Dear Cheri,
I like to make infusions with water in the mix that I separate out later, I was wondering, can I use the leftover cannabis infusion water, after draining and straining, to make marijuana tea?
Well, technically you can, but you probably won't want to. For one thing leftover cannabis infusion water won't taste very good. It probably won't get you high either as the cannabinoid containing trichomes bind to the fat that you infused, presumably butter or oil.
The bottom line is, when we add water to the mix when making infusions, we do so to leach out some of the green flavor and chlorophyll. While I applaud your thrifty use-it-all spirit, in my opinion, the best thing to do with the leftover cannabis infusion water after draining and straining is to use it to water your plants. Otherwise toss it.
A better option for making marijuana tea is to use decarbed leaves, trimmings, or even stalks and stems for mild tea. And you don't need to infuse for hours, just make like you would any other brewed tea.
You can also use the leftover plant material after making cannabis infusions for this tea. Some trichomes will still be clinging to it even though most will have gone into your cannabis infusion.
For best results consume with milk or cream or drink accompanied by a food that contains fat, as again, cannabinoids metabolize better in the presence of fat.
Pin This!
Hi Cheri, I just wanted to let you that I love reading your Newsletters!
Edibles are my favorite. So what I always do is try a piece to feel the effects & if it’s not enough I will try a bit more. That way I don’t get too buzzed & have sleep it off lol
Thanks again,
Yvonne Rodrigue
Thank you so much for your kind words!
I made keef cookies last week and the recipe said 1/8 tsp of decabed keef in the center of the cookie by making a well in middle of the dough and then covering it up.
I didn’t have enough keef so I ground up some very high quality marijuana very fine and mixed them together.
Anyway I got a very good result so I’m wondering why I am wasting my time making the cannabutter when it seems to work just fine to add it to my food and recipes. Is there any reason why the cannabutter is better to use?
If it works for you, no problem, do it that way. In a food like cookies that contains fat, it should work fine. I often cook with kief and hash. For buds, it’s a flavor and texture thing, so I prefer to make an infusion, but you don’t have to. I do use buds in some things, as outlined in this article
https://www.cannabischeri.com/food/cooking-basics/cooking-with-marijuana-buds/
But if you like in your cookies, by all means carry on. 🙂
Cheri: Thanks for your newsletter — the one truly reliable guide on the internet for cooking with cannabis. Like Christine, I too have made cakes by burying a sliver of hashish into cupcake-sized cakes just before baking and it works very well. I started occasionally using cannabis in my mid twenties back in 1968…long before sophisticated edibles and decarboxylating.
I love the scientific breakdown of how marijuana works Thank you very informative and accurate.
Cheri…can one use pulp from cooking marijuana oil to make tea?
Yes, some people like to do this. I don’t usually bother, but yes you can.
Can you use the same plant material for several batches and just have less and less potent budder
You could. I don’t because if you have done your job and extracted well there should not be a whole lot left. I find the edibles from doing this give me a headache and not much else.
I followed the recipe to infuse the butter with water in a slow cooker for 5 hours. Put it in the fridge and I only have 1/2 inch of butter at the top. Why is there so much water?
I am not sure how much water you put in, also there is some liquid in the butter that will cook out, and it is common to lose some butter in the draining and straining process (why I recommend pouring some boiling water over the plant material to get as much off as possible). The amount of water is really not important as it is all going way anyway.