As we find ourselves squarely in the winter season, there are certain comforts that always help battle the bite of the cold. One of my favorite ways to warm up on these cold mornings is holding and sipping a mug of warm tea. Not just relegated to black or green tea leaves, herbal teas are a great option for enjoying full-spectrum hemp without adding the colors and sweeteners that come with traditional edibles. Keep reading to learn more about hemp tea and discover a new tea blend recipe to pair with Midwest CBD's hot tea bags.
How Do You Make Hemp Tea?
Hemp tea is very easy to create. Just like the tea plant, we simply need to steep the leaves in hot water to extract the natural compounds within. It is possible to do this freely in the water (known as loose-leaf tea), but many people prefer the ease of a teabag so it's easy to dose and easy to remove when the steeping is finished. You may also notice that we chose to use unbleached teabags for our tea, to achieve as natural a product as we cultivated from our fields.
To make your own hemp tea, you simply need to bring a couple quarts of water to a boil. Once you add the teabags, remove from heat and allow tea to steep for 3-5 minutes, depending on the strength of tea that you seek. Since cannabinoids (active compounds from the hemp plant) like CBD are fat-soluble, meaning they are dissolved in fats to become available to the body, adding in fats from things like dairy or coconut oil can enhance absorption.
Is Hemp Tea Safe?
As with anything you take into your body, quality is of the utmost importance. Since it uses the leaf portions of the plant, selecting a hemp source that doesn't use pesticides and fungicides is essential for safety.
CBD products are a great way to experience the benefits of the hemp plant; full-spectrum products use the full range of cannabinoids to take advantage of the entourage effect. By bringing in multiple parts of the plant, the health benefits are more active and well-balanced. As we are using the hemp plant vs cannabis, there is naturally less than 0.3% of the intoxicating THC portion from the plant. However, if you are being screened for THC, be aware that "full spectrum" products' THC levels can, over time, accumulate in the system.
How Do You Use Hemp Tea?
Midwest CBD hot tea bags contain 100% hemp, to help ensure a consistent effect when brewing one of our teabags. While you can brew and immediately sip, the resulting tea will be quite earthy, as there are no additives. My favorite way to enjoy our teabags is creating an herbal tea blend to incorporate the tea bag into.
There are so many different combinations of herbs that pair well with the desired effects or the favorite flavors of the hemp plant. Midwest CBD's signature drink, the All Natural Full Spectrum CBD Fruit Passion Tea, brings another anti-anxiety herb (passionflower), along with some honey and citrus, to create a refreshing iced tea. To achieve the hybrid effects, we combine our sativa (more daytime, energetic) and our indica (more nighttime, relaxing) strains together. You can keep your effects squarely in one of those camps too, if you need a morning pickup or a nightcap.
Tea has a unique advantage as a mode of enjoying hemp. Rather than waiting up to 2 hours for a gummy to be digested and broken down in the liver, the cannabinoids are available to the body quickly. Within 15-30 minutes, the effects are already supporting your day.
Herbal Tea Recipes
Once you have your hemp tea, the next step is building the rest of your tea blend. As mentioned earlier, loose leaf can be a way to develop a combination and ratio of herbs that is ideal for you. Alternatively, you can opt to use a blend that has already been created if you looking to keep with the ease of tea bags.
Daytime Herbs
Ginseng: enhances energy, focus and stamina without the jittery side effects of caffeine
Peppermint: invigorating scent that can also assist with digestion and headache management
Lemon Balm: uplifting to mood with mild alertness and focus without being overly stimulating
Lemongrass: refreshing, anxiety reducing with anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
Ginger: body warming and energizing, promotes circulation and aids digestion
Holy Basil (Tulsi): mood lifting adaptogen that boosts overall energy levels
Evening Herbs
Chamomile: soothes nervous system to help manage anxiety and helps with restlessness
Lavender: stress relief is the main draw of including this flower, encourages relaxation
Valerian root: natural sedative that calms the body for assisting in sleep quality
Hops: you may be familiar with it fermented, but hops can assist with turning off the overactive mind
Skullcap: Calms the nervous system as a gentle sedative
Jasmine: mood enhancing and body calming, jasmine tea supports sleep by calming the nervous system.
You can add more flavor to your drinks by incorporating spices into your mixtures. If brewing with the teabags, whole is often the best way to infuse without leaving behind grit.
Cloves are a classic winter spice that pairs excellently with cinnamon and orange peel teas.
Delicately floral lavender can be brightened up with lime for those seeking a glimpse of spring again.
Vanilla bean can be a delicious way to add depth to any milk-based teas like a chai latte.
Marjoram's flavor profile is similar to hemp and worked excellent as a compliment to floral teas (jasmine, lavender and rose are a beautiful mix).
Is Hemp Tea Legal in Wisconsin and Other Non-Legalized States? (Jan 2025)
The short answer is yes, hemp tea is legal under the 2018 Farm Bill, at the federal level. There are still, however, some nuances to the status of hemp tea in a few states. Idaho, for instance, has some of the strictest laws regulating CBD. They have made even trace amounts of THC (including full-spectrum CBD) illegal. Iowa, Wyoming and Nebraska have fluctuating local restrictions on selling food and drink infused with CBD. If you will be traveling to these areas, current law indicates that possession is permissible in Iowa, Wyoming, and Nebraska. Click here for viewing all 50 states current Hemp Programs.
Where can I find hemp tea in Wisconsin?
We welcome you to stop in to visit us to pick up either our tea bags to create your own favorite blend or try our natural, full-spectrum CBD Fruit Passion tea. You can also use our full-spectrum tinctures to add relief to any drink. We hope you'll consider staying warm and comfortable with Midwest CBD this winter!
