-perfect dose is around 3-4 medium sized pods, or 2-3 biguns
-wouldn't drink a proper amount of tea if i had real obligations the next day.
tends to keep me up and mess with my everything and all
-start slow. tea is the strongest i have found,but you need to watch it. start slow. 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup. it's fabulous, but watch your step
-first time I ever tried poppies, I had a mild nausea,
but it went away rather quickly and wasn't painful
Basic Poppy Tea Recipe
Brewing up a batch of poppy tea is easy. Essentially all there is to it is grinding up some pods and adding them to boiled water. Presented below is a typical recipie for Poppy Tea. Make sure to always start with very few pods, and then work your way up to receive the desired effects. Remember -- it's better to start small and feel nothing, then to use too much and end up dead. Of course, this recipie is provided for informational purposes only, and it is not recommended that you actually try this.
Step one: Take your supply of poppy pods and grind them in a coffee grinder to create as fine a powder as possible. Mix the powder into a homogenous product, so as to account for variations in potency between one pod and the next.
Step two: Measure out five pods worth of powder. If you are using more "potent" strains such as hens and chickens, start with perhaps two. If you have a high tolerance to opiates, you can try more. But always remember to start SMALL. It's always better to waste some pods than to overdose!
Step three: Boil two cups of water on the stove. Once the water is boiling, remove from the heat and add your powdered pods. Do not boil the pods!
Step four: Stir occasionally, allowing around 15-30 minutes for the tea to "steep", and cool.
Step Five: Pour the contents through a strainer or cheesecloth into a mug. Save the used pulp from the strainer, as it can be used again, although at about half the strength. Only use one cup of water when doing a re-brew.
Step Six: Drink the mixture, including any powdery residue left at the bottom of your mug, as it will also contain alkaloids. Waste not want not!
Many people simply cannot stand the taste of the tea. It can be quite horrible in fact, especially if you can't handle bitter flavours well. Some people like to add some honey or sugar to their tea to mask the flavour. Others say that mixing the tea with Orange Juice can totally mask the flavour, without reducing the effects. In the end, it's up to you.
Remember, as with any opiate based substance, it is possible to both overdose and become addicted to poppy tea. So use caution! It's always better not to start at all, but if you must, it is imperative that you treat these powerful substances with the respect that they deserve.
Another Poppy Tea Recipe
Ingredients:
2-4 large dried giganthemum pods or 5-10 medium pods
2 cups water per person
1 medium size pot
1 medium porous strainer or cheesecloth
1 regular mechanical or electric coffee grinder
1 table spoon Honey or Sugar
2 slices lemons
ALWAYS START WITH A WEEKER/MILDER TEA AND INCREASE IF DESIRED
DIFFERENT SIZE/TYPE OF PODS WILL RESULT IN A STRONGER/MILDER TEA
REMEMBER, START MILD AND WORK UP!!!!
1. After the poppy has gone through its flowering cycle,
a light brown to purple-blue in color pod is left on the end of the stem.
Most pods will be bone-dry, beige-purple and brittle. You need about ten medium size pods or four of the large giganthemum pods per person for this tea recipe.
For stronger effect you may use slightly more.
2. Break the pods off of the stems, twisting them so as to create a hole at the
bottom of the pod where the stem came off. If the pods have not been drilled or dehisced, the pods will contain a great deal of seeds which you can now remove
and save for planting. Break the pods open and empty out the seeds. There is no need to include the seeds in the tea because the ingredients for the tea are in the poppy pods alone.
3. At this point you will need a coffee grinder either mechanical or electrical
which can be found at Wal-Mart, Sears or any other department store for between $10 and $20. Put the pods in the grinder, and grind the pods to as fine a powder as possible. The more you grind them the more surface area there is for the flavoring of the poppy to be extracted.
4. Boil 2 cups of water per person/batch. When the water comes to a boil, stir
in the ground-up pods and immediately remove the pot from the heat. You want to scald the powder but you don't want it to sit there and boil on the stove, it will break down the flavoring. As the water cools continue to stir in the powder into the water. You don't have to stir continuously, but insure the powder fully mixes with the water. After it is fully mixed let the ingredients seep into the water as it cools and become a light brown-yellow cloudy liquid.
5. After about 15-30 minutes, using a cheese cloth or strainer, pour the mixture
through to separate out the water from the pod powder. As you are pouring the boiled water and poppy pods through the strainer or cheese cloth, use a spoon to stir the mixture so that it does not get clogged, and continues to flow. When all of the water is drained, discard the pungent remnants of the pods.
6. Pour the remaining liquid and serve. For enhanced taste you may add some honey or sugar. What you have left is poppy tea. For an alternate taste you may cool and server with sugar and lemon juice as ice tea.
