Brewing tea is an art. One that can be wonderfully therapeutic. But some infusions may leave behind a distinct fragrance that you may not want to have around all the time. So, does weed tea make your house smell? Grab your trusty bong, put on a fresh pot, and let’s get into the tea.
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What is Weed Tea?
Weed tea or cannabis tea is a decoction made by steeping one or more parts of the cannabis plant in hot or cold water. Thereby creating a cannabis-infused drink resembling any other herbal tea.
Cannabis has had many uses historically. Most people associate it with recreational use. But it has been used widely for medicinal and spiritual purposes as well.
Likewise, brewing weed tea goes back a long way. The drink has been used to help ease symptoms of disease or pain. And it has also been used to induce or encourage spiritual visions and aid a practitioner of spirituality on their journey toward enlightenment.
Much like edibles, weed tea offers a slow burn. It takes some time to kick in, but when it does, it can pack quite the punch. Owing to this, most stoners will not consume more than a cup within an hour and a half timeframe.
Does Weed Tea Smell Strong?
Weed tea smells a lot like marijuana in any other form. But the intensity of the aroma varies based on the method of preparation, how long you leave it to simmer, and what other ingredients you add to the tea. Additionally, the cannabis strain you use will make a difference in how your tea ends up smelling.
The standard herb and water combo will definitely emit a strong enough smell that you won’t be able to cover up with a simple run-of-the-mill excuse. Ventilating the room as you’re making the tea certainly helps. As does adding other aromatic flavors to the mix, using other scents to mask the smell in the room, and even making a fresh batch of bacon, garlic bread, or any other food with a similarly domineering smell. But limiting the smell of weed coming from your weed tea starts long before the actual brew is being prepared.
How to Make Weed Tea
Making weed tea isn’t particularly difficult. While most people now may choose to grind up some fresh herb for tea, using old stems or trimmings isn’t uncommon. These offer less THC and therefore a milder high. But the taste may not be for everyone. That aside, it’s a pretty good way to use up the whole bud and leave nothing to waste.
It might seem like the simplest method would be to steep your herb in water until it releases its goodness, and sip away. That’s how most herbal teas are made, after all. And if you want to enjoy some of the health benefits of weed tea without the psychoactive effects or the weed smell, this is a pretty good way to go.
Brewing a Ganja Tea With a Kick
But making a potent weed tea is a bit different. It involves activating your weed first in order to release the active compound in it. In other words, you’ll need to decarb your weed before you brew it. If you don’t, you’ll need to let it simmer for at least an hour or more to heat-activate your weed. Simmer is the keyword here, of course, because high heat will potentially destroy the THC in your weed.
If your concern is around the query, “does weed tea make your house smell?” you might find this latter option less than ideal. In which case, decarbing it in the oven is a much better option and comes highly recommended by stoners everywhere.
There are, of course, a variety of other ways to get more out of your weed tea. And this is important because the preparation method – alongside the amount of cannabis and brewing time – can significantly impact the quality and level of high the tea will give you. Moreover, these drastically change the resulting weed tea smell.
How to Make Weed Tea more Potent
Beyond the heat, you’ll also need to give the THC something to bind to since it isn’t water-soluble. Sticking it in water won’t release anything, really. Doing so will get you some of the medicinal goodness but none of the high. That said, a good amount of oil or grease will definitely help.
One common method of brewing weed tea is to make it chai style: brew your weed with a black tea of your choice and some milk or cream. Add sugar and a spice or two, like cinnamon or ginger, to temper the taste and enjoy.
What is Bhang Tea?
Making your weed tea Indian style isn’t particularly out of the ordinary, seeing as the region has a popular drink called “bhang.” This is a cannabis-infused festival drink made with a milk base and flavored with spices and fruit, among other things. Similarly, other parts of Asia have experimented with various weed-infused concoctions, each with a unique twist.
The Ultimate Wake ‘N Bake
If your preferred flavor profile is on the opposite end of the spectrum, though, you could always take a cue from the Himalayan tribes and brew it using butter or oil. Some people now know this method as the “bulletproof coffee,” but suffice it to say, people of these regions have been drinking their teas and coffees this way for a very long time.
Many stoners vouch for this method of preparation over others, claiming it to be the “ultimate wake ‘n bake.” It is said to offer a high unlike any other. Of course, you’ll have to try it to be sure.
And if you want something in the middle of these two methods, you could always make a fresh chai latte for yourself. This method takes the yummy goodness of a chai and mixes it up with the flavor and intensity of a good bulletproof brew.
If you still prefer a more traditional brew, you can coat your weed in coconut oil or butter before simmering it. This will infuse the grease with THC, and give you a concoction that will definitely get you high while still feeling like a classic tea.
Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice
The sweeter chai method may leave a gentled scent in its wake. This varies widely across preparations, of course, and might take a bit of experimenting to perfect.
The heavier recipes, particularly ones that use full-fat milk or heavy cream, tend to be less potent smelling than others. Since these recipes also use spices, they don’t always end up smelling exactly like marijuana, though they may still carry a hint of the original scent even when mild.
Similarly, the bulletproof variety offers varying results. In this case, the brew starts to emit stronger smells only after about half n hour of simmering, but once it gets there, it’s pretty hard to mask.
Put simply, it’s hard to predict whether your tea will smell too strongly or not. The safest bet is to either ventilate or mask the smell. A good alternative is to brew it outdoors – a method that works great if you live close to or in the middle of the great outdoors.
Weed Tea Smell and Cover-Up Tips
Despite taking basic precautions, you might still struggle to brew a tea that doesn’t stink up the entire place. So here are a few extra tips to help you prevent that from happening. Again.
- First things first, pick a strain that won’t smell too much. A strain with fewer terpenes – the compound that gives plants their smell – is a good bet.
- Secondly, make sure you add a standard tea to your brew. Green and mint teas work great. They offer a strong enough aroma to mask the stronger weed smell. Moreover, the blend of the tea scent, particularly ones of a more exotic variety, with weed will alter the smell enough to mask it. So if anyone asks what that smell is, you can just say it’s the scent of a land far, far away and explain nothing more.
- Thirdly, invest in air fresheners, diffusers, scented candles, or anything similar to help alter the smell of the space if it does get too overwhelmingly dank.
- Fourthly, ramp up your ventilation by turning on your kitchen hood exhaust or have a fan directing the vapors released during the simmering away from your living space and, preferably, out a window. This may not be ideal if you were hoping to get high off the brewing process, but rest assured, a good weed tea will make up for it.
In short, if the question, “does weed tea make your house smell?” has stopped you from brewing yourself a mug of floaty goodness, rest assured. There are plenty of ways around that predicament.
How to Remove Weed Smell from Room
While the precautions may prevent the stronger weed smell from lingering too long, it may still get in your furniture. And boy, will that stay there a while. But there are ways to fix that problem too.
To start with, do not simply layer on more smells by trying to air freshener the weed smell out. Instead, opt for an odor-removing spray.
For a more organic approach, try homemade remedies. Baking soda is a powerful deodorizer that you can sprinkle on your smelly furniture, leave for a few hours, and vacuum right off. Vinegar is another great option. A simple vinegar water solution sprayed on and left to dry will do the trick for most smells, even some pretty tough ones.
Flower or Weed?
Cannabis has demonstrated its ability to heal in a variety of ways. Eat it, smoke it, slather it on your body, or drink it. However you choose to indulge in the herb, it’s a pick-me-up like no other.
Naturally, it has a minor downside of potentially making your home smell like a shady den full of new-age hippies. So does weed tea make your house smell? Sure. But you can’t deny that maybe that’s just what you’re hoping for.
