For many patients, drinking cannabis tea is a convenient way to use medical cannabis. It can be implemented with all available cannabis strains and can be easily adapted to your personal preferences. In this article, we will explain the steps to follow when making cannabis tea. You will also learn what benefits this traditional medicinal form can add to your course of therapy.
To prepare cannabis tea you will need the following ingredients and utensils:
Boiling cannabis flowers with hot water is not enough. To make an effective cannabis tea, it is necessary to decarboxylate the cannabis flowers. This process, triggered by continuous heating, activates the active ingredients in the cannabis flower to make them usable and consumable for medical use. Carbon dioxide molecules are split off to convert the cannabinoid acids THCa and CBDa contained in the cannabis plant into the active THC or CBD. Decarboxylation can easily be done in the kitchen at home. All you need is a cooking pot, water and a little patience. It should also be noted that cannabinoids are fat soluble. (1) That's why we use a teaspoon of cream, coconut oil or milk in our recipe.
Step 1: Add water, a carrier fat (cream, coconut oil or milk) and the doctor's recommended amount of cannabis flowers to a pot and heat until the water begins to boil.
Step 2A: Brew cannabis tea at a steady temperature of 80-100°C for 60 minutes.
Step 3: Carefully pour the tea through the tea strainer into the desired container or directly into the filter container.
Step 4A: Since hemp tea tastes very bitter in this state, you can add sugar cubes, candy or honey.
Step 5A: Now you can drink hemp tea. It is still effective even cold. If the doctor's instructions recommend taking the tea several times a day, the tea can be taken ready-made in a thermos or similar. Shop.
If the medical instructions you received with your prescription differ from our recommendations, they must always be given priority. In some cases, it is also not recommended to add a fat carrier to cannabis tea, as this could intensify the effect. Ask your doctor for the recommended method of preparation.
In addition to the digester method, decarboxylation can also be carried out in the oven. This makes sense, for example, if all available flowers are to be prepared but not processed directly into tea. For oven decarboxylation, place the crushed flowers evenly on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in a preheated oven at 105°C for 45-50 minutes.
When baking, use the upper and lower heating functions. The flowers can then be removed, covered with water and drunk as a potent cannabis tea. Edibles can also be made from the flowers prepared in this way. However, to ensure the reliability of the effect and individual tolerability, this should only be done in consultation with the attending physician.
Cannabis tea releases its effects 30-90 minutes after consumption. The exact time period depends on the strain of cannabis used, the dosage and individual tolerance. The body digests the ingested liquid and delivers the contained cannabinoids into the bloodstream, where they affect endocannabinoid system and the patient's brain. The peak of the effect occurs after 2-4 hours. In addition, the effects can last up to 8 hours - much longer than with other dosage forms. (2)
The exact effects of cannabis tea vary depending on the effect profile of the flowers used. The amount and ratio of THC and CBD contained is crucial. Medical uses of cannabis tea include pain relief (3), anxiety reduction (4), treatment of sleep disorders (5) and reduction of nausea (6). In addition, cannabis tea often has the effect of increasing appetite. (3)
If cannabis tea has a high THC content, it can also have a euphoric effect. (7) If the dose exceeds the recommended level, cannabis can lead to unwanted side effects such as anxiety, dizziness and paranoia. However, cannabis therapy is generally carried out under medical supervision in order to avoid such side effects as far as possible. (2) Accordingly, the medical instructions, quantity and dosage information on the cannabis prescription must be strictly followed.
Cannabis tea offers many patients a familiar form of ingestion, especially if you have no affinity for inhaled medications or stimulants. For one thing, it's a matter of taste, but it can also affect people who are advised to be gentle with their airways due to lung disease. For them, cannabis tea is a healthy alternative. (2)
In addition, cannabis tea has a significantly longer duration of action than other medicinal forms, meaning that depending on the dosage, it retains a noticeable effect almost all day long. However, this is also the biggest disadvantage of cannabis tea. The lasting effect requires customized daily planning, as the influence of cannabis can make activities that require constant coordination difficult. Possible drowsiness must also be taken into account. (2)
The treating doctor should be asked whether and to what extent medical cannabis should be used in the form of tea. If you add the code "NRF 22,14" to the prescription for medicinal cannabis tea, the required flowers will already be crushed at the pharmacy for the tea. If this is not the case, even though it has been recommended to take it as cannabis tea, patients must grind the flowers themselves. To do this, they need a grinder or comparable tool that allows the flowers to be chopped evenly.
Different varieties can be used for the therapeutic use of cannabis tea. These differ in effect and taste. Depending on the needs of the patients, they are used for different forms of cannabis therapy. The THC and CBD content has the greatest influence (according to current research) on the medical effects profile of a cannabis strain. However, terpenes and flavonoids can also influence the effects of the strain in question. (8)
In addition to the active substance content, cannabis varieties are divided according to their genetic origin into indica, sativa and hybrid varieties. This often provides information on the intended medical use. Accordingly, indica strains are associated with a physical, sedative effect, while sativa strains are said to have more stimulant effects. (8) You can learn more about the typical effect profiles of cannabis strains in our related article. Which variety is ultimately suitable for medical use as cannabis tea is decided by doctors on a case-by-case basis.
The flowers needed to make cannabis tea are available on prescription from a specialist mail order pharmacy.
In short: Basically, all doctors are entitled to write you a prescription if you suffer from symptoms that cannabis therapy could alleviate. If other forms of therapy have already been tried but have not had the desired effect, your health insurance may cover the cost of cannabis therapy. Otherwise, you will have to cover the cost (€5-15 per gram) yourself, as the prescription for medical cannabis will be issued by your doctor as a private prescription. In any case, the doctors will record the prescribed dosage on the prescription. If you are advised to take it as cannabis tea, there are also instructions on the prescription on how to prepare it. (2)
If you have a prescription for cannabis tea, you can use our contact form to specify the desired product. We will then send you an offer by email. If you accept the offer, all the usual payment options are available (bank transfer, PayPal, payment on account, etc.). You can then send us the original of your prescription by post. After checking your recipe, you will receive the flowers for your cannabis tea as a DHL package within 1-3 days. Shipping is free. Alternatively, you can use express shipping for a fee. This means that you will receive your cannabis flowers by 12 hours the next day at the latest.
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