Weed Tea: How to Make It, What It Does and Its Limits

How do you make weed tea?

Weed tea is made by simmering cannabis leaves in hot water for about 30 minutes and straining them out. Because cannabinoids don't dissolve well in water and leaves are low in THC, a basic weed tea is mild and won't hit like smoking or eating cannabis. People drink it for a gentle, relaxing cup rather than a strong high.

How to make cannabis tea, step by step:

1. Gather your cannabis leaves: Use fresh or dried leaves from the plant. If you want to avoid the high, go with leaves from CBD-rich (cannabidiol) or low-THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) strains.
2. Chop the leaves: Cut them into smaller pieces so they infuse more easily.
3. Heat the water: Bring a pot of water to a boil.
4. Add the cannabis leaves to the hot water: Once the water's boiling, toss in the leaves and turn the heat down to a gentle simmer.
5. Let it steep: Leave the leaves to infuse in the hot water for about 30 minutes.
6. Strain the tea: When it's done, strain out the leaves so you're left with just the liquid.

It's best to drink it right away, before it cools, especially if you added butter to the pot: as the temperature drops, the fat separates from the water. If you made it with milk, it's fine to let it sit at room temperature, since milk is already a liquid and won't solidify the way butter does.

What are cannabis leaves good for?

Cannabis leaves have plenty of uses, but keep in mind they carry far less THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol) than the buds. Even so, you can put them to work in a few different ways:

1. Tea: Cannabis leaves can be brewed into weed tea, which some people find relaxing and which may offer some therapeutic properties thanks to its cannabinoid content.
2. Food and drinks: Some people add cannabis leaves to recipes like smoothies, salads or baked goods. Just know the flavor can be strong and earthy.
3. Extracts and oils: Leaves are lower in cannabinoids, but you can still use them to extract small amounts of CBD and other useful compounds, which can then go into oils or wellness products.
4. Organic fertilizer: Cannabis leaves also make good compost or organic fertilizer for other plants, since they contain nutrients that can enrich the soil.
5. Arts and crafts: Dried cannabis leaves sometimes get used for creative projects like art and crafts.

Bottom line: using cannabis leaves for recreational or medicinal purposes is going to have pretty limited effects because of their low cannabinoid content. The buds are where cannabinoids are most concentrated, and they're what people usually use to get the psychoactive or medicinal effects they're after.

More cannabis recipes

Cannabutter

Making cannabutter might sound like something only the pros can pull off, but it's honestly not. It's simple and you can make it at home.

The best part about cannabutter is that it works in a ton of different dishes in the cannabis kitchen.

You'll need 1 lb (about 450 g) of butter, margarine or whatever fat you cook with, and 1/2 oz (about 14 g) of ground weed. Melt the butter in a pan and add the cannabis. Let it cook over low heat until the butter turns green from the herb. Strain it through a sieve and chill it in the fridge. That's it: your own personal cannabutter, ready for anything from sweet to savory cannabis recipes. The sky's the limit.

Weed brownies

Everybody's heard of these legendary treats, and for chocolate and cannabis lovers alike, they're the baseline recipe everyone should try.

For the easiest possible version, grab a box of brownie mix from your favorite brand. Obviously, you'll also need some weed. For these special brownies, we recommend anywhere from 4 to 18 grams of cannabis (stay at the low end if you're new to edibles).

Next, heat the amount of oil the box calls for and add the weed to the pan. Let the herb and oil cook over low to medium heat for about 30 minutes.

Then strain out the plant material and add the oil to the brownie mix. From there, follow the box instructions and you'll end up with a batch of delicious weed brownies.

Cannabis oil

There are tons of recipes for making cannabis oil, but here's an easy one. It takes basically no work, just a little patience and some quality weed.

So how do you make cannabis oil? Here's the step-by-step:

• Rinse the weed in hot water (the idea is to clean and decarb it at the same time). You can also decarboxylate it in the oven.
• Get a glass jar big enough for the amount of oil you're making.
• Pour in your favorite extra virgin olive oil, or whichever one you think will pair best with the weed you picked. Remember it can be CBD-rich, THC-rich or both.
• Add about 20-25 g (just under 1 oz) of dried, cured, unground cannabis.
• Let it steep in a dark, dry place for a couple of weeks, stirring now and then so the weed releases its compounds.
• Once that time's up, it's ready to use.
• Don't take the cannabis out of the jar.
• If the mix turns out too strong, pour it into a new glass jar and add a quarter as much extra virgin olive oil to tone it down. Shake it hard and let it rest in the dark for a couple of days so it settles.
• Your cannabis oil is now ready to use under the tongue, on the skin or as a dietary supplement.

Potential benefits of cannabis oil:

• Muscle pain and arthritis
  Research suggests it may help with chronic pain and arthritis, and many patients report it works better for them than some conventional medications.
• Anxiety
  THC can have a relaxing effect on the nervous system, and some people report it helps take the edge off anxiety.
• Nausea and vomiting
  Cannabis has been used for decades to ease nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and other medical conditions.
• Epilepsy
  Some studies suggest cannabis may help reduce seizures in patients with epilepsy.
• Glaucoma
  THC and other cannabinoids can temporarily lower eye pressure, which is why cannabis is often discussed for glaucoma, though it's not considered a replacement for standard treatment.