An alternative to smoking or eating edibles, drinking tea infused with cannabis offers a cozy high. It’s like a cannabis version of your favorite bedtime tea that might improve your sleep quality. It can also give you a boost of alertness and focus when paired with caffeine in the morning. Drinking a warm cuppa of cannabis gives your lungs a break and cuts out the added sugar found in many edibles, and you can do it all yourself at home.
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as dropping some weed in a tea bag and start steeping. That won’t get you high. You will have to do some prep to get your cannabis material in a state that will allow you to feel effects via beverage. Don’t worry, we’ve put together a simple, step-by-step guide to get you sipping in no time.
Instead of using fat to extract the THC from the plant material, say cannabutter or coconut oil, we like an alcohol-based infusion for this recipe. (Those fats just end up collecting at the surface of the beverage, and no one wants to drink oily tea.) The small amount of alcohol used in the tea will be evaporated through cooking, but if you prefer a no-alcohol version, simply add a cannabis tincture or infused honey from your local dispensary to your tea in the same way you would any sweetener.
Don’t be intimidated, though—all you need is a gram or two of cannabis flower, high-proof alcohol, and a mason jar.
Cannabis Tea Recipe
Yield: Makes 1 cup of tea
Ingredients:
• 1 teabag or 1 teaspoon loose-leaf tea of your choice
• 1½ cups water
• ¼ teaspoon, or desired amount, of cannabis tincture (recipe below)
• Any other ingredients for flavor such as honey, milk, or sugar
Cannabis tincture
• 1.75 grams cannabis flower (~20% THC), coarsely ground
• ¼ cup Everclear (or substitute 100 proof or higher vodka)
Directions:
- Prep cannabis tincture a day in advance. Preheat the oven to 240°F. Place 1.75 grams of coarsely ground cannabis flower into an 8-ounce mason jar, seal with the lid to reduce smell, and heat for 40 minutes in the oven to decarb, which will activate the THC. Remove from the oven (the flower should look lightly toasted) and let cool until the mason jar is safe to touch. Pour ¼ cup of Everclear or 100-proof vodka into the mason jar, close the lid and shake hard to combine. Set aside and let the mixture sit overnight.
- The next day, shake mixture and pour through a fine mesh sieve into another small mason jar. Reserve the liquid and discard the grounds. Label the jar: “¼ teaspoon = 5mg THC.” This cannabis tincture makes 48 servings for multiple cups of tea.
- Shake the jar before each use and add ¼ teaspoon of the cannabis tincture into a small pot of boiling water. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes to cook off the alcohol.
- Pour the boiling water with the cannabis tincture into a heat-safe mug with the tea bag or loose-leaf tea leaves, along with any desired extras like mint, lemon, honey, or a cinnamon stick. Steep for a couple of minutes. Remove the tea leaves, and enjoy a sip of homemade cannabis-infused tea.
Dosing: 1.75 grams of ~20% THC flower is used in this recipe for a total of ~250mg THC. ¼ teaspoon of cannabis tincture contains ~5mg. To increase your personal dose, simply add more tincture to your tea. For those who are new to edibles and cannabis, it is recommended to start at 5mg THC or less per person.
Recommended teas for nighttime: chamomile, lemon balm, or lavender tea paired with relaxing strains high in myrcene and caryophyllene. Drink two hours before bedtime.
Recommended teas for day: earl grey bergamot, English breakfast black tea, matcha, or chai tea paired with uplifting strains high in limonene and pinene. Drink with your morning breakfast routine.
Source: Lauren Yoshiko & Christina Wong – thrillist.com
