CBD tea is a quick, easy, and delicious way to drink your medication. And you don’t have to rely on expensive, pre-made CBD teas to get the relief you need — you can make your own and tailor it to your tastes.
In this article, the all-things-cannabis experts at Honest Marijuana will tell you everything you need to know about this tasty brew, including how to make CBD tea at home.
What Is CBD?
CBD is the abbreviated form of the word cannabidiol.
Cannabidiol is one of a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds (primarily in the cannabis plant) called cannabinoids.
THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is probably the best-known cannabinoid, but others of note are:
- CBG (cannabigerol)
- CBN (cannabinol)
- CBT (cannabicitran)
- CBL (cannabicyclol)
- CBC (cannabichromene)
- CBDV (cannabidivarin)
All in all, scientists have isolated 113 different cannabinoids from the cannabis plant. We’re going to focus on CBD and how you can use it to brew a tasty, healthy, and medicinal CBD tea.
What Qualifies As Tea?
Tea is a hot drink made from the infused leaves, fruits, or flowers of plants.
We’re going to leave it at that because, honestly, if you don’t already know what tea is, you may be too young or too inexperienced to brew a pot of your own.
What is CBD Tea?
CBD tea is — as the name suggests — a hot beverage made by steeping buds from a high-CBD strain of the cannabis plant.
When you brew up a batch of this medicinal beverage, the action of boiling separates the terpenes and cannabinoids from the plant matter and makes them easier for you to ingest.
With CBD tea, you don’t have to swallow pills, administer a tincture, or try to find a way to consume an oil. You can just drink your way to better health.
Will CBD Tea Get You High?
CBD will not get you high. By extension, then, no CBD product should give you a psychedelic kick — including CBD tea.
Astute readers will notice the word “should” in the previous sentence. Some marijuana strains contain a wide range of cannabinoids, not just CBD. Those strains may contain THC, which, depending on the dose, will at least make you feel a little strange.
You may not get the full “I-just-had-the-best-conversation-with-my-favorite-pen” experience, but the effects will be different from a pure CBD strain.
To protect yourself from an accidental high, be sure to purchase a strain with as little THC as possible.
How To Make Your Own CBD Tea
Ingredients
- Your favorite CBD strain (1 ounce per cup of water)
- Grinder
- Water
- Stove and oven
- Pot (the kitchen kind) for boiling water
- Binding agent (more on this below)
- Coffee filter, cheesecloth, or strainer
- A teapot, cup, bowl, or second cooking pot to strain the liquid into
- Your favorite loose tea or tea bag (optional)
A Binding Agent Is Essential
CBD is not water-soluble, which means that when you eat, drink, or absorb it through your mouth, it needs to bind with some other chemical in order to make it into your bloodstream (and, ultimately, to your brain).
That’s where a binding agent comes in.
What is a binding agent? As the name suggests, it’s a chemical that absorbs (and binds) other chemicals (in this case, CBD) and basically transports it to places in your body that it couldn’t normally go.
Without a binding agent, CBD can’t cross into your bloodstream. If it can’t get into your blood, it can’t make its way to your brain. And if it can’t get to your brain, you won’t experience any of the beneficial effects.
You can drink all the CBD tea you want, but without a binding agent, it’s like steeping your tea with spinach — it’ll taste weird and it won’t really do anything.
Thankfully, binding agents are easy to come by. Chances are you’ve already got some in your kitchen cabinets.
Fats make excellent binding agents, as do all types of alcohol. But not all fats and alcohols taste good in tea. Shocker, right?
Here are our suggestions for the best binding agents:
- Coconut oil
- Coconut milk
- Butter
- Whole milk
- Half-and-half
- Rum
If you know your way around the kitchen and enjoy DIYing, consider whipping up a batch of cannabis butter or cannabis coconut oil as your binding agent. They make the whole experience better, and you can even use them as an ingredient in other recipes.
We always keep a batch handy for whatever edible we’re currently jonesing.
Decarboxylate First
To activate the medicinal properties in your bud, you need to decarboxylate it first. Your stomach can’t do this, so you need to do it before you brew your CBD tea.
