Lifestyle
How To Make Weed Stem Tea
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The cannabis plant is an incredibly versatile plant that can be enjoyed in seemingly limitless ways. It can be smoked as a flower, eaten in edibles, extracted for oils and waxes, and even drank as a stem tea.
Weed stem tea is yet another one of the endless ways to harness the wonderful benefits of the cannabis plant. We’re here to talk to you about exactly what stem tea is and why it’s worth trying out. Then, we’ll teach you step-by-step how to make tea with weed stems at home. Read on for our full guide on how to brew cannabis tea!
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What is Cannabis Stem Tea?
Cannabis tea with stems has actually been brewed for centuries. Cannabis use has been traced back to the ancient civilizations of China, Japan, South America, North America, and more. Cannabis tea is no exception, as scientists have said that cannabis stem tea has been used as a medicinal remedy for as far back as 2737 B.C. Records say that cannabis tea was used to treat things like inflammation, rheumatism, gout, malaria, and many other different ailments and afflictions.
Cannabis stem tea is brewed using the leftover parts of the cannabis plant that aren’t typically used in smoking or cooking. Cannabis stems are usually picked out of bud that’s going to be smoked as they can have a tendency to be harsh and don’t yield a ton of THC that way. They are also picked out of bud that’s going to be cooked with because the sharp, pokey stems of the cannabis plant are not entirely an appetizing ingredient. So, using them in a tea is a great way to utilize cannabis leftovers that would normally just be thrown away!
(The same goes for seeds, too––any leftover part of the cannabis plant that you cannot use for smoking, baking, or extracting can be used to steep cannabis tea.)
If you’ve ever made loose leaf tea, the process of making cannabis stem tea will be somewhat similar. There are a few extra steps that you must take to ensure the potency of your weed tea, but cannabis tea is simply that: tea steeped with cannabis stems, seeds, and any other leftover canna-bits to make a cannabis-infused brew.
Cannabis Tea Effects
Just like any cannabis product, the effects of weed stem tea vary from person to person. Since every individual’s unique physiology is completely different, there are a ton of different factors that go into how things like cannabis stem tea will affect you. These factors include your tolerance, frequency of cannabis use, height, weight, and overall health.
Since weed stem tea reaps a lot of the same benefits as cannabis consumed in other forms, it will have similar effects. Some reported effects of weed stem tea include:
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Pain relief, inflammation relief, and arthritis relief.
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Help with insomnia or sleeplessness.
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Help with relieving nausea, indigestion, or upset stomach.
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Helps to stimulate appetite or combat loss of appetite.
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Elevated mood or feelings of happiness and euphoria.
The potency of the tea will make a big difference in how it affects you as well. Depending on how strong you make your tea, the effects will vary. Obviously, if the tea is brewed stronger, the effects will be more intense than if it was brewed lightly.
Cannabis Tea Side Effects
This kind of tea shares some of the same side effects as consuming cannabis through tinctures or edibles. Mostly, it can make you feel intoxicated and groggy or even make you feel like you have slower reflexes.
Other side effects include perception distortion, red eyes, and lethargicness. While there is still a lot to learn about how to make weed tea with stems, we recommend starting slow and letting your body react with smaller doses.
Also, hemp generally reduces potassium levels, so avoid this tea if you are using diuretics or other long-term medications. As always, we recommend you check with your healthcare provider before starting any supplement.
Photo Courtesy of Unsplash
Benefits of Cannabis Tea
While there are many ways of enjoying cannabis, making tea can be pretty useful. First, it’s an amazing way to repurpose stems and scraps from your last grinding session. This makes smoking a little more sustainable, as you are using all the parts of the flower.
Second, it’s cost-effective. By using your leftovers to brew a concentrated product you can enjoy, you are able to stay high for a little longer without having to do a restock. So if sometimes you feel like you spend too much on hemp-based products, you can stretch that next buy for a little longer.
And thirdly, which we will delve more into detail is that it has pretty strong health benefits. While there is much to still understand about cannabis tea as a therapeutic treatment, some of the effects are similar to other parts of the plant. Let’s explore this a little bit further.
Health Benefits of Cannabis Tea
Besides the more upfront benefit of having a full smokeless experience, cannabis has been used as a medicinal herb for centuries. Some cultures have even reported using it for pain, as part of their rituals, or to help them have a better night’s rest.
Users nowadays have reported using cannabis tea and other products such as tinctures to manage symptoms associated with certain conditions, such as anxiety, chronic pain, nausea, and even weight loss.
Specifically, if you’ve been struggling with stomach problems or nausea, cannabis tea can be a great relief. And if you are going through strong chronic pain like those caused by chemo, there are findings that cannabis tea can be useful while skipping smoking altogether.
If getting stems and brewing tea gets a little difficult at the time, you can also fast forward this process and make any tea and add some drops from a tincture like our delta 8 tinctures.
They come in 3 different flavors (Strawberry, Sour Apple, and Cherry Lime) so you can skip the earthy flavor of cannabis tea altogether. They come with a hefty 1,000mg dose of D8 THC per bottle and can be easily added to any tea, drink, or even have them on their own sublingually.
How to Make Weed Stem Tea
Making weed tea with stems is a relatively easy process. If you’ve ever steeped loose leaf tea, the process will be somewhat similar. Here are step by step instructions on how to make weed tea with stems at home:
Weed Tea with Stems
- strainer
- 3 cups water
- 1/4 dry cup dried stems
- 1 tbsp cannabis tincture
- 1 tbsp butter or coconut oil
Gather your weed stems: You’re going to need a decent amount of weed stems to yield a potent tea, so make sure you’re collecting your weed stems somewhere. Set up a designated jar or bag for your stems, seeds, and other cannabis odds and ends that don’t make it into the bud you smoke or use for baking.
