No proprietary blend. No secret ratio.
Make Dōpo yourself.
Here's the exact formula, the exact doses, and exactly how to mix it. We'll even tell you what it tastes like before tart cherry.
the short answer
Dōpo's nightly formula is four ingredients: glycine (3 g), L-theanine (200 mg), magnesium bisglycinate (200 mg elemental), and lemon balm leaf extract (300 mg), mixed in water. No melatonin. Tart cherry is a flavor, not a fifth ingredient - the doses above do the work. Below is the exact recipe, honest buying guidance for each raw ingredient, the protocol we use ourselves, and why we still sell it pre-measured even though we're telling you how to skip us.
the recipe
Four ingredients. Published in full.
01 · Pharmaceutical-grade (USP) glycine powder
Glycine
3 g
Glycine is a simple amino acid. There's no patented or branded version to look for, because there's nothing complex enough to patent.
What to look for
Look for "glycine powder, USP" or "pharmaceutical grade" on the label. It should dissolve clear in water with no grit. Skip anything with added flavoring or anti-caking agents if you can find a plain option.
02 · Pure L-theanine powder (the L-isomer)
L-theanine
200 mg
The research is on L-theanine specifically, the form naturally found in tea leaves. Some cheaper powders are sold as "DL-theanine," a synthetic mix that isn't the same molecule.
What to look for
Check the label says "L-theanine," not "DL-theanine." Branded fermented forms like Suntheanine exist and are a step up in purity, but a plain USP-grade L-theanine powder is enough for a DIY batch.
03 · Magnesium bisglycinate powder, dosed to 200 mg elemental
Magnesium bisglycinate
200 mg
The 200 mg in Dōpo is elemental magnesium: the actual magnesium atom, not the whole compound's weight. Magnesium bisglycinate is a chelate (magnesium bound to two glycine molecules), and only around a seventh of that compound's weight is elemental magnesium. So hitting 200 mg elemental means weighing out roughly 1.4 to 1.5 grams of the actual bisglycinate powder, not 200 milligrams. Read a supplement facts panel for "elemental magnesium" before trusting the big number on the front of a label.
What to look for
Buy true magnesium bisglycinate (sometimes labeled magnesium glycinate), not a blend cut with magnesium oxide. Oxide is cheaper, harsher on the stomach, and poorly absorbed, but it lets a brand hit a bigger milligram number for less money. If the supplement facts panel lists both bisglycinate and oxide, or just says "magnesium oxide," put it back.
04 · Standardized lemon balm leaf extract, not plain dried leaf
Lemon balm leaf extract
300 mg
Standardized means the extract is processed to a consistent concentration of the plant's active compounds. Plain dried lemon balm leaf varies a lot in potency batch to batch, harvest to harvest, so a 300 mg dose of dried leaf isn't the same 300 mg twice.
What to look for
Look for the word "standardized" or "extract" on the label, not just "lemon balm leaf" or "lemon balm powder."
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
the protocol
It takes a real scale. Every night.
A kitchen scale that reads in whole grams can't do this. Its rounding error, half a gram either way, is bigger than the entire L-theanine dose. You need a scale that reads to at least 0.01 gram (10 milligrams), the kind sold for reloading or jewelry, not baking. They're inexpensive and easy to find online.
01
Weigh each ingredient
Zero the scale between each one: Glycine (3 g), L-theanine (200 mg), Magnesium bisglycinate (200 mg, about 1.4 to 1.5 g of compound), Lemon balm leaf extract (300 mg).
02
Combine in a glass
Add all four to the glass before adding water. It's easier to see you haven't missed one.
03
Add water and stir
Stir until nothing settles on the bottom. Magnesium bisglycinate is the slowest to dissolve.
This is a nightly measurement, not a one-time batch. Pre-portioning a month at once needs more than a milligram scale: a way to divide four powders into thirty even doses without them settling or separating unevenly in storage. Most people weighing this out themselves do it fresh each night.
what it actually tastes like
Unflavored, this isn't pleasant. Magnesium bisglycinate carries a bitter, mineral, faintly metallic edge. Lemon balm extract is grassy, almost like strong tea. Glycine, on its own, is cloyingly sweet, more like a sugar substitute than a flavor. Mixed together in plain water, the combination is exactly what four raw powders mixed in water tastes like.
let's just say it
Buying it yourself, in bulk, costs less.
It does. Buying raw powders in bulk is cheaper than buying a finished, pre-mixed product. That's true of almost every supplement that exists, and we're not going to pretend otherwise or make you do math to find that out.
So here's why Dōpo exists anyway. Every night, the four doses above are already measured. No scale, no zeroing between ingredients, no risk of a heavy-handed scoop throwing off the ratio. Every raw ingredient is tested by our manufacturer before it goes into a blend, not after you've already mixed a glass and hoped. And it tastes like tart cherry, not the bitter, grassy, cloying combination described above.
If measuring four powders every night, alone, at the end of a long day, sounds like the opposite of winding down, that's the actual product. Not the formula. The formula was never the secret.
one more honest thing
Tart cherry is a flavor. That's all it is.
The sleep work above is done by the four doses, not the fruit. Tart cherry is what makes this pleasant to drink instead of choking down bitter, grassy powder. If a label leans on tart cherry like it's part of the mechanism, ask what dose, in what form, and why it isn't just listed as a flavor.
before you weigh anything out
Fair questions.
Why publish your own recipe if you're also selling it?
Because hiding it would work against us. If a formula only survives behind a proprietary blend, it isn't a formula worth trusting. We'd rather you know exactly what's in this and choose Dōpo anyway than wonder what we're not telling you.
Does the tart cherry flavor do anything for sleep?
No. It's flavor only. The four doses above are doing the work; tart cherry just makes it something you'd actually want to drink.
What kind of scale do I actually need?
One that reads to at least 0.01 gram (10 milligrams). A standard kitchen scale reading whole grams isn't precise enough. Reloading and jewelry scales in this range are inexpensive and widely available.
Isn't it cheaper to just buy the ingredients myself?
Yes, buying raw powders in bulk costs less than a finished product. That's true of almost any supplement. What you're paying Dōpo for is the doses already measured every night and every raw ingredient tested before it's blended. And it tastes like tart cherry, not bitter mineral powder.
Are these the exact amounts in Dōpo?
Yes, these are the amounts in our current written supplier quote, the same ones on the product page. That quote isn't a final batch sheet yet, so treat these as the working formula, not a certified label, until a finished batch exists.
if measuring four powders every night isn't the ritual you want
The 60-Night Starter comes pre-measured.
60-Night Starter
$58.50· 2 jars, second jar 50% off
Then $39 every 30 nights. Magnesium research runs in weeks, not nights - one jar isn't a fair test.
If your nights aren't better by the time you finish both jars, we refund every dollar.
See the 60-Night StarterFree waitlist. Nothing is charged today.