Additional tips
Forum member Sr. Itchy brings to the FAQ his top nine tips for brewing a good cup of tea.
1. Make sure you have a good quality coffee grinder or blender - or that you use one that is effectively disposable. You can get a "disposable" blender at Wal-Mart which you will eventually burn out by pulverizing the poppies. At the other end of the spectrum are the heavy-duty, stainless steel professional models. These high-end machines will last much, much longer and are easier to use.
2. Things to add to the mix to make it more potent include lemon juice, lime juice, distilled vinegar and california poppy. The lemon juice, lime juice and distilled vinegar all contain small amounts of different acids that can chemically change some of the opium molecules into more potent related molecules. A vitamin C tablet tossed in with the pods when they are ground can also help make the water more acidic and therefore more capable of extracting the proper alkaloids from the poppy material.
Cider vinegar works, too, but it smells horrible and makes an already somewhat unpleasant tea into a truly unpleasant tea.
California poppy is not a true poppy but it does have some sedative/euphoric properties. You can buy tinctures of California Poppy alone - or combined with Valerian Root or Kava Kava. Valerian and Kava again have sedative/euphoric and also muscle relaxant properties. Don't use prickly poppy - it is potentially toxic and there have been reports of people getting permanent tinitus (ringing in the ears) from excessive use.
3. Lemon & Lime also serve a double duty as flavor enhancers. Poppy tea made with lime as opposed to poppy tea made without will taste better. Just about any sort of fruit juice will improve the taste, especially orange juice and cranberry juice. Coca Cola is another solution. Maple syrup can actually make the beverage taste GREAT - especially with orange juice. COLD tea tastes better than WARM or HOT tea in my opinion. Start with a big pint glass full of ice, pour your cold ingredients [juice, etc.] in first then add the tea. If you're still sensitive to the taste drinking through a straw make the experience more palatable.
4. While the pod "flesh" is the most potent part of the plant, the stems, seeds
and possibly the leaves contain the same alkaloids albeit in smaller amounts, so don't throw them away. It is said that the stem is about half as potent by weight than the pod. One trick is to make a great deal of tea from leftover stems and then simmer it down in a large, flat saucepan which will allow for fast evaporation of water molecules leaving a stronger concentrate behind.
There are people who make tea just from the seeds (and vinegar and/or lemon/lime). I read once that the seeds themselves contain 2% - 3% of codeine and morphine by weight. While you would probably get more value from the seeds by scattering them in a wild, unmowed field, they, too can contribute to potency in the beverage.
5. If you are using a French Press, pour your drink then top the press off with hot water again. You can do this over and over again, each time with the tea getting lighter and lighter. You may be able to do this as many as 10 times before all you get is water. Even a very weak 10th steep in a French Press overnight will help with chronic pain and muscle spasms.
6. The spent "mush" after a successful round of extractions makes great compost - either dump it in your compost pile or directly into your garden (off season).
7. If you are a beginner and you're planning to give it a whirl, definitely start small and most importantly of all, DO NOT PUT YOURSELF IN A SITUATION WHERE YOU HAVE TO DRIVE. If you get enough of the alkaoids in you you may find yourself nodding off uncontrollably. You DEFINITELY do NOT want to be behind the wheel of an automobile.
8. Frequent use of any opiate has a great potential for causing addiction. If you find yourself "jonesing" for your tea its time to back off.
If you have become fully addicted to the tea, understand that you are addicted to opiates in general and that you may substitute. If you are addicted you should b honest with yourself and try to stop. Substituting to wean oneself from an opiate addiction is one way to "get clean. " Switch from the tea to Ultram/Tramadol and wean yourself off of that.
If that is too difficult then switch to codeine, then progressively lower doses of
codeine and then stop - you will feel cranky, irritable and have flu-like systems for perhaps 2 or 3 days, but it is worth going through if you are having a problem.
An even weaker opiate (opiod?) exists in the form of Darvon. You may find that stepping down through doses of codeine as low as you can then switching to Darvon and progressively lowering doses will help you quit altogether.
If you still can't do it, there is a common herb called "Feverfew" that you can get in capsules at any drug store, Wal-Mart, healthfood store, etc. It has been used in olk medicine for centuries for helping with withdrawal.
Other withdrawal tools include iboga or ibogaine (illegal in the US) and a Southeast Asian tree leaf called "Kratom." UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU MESS WITH EITHER OF THESE SUBSTANCES WITHOUT THE SUPERVISION OF A PHYSICIAN OR SPECIALIST. Read as much as possible about either of these before touching them. Iboga root can cause you to hallucinate for several days - it is dangerous and must be used with care under proper supervision.
9. Don't start.