This is also where you can tailor your weed tea to your liking––if you want to make a tea out of specifically Sativa stems, make sure you’re storing them separately.
You can do the same for stems from Indica strains, hybrid strains, CBD flower, delta 8 flower, and any other bud you may have. (You can absolutely throw all of your stems together at once, as most people probably do, but this is just a way for you to tailor your weed tea to your specific liking.)
Prepare your weed stems: Some people choose to grind their weed stems to break up the bigger pieces and increase the surface area of their bits. This is completely optional as this does not affect the potency of the tea in any way––it’s completely up to your own textural and brewing preferences.
If you’re going to do this, it will work much better in a blender or food processor than your standard handheld weed grinder. But if you don’t have access to those things, don’t worry about it. You can still just as easily make weed tea with whole stems.
To make a substantial cup of weed stem tea, we’d recommend having at the very least ¼ dry cup of stems. That will make a batch of cannabis tea that’s on the lighter side, so if you want something a bit more potent, you can go all the way up to a full cup (or more, but we always recommend going slow when you’re first trying it out.)
Finding your cannabis tea sweet spot is very similar to finding your edible sweet spot, so it’s best not to rush it and chance getting yourself way too high and having a bad experience.
This is also where you’ll be able to add other things to the mix. If you have leftover seeds, kief, or other clippings that you’d rather not waste, you can add them into your tea, too!
Prepare your binding agent: Cannabis is not water-soluble so it will need a binding agent to help extract the cannabinoids from the stems into the water, resulting in an infused tea. Binding agents are either fat-based or alcohol-based.
For fat-based binding agents, we recommend using something like 1 tbsp of butter or coconut oil, or ½ cup coconut milk, half and half, or cream. For alcohol-based binding agents, 2-3 of any type of hard liquor will work. (Pro tip: use whiskey or bourbon for flavors that are reminiscent of a hot toddy!)
Begin to boil your stem tea: It’s finally time to bring everything together and boil your stem tea. On the stove, add enough water to fully cover your stems (which will be roughly 3 cups, but will depend specifically on how many stems you’re using.)
If you’re using a fat-based binding agent, now is the time to add that. (If you’re using an alcohol-based one, you’ll add it after.) Add your milk, cream, butter, or oil into the water with the stems and bring everything to a full, roaring boil.
Let the stems boil for anywhere from 7 to 15 minutes stirring occasionally––closer to 7 minutes if you want a weaker tea or up to 15 minutes for a super strong brew. Once they’ve been boiled for the allotted time, take them off the heat and let them cool before straining. If you’re using alcohol as your binding agent, now is the time to add it. (If you add it before this step, it will be boiled away, rendering the alcohol useless as a binding agent.)
Strain your weed tea: Now it’s time to strain the tea of the leftover stems. You can do this a couple of ways: if you have a loose-leaf steeper at home already, this is the perfect time to use it. If not, you can also use a super-fine mesh strainer, sieve, colander, or a cheesecloth if you have one in the kitchen.
No matter what you use, it’s important to get all of the extra sediment out of your tea so you can actually enjoy it. Once you’ve strained your tea, the leftover bits can be thrown away or composted.
(Pro tip: if you have teabags, you can use them so you don’t have to actually strain the tea. You can fill the teabags with your stems, odds, and ends and steep them like you would regular tea! This makes it easy and convenient to make single cups of weed tea.)
Customize your weed tea: The flavor of weed stem tea has a tendency to be a bit earthy, and that’s not everyone’s, well… cup of tea. (Sorry, we had to.) But thankfully, you can jazz your weed stem tea just like any other tea!
You can add things like sugar, honey, agave nectar, cinnamon, lemon, or your creamer of choice. (Pro tip: we recommend adding a delta 8 tincture for some real razzle-dazzle!)
Weed Stem Tea FAQ
If you still have some questions about how to make tea from weed stems, don’t worry, we’re here with the answers.
Q: Will weed stem tea get you high?
A: This depends mostly on the kind of stems you used in the first place and how strong you brewed your tea. If you used stems from a bud that was high in THC, then yes, weed stem tea will get you high. It’s just like any other kind of weed edible. If you used CBD stems, you won’t experience any psychoactive effects, but you will feel other effects that are associated with CBD like relaxation, reduced anxiety, and help with sleeping.
Q: How long do the effects of weed stem tea last?
A: The effects of stem tea should last anywhere from 4 to 6 hours. Stem tea will follow the typical timeline of an edible high as it’s ingested through the stomach the same way.
Q: What are the benefits of weed stem tea?
A: The benefits of weed stem tea are many. Not only is it another great way to harness the effects of cannabis, but it’s a great way to practice sustainability since you’re giving new life to the stems and scraps of your bud. Weed tea is also a great option for people who want to utilize the benefits of cannabis without the toxic side effects of inhaling marijuana smoke through the lungs.
Q: Do you have to use a binding agent to make weed stem tea?
A: If you want weed tea that actually does anything, then yes, you absolutely need to use a binding agent to make proper stem tea. Cannabis is not water-soluble so if you don’t use a binding agent to extract the cannabinoids, you’ll just get boiled stems water that doesn’t come with any of the benefits that come with properly brewed stem tea.
