When you’ve used up your stash and have a pile of stems left, you may be tempted to smoke them up as a last resort. Don’t do that. There are other ways to use these pesky stems that won’t result in a massive headache and disappointment like smoking them would. Learning how to make weed stem tea is your best bet and requires little effort.

If you’ve made other weed tea, you have a general idea of what you’re getting into. Weed stem tea will probably be much less potent than regular cannabis tea because the stems do not have high concentrations of THC.

Ingredients for Weed Stem Tea

• Weed stems (at least ¼ cup of them, but feel free to double or triple the amount)
• 2 cups of water for one serving, double with each person you’ll be serving
• Coffee filter, cheesecloth, paper towel, or another similar filter
• Alcohol, butter, milk, or coconut oil for binding (just pick one for flavor’s sake)
• Saucepan for boiling water
• Additional tea bag, sugar, or other flavors (optional)

How to Cook Your Tea

1. Gather Your Stems

You can decide if you want to grind your stems beforehand, but it’s not necessary to do and may end up making the straining process more complicated.

So either grind up your stems or gather what you have and move on to the next step.

2. Boil Water

Fill your saucepan with water and bring to a boil. If you’re using milk, butter, or oil, add it to the saucepan before bringing to a boil.

If you’re using alcohol as a binding agent, do not add it to the water yet. It will boil out.

3. Add Stems to the Boiling Water

Add your stems to the boiling water and give it a good stir. Continue stirring frequently for the next 10-15 minutes.

4. Remove From Heat

Once you’ve stirred the stems in boiling water for a good 10-15 minutes, you can take the saucepan off the heat and allow it to start cooling.

If you didn’t add a source of fat to the boiling water, now is the time to add alcohol. Three tablespoons should do the trick. You can use vodka, rum, or whatever alcohol you have on hand that might make a good pairing.

5. Strain the Contents of the Saucepan

Secure your cheesecloth, paper towel, or coffee filter over a cup or pot to pour the contents into. Slowly pour your mixture over the filter, straining the weed stems out.

6. Enjoy

I’m telling you to enjoy but deep down I know weed stem tea is not very tasty. This is a great time to add in additional tea bags to steep, honey, sugar, or other ingredients to make the tea more appetizing. Otherwise, you can drink it plain and really soak up the earthy flavor.

Does Weed Stem Tea Get You High?

In theory, yes. The verdict is out on just how much THC stems actually have. We know researchers have found small CBD and THC contents in hemp stems. This is notable because hemp typically has lower THC than other varieties of cannabis.

Scour the internet for a bit and you’ll find several people who claim to have had success making stem tea. You’ll also find people disappointed that nothing happened when they drank theirs.

Regardless, stems do have small amounts of THC. Efforts to make a stem tea will not be in vain, even if the result is just a more relaxing than usual evening in.

The Tea Will Not Get You High Without a Binding Agent

There are factors to keep in mind for stem tea potency.  If some trichomes were still hanging around on the stems when the tea was made, it will have a higher THC content. The plant’s overall potency and THC content will factor in as well.

If you’re not using a binding agent, you can be certain your stem tea will not have any effects. Binding agents are crucial. THC is not water-soluble and needs something to bind to in order to activate.

Weed stem tea can be prepared using alcohol as a binding agent, or with any source of fat like milk, butter, or coconut oil.

Final Thoughts for Weed Stem Tea

Nobody seems to get excited about weed stems, for good reason. They take up extra weight when purchasing without being useful for smoking. This leads a lot of people to throw out their weed stems as soon as they come across them, writing them off as completely useless. But they don’t have to be.

THC content in weed stems varies, but the biggest factor in the tea’s effectiveness is the proper use of a binding agent.

Weed stem tea may serve as a good experiment for the stoner who ends up with lots of discarded stems. Some find fats like milk or butter work best to bind, while others swear by the use of alcohol. If your weed stem tea fails, try again using a different binding agent and see if there’s a difference.

It’s not the most ideal way to get high, but it can be a good alternative to smoking. Most of all, making weed stem tea is a wonderful way to benefit from all parts of the cannabis plant, especially when you’ve already paid for it.

Now What?

Put the water, non-marijuana tea bags, and non-alcohol binding agent into a pot. (If you elect to use alcohol, adding it too early will cause it to simply boil off immediately). Bring everything to a boil, then add your stems. Boil your stem mixture, stirring frequently. After about ten minutes, remove the pot from the heat. If you chose to use alcohol, now’s the time to add it to the pot. 

Once your elixir is complete, it’s time to strain (this is where that coffee filter/cheese cloth/paper towel comes in hand). Be careful not to scald yourself! If using a kettle, rubber banding the filter around the spout is a good way to keep your skin unburned. 

Aaaaaand congrats! You just made weed tea! Add sugar or honey or a little cinnamon or whatever you want — you homemaking, gender-neutral ganja-lord! Your stomach and mindspace will thank you. Enjoy.