The first few times trying this, I really didn't feel anything from it so I tried a little test. I dropped a capsule in a glass of water, and also did the same with a caffeine capsule which is the exact same type as these ones. Within about 1-2 minutes, the caffeine capsule had completely opened and the contents emptied. These theanine pills on the other hand, took close to 30 minutes to do the same. Using hot vs cold water didn't make a difference. So basically, if you feel these are taking forever to kick in, that could be the reason why. So next I tried opening the capsule, mixing it with water and drinking it that way. Did I notice anything? Hard to say, but I don't think so. However I'm not someone that gets super anxious from caffeine anyways, but I do feel really relaxed and good after drinking green tea and was hoping I could replicate that in pill form. It seems not, at least for now. I may try it again and update this if it works, but right now I'm actually worried about it having a negative effect on productivity if anything, so have to try it when I have nothing else going on. I don't discount other people's experiences though, so it might work for people who experience more anxiety than me.