Hemp tea: what you need to know about the valuable beverage
Hemp comes from the cannabis sativa plant, and people use different parts of this plant to make culinary and personal care products.
Many people who use hemp products or infuse hemp food into their diet to find its potential calming effects on the body. Still, some wonder whether hemp tea is really beneficial, safe, and legal to drink. In this article, we provide necessary information about this valuable beverage, including what hemp tea is, its benefits, and how to use it.
What is hemp tea?
Hemp tea is similar to other herbal teas in that dry hemp as well as tea leaves are steeped in boiling water. The resulting tea has a greenish-brown color and is described as being slightly bitter and flavorful. Hemp is rich in cannabidiol (CBD) which is a non-psychoactive agent to reduce anxiety, relieve pain, and help you relax. In the next section, we will discuss about the potential health benefits of hemp tea.
Benefits of Hemp tea
Hemp tea is mainly used to calm your mind and body down due to anxiolytic effects of CBD as well as the ability of other active ingredients it contains to prompt relaxation. However, hemp tea contains much smaller amounts of cannabidiol than CBD-based products, so drinking hemp tea alone may bring minor effects. These benefits of hemp tea are listed below:
- Boost energy level: it can act as a stimulant to maintain high levels of alertness and keep you awake during the day. Unlike caffeinated beverages, hemp tea doesn't contain caffeine. That means it’s not going to cause tremor, increase heart rate, and keep you up at night.
- Help promote sleep: CBD can calm the brain, and may be used to induce restful sleep. In fact, some studies indicated that CBD is beneficial to improve sleep quality of people having psychiatric conditions, such as depression, or anxiety disorder.
- Reduce anxiety: A case series consisted of 72 participants having poor sleep or anxiety disorder. They used CBD at different doses of CBD or placebo, ranging from 150 to 600 mg per day. After treatment with CBD, the anxiety score was reduced in 79% of patients with concerns of anxiety and sleep score was also decreased in two thirds of patients. These findings indicated that CBD may hold benefits for anxiety and sleep deprivation [1].
- Relieve chronic pain: CBD captured the interest of experts since the combination of THC and CBD (1:1) was approved by health canada for prescription to treat some certain types of pain, especially for neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis, and cancer pain unresponsive to optimized opioid therapy [2].
- Promote heart health: Since CBD has anti-inflammatory effects and terpene in tea may reduce the blood pressure, hemp tea helps control risk factors,such as systemic inflammation, high blood pressure, leading to cardiovascular disease.
How to make hemp tea at home
To make hemp tea, all you need is tea leaves, hot water, and hemp. The hemp can be used in the forms of dried leaves, hemp flower buds. In another way, you can buy a pre-made hemp tea bag that is ready to steep.
The first step is to boil water by a teapot or saucepan, and steep the tea bag when the water comes to boil for 3 to 5 minutes before removing.
Following this, place dried hemp leaves or buds into the mixture for one minute. Add sweetening or flavor agents as you need.
We provide an easy recipe for home-made hemp tea
- 2 grams of dried hemp leaves or buds
- 240 ml water
- Honey, cinnamon, or lemon juice as optional
The end-product will be a flavorful, warming, and nourishing beverage.
How to choose the right hemp tea products
Hemp and CBD are highly considered safe with low risks of side effects. However, in some cases, you may feel tired, changed appetite, or have diarrhea after consuming CBD.
It's always best to speak with your doctor prior to using CBD or hemp-based products. They can help you find the most effective and safest way to use CBD and avoid any potential risks.
Hemp tea is becoming more available, so you can either buy hemp tea bags in grocery stores or make it at home with dried hemp leaves. The best CBD-based products may provide:
- Third-party lab test
- Business certification
- Certificate of analysis (COA), no contain more than 0.3% THC and pass tests for heavy metals, pesticides, etc.
- Contain no more than 0.3% THC
- Product information (Brand, CBD content, ingredients, potency, route of administration, indication, instruction)
- Customers’ review
- No subject of FDA warning letter or make any unsupported health claim
Conclusion
Based on CBD content, hemp tea has calming effects and may offer benefits for anxiety, cardiovascular health, and chronic pain. In addition, it is caffeine-free, so hemp tea can boost your energy without causing tremor like drinking coffee.
While CBD is considered safe, it sometimes causes diarrhea, changes in appetite, and tiredness. It’s best to consult with your physicians before adding hemp tea to your health routine.
Reference
[1]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6326553/
[2]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6326553/