How to Make Cannabis Tea: Two Easy Recipes

Infusing cannabis into tea and other hot beverages has a long history of providing calm and relieving pain. Bhang lassi, a drink featuring the aptly named bhang - a cannabis paste - is part of ancient Hindu tradition. Queen Victoria reportedly drank canna tea to relieve menstrual cramps.

Making cannabis tea is quite easy, which may also explain its enduring popularity with stoners. Not everyone can master a DIY gummy, but if you can grind some weed and simmer some water you can make tea - or technically tisane. More on the difference below.

Weed Tea versus Weed Tisane

This pale beverage is cannabis tisane. It doesn’t contain any actual tea - hence the (lack of) colour. To be classified as cannabis tea, it must also contain leaves of the Camellia sinensis/assamica tea shrub. 

When creating any edible, or in this case drinkable, marijuana can’t be a raw ingredient - at least not if you want to get high. THC must be activated by decarboxylation, which is basically a heating process. THC is not water soluble, but can bind to fats and oil. These recipes use butter to help deliciously dissolve the THC.

Connoisseurs note that cannabis terpenes - and tea leaf terpenes - will influence the beverage’s taste. A strain with limonene (citrus) terpenes is recommended for  a “brighter” taste.  Another great ingredient is kief which is generally mild tasting. As a bonus, marijauna buds must be finely ground, kief users can skip this step.

Here are simple recipes for brewing cannabis tisane and tea. Both make about two regular mug-sized cups of tea, and it is easy to double or triple the recipes for your needs. 

Easy Cannabis Tisane Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gram cannabis flower or kief
• 1/2 tsp butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp honey/sugar (if desired)

Instructions:

• If using cannabis flower, grind it finely. Place the butter in a small bowl. Add the ground cannabis or kief and mix well. 
• Add the water to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
• Carefully add the butter/cannabis mixture.
  
• Continue to simmer, stirring gently, for about 30 minutes. The butter will gradually melt, leaving behind a bit of sheen and a fine layer of weed.
  
• Use a fine colander to strain the mixture into mugs. Add honey or sugar for taste, and enjoy!

Easy Cannabis Tea Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gram cannabis flower or kief
• 1/2 tsp butter at room temperature
• 1 tea bag (any variety)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp honey/sugar (if desired)

Instructions:

• If using cannabis flower, grind it finely. Place the butter in a small bowl. Add the ground cannabis or kief. Empty the tea bag into the bowl. Mix well.
  
• Spoon the mixture into a tea infuser. (If you don’t have an infuser, carefully empty the tea bag so you can reseal it with a straight pin or paper clip.
• Add the water to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
  
• Lower the infuser or tea bag into the water. Let the saucepan simmer for 30 minutes.
  
• Use a fine colander to strain the mixture into mugs or a teapot. Add honey or sugar for taste, and enjoy!

Once you master these basic recipes, it’s easy to start experimenting with different tea leaves and cannabis strains. If you don't have any actual cannabis flower, you can make an infused tea using weed stems.

And as with any digested form of THC, it’s best to wait at least an hour to judge the effects before you pour yourself another cuppa.