scoop.
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Commented Feb 15, 2015 at 0:11
  • It doesn't really mix evenly though (at least with L-theanine, in my experience) due to the different density/granularity.
    – user5561
    Commented Feb 15, 2015 at 1:39
  • I researched the mg\ML of pure caffeine powder to post a conversion, but it A.) varied by brand B.) Was miles above what I expected. That stuff is potent! I agree with user5561, this kind of thing needs a scale. You need the accuracy. I suppose you could dilute it as suggested, but I would be concerned about it not being evenly mixed, and with such potency I would think that could get dangerous.
    – Jemmeh
    Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 19:01
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Try cold water, some powders will harden with hot water...e.g. why we add COLD water to flour and not hot water (which turns flour into cement near instantly).

Try keeping the powdered caffeine in wax paper packets old school style.

Try corn starch as the binding agent Try moistened cane sugar as the binding agent. Or confectioners sugar.

don't use talc, talc will float on water even as a powder. You could also try corn starch solids like non-dairy creamers.

I hope some of these ideas help.

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