By Allie Beckett for marijuana.com
Now you may be thinking “tea from my leftover stems? Am I back in high school?”, but recycling your weed stems into a potent and medicinal tea is an incredibly efficient way to use a ‘byproduct’ of our favourite sticky herb.
Weed tea is used all over the world to treat a variety of ailments including asthma, nausea and chronic pain. Drinking your medicine in tea form delivers relief dramatically faster than smoking which is what makes it so effective at treating auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, irritable bowel syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis. Cannabis tea also releases mood enhancers that boost overall positivity and reduce anxiety.
Tea is a great alternative for someone who doesn’t enjoy smoking but still wants to soak up all the amazing benefits of cannabis. It is easy to dose yourself with tea, unlike other edibles that can make you feel out of control quite quickly.
Tea is an all around gentler and healthier high if made on the lighter side. Teas made with stems have a far milder effect and taste than teas made with pure bud. I have definitely been knocked out by weed tea, and have had some friends that say infused tea is the highest they’ve ever been — so don’t say the experts didn’t warn you 😉
Ingredients:
• ¼ – ½ cup of marijuana stems (from organic cannabis preferably)
• Additional shake and/or weed are optional to increase potency
• 3 cups of water
• Additional bag of tea to add flavour
• Coffee filter
Plus a binding agent:
2-3 tablespoons of alcohol of your choice
or
1/2 cup of whole milk, coconut milk, or half-and-half
or
1/2 tbsp of butter/coconut oil
Method
Step 1:
To grind or not to grind?
Some recipes recommend grinding your stems before steeping. Grinding creates more surface area which could theoretically increase the potency, however, experience tells me that the difference is negligible. Also, I find that grinding the stems makes the whole process messier; so if you want a quick and easy tea, feel free to skip the grinding step. An easy compromise is to break up the stems with your hands.
Step 2:
Depending on what you have handy in your kitchen, you can either grab a teapot or a regular saucepan. Fill up the pot with 3 cups of water. If you don’t drink alcohol, you can add 1/2 cup of milk / half-and-half, or a 1/2 tbsp of butter / coconut oil, at this time. I find alcohol to be the best binding agent to enhance the potency of weed tea. If you choose to use alcohol, add it after the boiling process (so it won’t evaporate while boiling). Bring the concoction in your pot to a boil.
Step 3:
Once it has reached the boiling point, add the stems and let boil for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently. If you have a reusable tea bag large enough for your stems, put it to use for an easier straining process. If you’re looking for an exceptionally potent tea, add some additional trim, shake, or ground nugs during this step.
Step 4:
Once the tea is thoroughly infused, remove it from the heat. If you chose to use alcohol, now is the time to add a couple tablespoons of the alcohol of your choice (rum is a nice and sweet-tasting addition).
Step 5:
If you used a tea bag, just remove the bag and your tea is ready! Without a teabag, the next step is straining the tea. Grab that coffee filter and let’s separate that yummy tea from the used stems. If you used a teapot, it’s easy to secure the coffee filter around the spout with a rubber band, or place the filter inside the teapot. If you used a saucepan, you can secure the coffee filter around a mug to strain your tea.
Step 6:
Once your tea is strained, you can add a variety of extra goodies to enhance the flavour. Our girl Mary always said, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down — honey and/or raw sugar will make your medicinal tea taste amazing. If milk or half-and-half were used, adding a bag of organic chai tea or turmeric tea will bring your brew to another level. If alcohol was used, I recommend adding a strong bag of fruity or floral tea like passionfruit.
I view this tea as a daily vitamin and love making a big batch to sip on throughout the week. Whatever your needs, this tea is very customisable in potency and flavour profiles.With this recipe in your back pocket, you have a quick and easy way to get high twice by recycling your stems into a potent tonic.
—
This article was originally published on marijuana.com. Read the original article.