Thankfully, the process is fairly simple. Here’s a step-by-step guide to decarboxylate your weed.
- Preheat oven to 240 degrees Fahrenheit or 115 degrees Celsius. Keep in mind that the boiling point for CBD is around 314 degrees Fahrenheit and that using temperatures that high can ruin your bud. Oven temperatures can vary quite a bit, so if you have access to an oven thermometer, use it to find an accurate inside temperature.
- Break, tear, or grind the weed into small pieces making sure they don’t overlap on the pan.
- Cook for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove pan from oven and allow to cool.
For an in-depth guide on decarboxylating your marijuana, take a few minutes to read our article Marijuana Decarboxylation: Why And How To Decarb Your Weed.
Recipe
Now, before you run to your stove and start steeping your tea like you always have, there are specific steps that you must follow in order to brew your CBD tea successfully.
As you’ll see in the instructions below, you’ll add all the fat-based binding agents right from the start.
If you choose an alcohol-based binding agent, you’ll add it later on in the process so it doesn’t boil off.
OK, now to the step-by-step.
- Shred your decarboxylated bud into tiny pieces (use a grinder, kids; it’s so much easier).
- Pour the water into a pot.
- Measure in your fat-based binding agent. If you chose an alcohol-based binding agent, skip this step. You’ll add the alcohol later. Here are some useful amounts for your fat-based binding agent:
- ½ tsp of butter or coconut oil per cup of water
- 2 ½ tbsp of whole milk, half-and-half, or coconut milk per cup of water
- Turn the burner on high and bring the mixture to a boil.
- When the water’s boiling, add 1 teaspoon of your ground-up, decarboxylated weed.
- Boil everything together for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. If you have the patience, stir the mixture gently for the entire 10 minutes. This exposes as much of the plant matter to the boiling water as possible. If you can’t stop to stir for 10 minutes straight, move the mix around every 2 to 3 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, remove the pot from the burner.
- If you chose an alcohol-based binding agent, add 1 tablespoon per cup of water now. We like rum in our tea because it adds sweet notes to the bitter, grassy taste of the tea itself.
- Pour the CBD tea mix through a coffee filter, cheesecloth, or strainer to separate the liquid from the solid plant matter.
- You’re ready to go!
- Optional: Add a bag of your favorite tea to enhance the flavor. Let it steep for 5 minutes.
- Optional: Stir in some cannabis honey, regular honey, agave syrup, lemon, or raw sugar to create a unique experience.
What Are The Benefits Of CBD Tea?
CBD tea has a wide range of medical benefits. Chief amongst those benefits, the CBD in the tea acts as an:
- Antiemetic — reduces nausea and vomiting
- Antitumoral — fights tumor and cancer cells
- Anticonvulsant — suppresses seizure activity
- Anxiolytic — combats anxiety and depression
- Antipsychotic — mediates psychotic disorders
- Antioxidant — tempers neurodegenerative disorders
- Anti-inflammatory — mitigates inflammatory disorders
Because CBD has so many medicinal benefits, you can use it to treat a wide range of disorders, including schizophrenia (and other psychoses), epileptic disorders, anxiety, and depression.
Other ailments that may respond well to CBD tea include:
- Cancer
- Osteoporosis
- Lupus
- Diabetes
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Parkinson’s disease
- Chronic and neuropathic pain
We should note that CBD tea is a diluted form of the medication, so it won’t replace concentrates or over-the-counter medications. It can, however, act as a supplement for more direct treatments.
Try CBD Tea Before You Buy
For edibles and beverages, we always recommend going DIY before you buy. CBD tea is no exception.
When you brew your own CBD tea, you can be 100-percent sure of what you’re getting (even more so if you use an organic marijuana). You can also customize the beverage to your exacting tastes.
Plus, steeping your own CBD tea is super easy — the only thing you’ll probably need to purchase is your favorite CBD strain. Everything else you can find on a shelf in your kitchen.
Try brewing your own CBD tea and see how you like it. If it’s just not “your cup of tea” (sorry, we had to), you can always go back to getting your daily CBD from a joint, bong, dab rig.
For more information on all things cannabis and to check out our 100-percent all-natural marijuana products, visit HonestMarijuana.com today.