The melatonin question, which is really the only question

There are three positions you can take on melatonin in a sleep drink, and the market has taken all three.

MoonBrew sits at zero, deliberately. Their line is that you can drink it nightly because there's no melatonin in it. Most of the rest of the category sits at 3mg or higher, which is where the morning grogginess complaints tend to come from.

We put 1mg in. Not because more is better, and not because none is better, but because that's the position we'd want as buyers: melatonin present, at the low end.

So here's the honest answer: if you've decided you don't want melatonin at all, buy MoonBrew. We're not going to talk you out of a decision that's about your own body. This comparison is for people who are still deciding.

One thing worth reading elsewhere before you choose: reviewers who have written about MoonBrew at length tend to describe the effect as subtle, more calming than sleep-inducing. Whether that's what you want is the whole question. Some people are looking for exactly that. Others have tried the calming route and want something with a little more behind it.

Where the two overlap is the rest of the formula. Both use magnesium glycinate and L-theanine, and both use reishi. If you like that base with a small amount of melatonin on top, that's us. If you want the base on its own, that's them.

“How many nights does a pack actually cover?”

This one is easy to miss, and it changes the price comparison. A MoonBrew pack holds 25 servings. A month has 30 or 31 nights. If you drink it every night, you run out before the next one arrives.

SORA is 30 sachets. Which means the honest way to compare the two isn't box against box, it's night against night: $1.30 against $1.54.

“Jar and scoop, or sachets?”

MoonBrew comes as a jar you scoop from, and they include a frother with subscriptions. It's a nicer ritual if you're at home and want a warm drink you make properly.

SORA is single-serve sachets. Nothing to measure, nothing to carry, and it travels. Which of those is better depends entirely on whether you're the sort of person who keeps a routine going when you're away from your own kitchen.

What's in ours, in full

Per 9g sachet: 2500mg glycine, 300mg L-theanine, 300mg reishi mushroom extract, 200mg magnesium glycinate, 150mg apigenin, 1mg melatonin. Vegan, gluten free, no added sugar in any flavour, made in a GMP certified facility and third-party tested.

Four flavours: blueberry, wild strawberry, raspberry lemonade, and a variety pack. One sachet in 200ml of water, 30 to 60 minutes before bed.