Near Colorless and Tasteless Poppy Seed Tea

[daytrip2210]

Hello

I just went down to the local ethnic market and bought some poppy seeds( about a pound) I tried to make the "tea" using methods described on the forum. The liquid I got was light yellow and had a slight hint of poppy seed flavor but no "bitterness" that some have reported. The seed looked pretty good to me had some pod flakes in them and were darker than normal seeds.

I wonder if i did something wrong somehow? I just shook the seed in a bunch of water for about 5 minutes. Just downed some so can't tell if it is doing anythng yet.

 

[mindtools]

Can you copy/paste the method you used? There are many of them here. I suppose you bought prewashed seeds

 

[Naggers]

Afraid I can't help, but I've been interested in trying the seed/pod tea for a while. And seeing as seeds are a lot easier to obtain (for me atleast), that's probably what I'm going to try. Post your results?

 

[daysonatrain]

ive had tea that worked quite well that barely changed the color of the water.

 

[daytrip2210]

Pretty disappointing, maybe a mild high(or maybe just placebo effect) in all I used about a pound of seed and I think way too much water perhaps. All I did was combine seeds with water and shake for 5 minutes. I'm trying again with some organic seed in a few days see how that goes.

 

[Naggers]

Not that I've looked into it much yet, but I would have thought there's more to it than soaking the seeds for a mere 5 minutes?

 

[psychomimetic]

Pretty disappointing, maybe a mild high(or maybe just placebo effect) in all I used about a pound of seed and I think way too much water perhaps. All I did was combine seeds with water and shake for 5 minutes. I'm trying again with some organic seed in a few days see how that goes.

You used the wrong method. You should use hot water and steep it for at least 20 minutes, although longer is ideal. I usually have used pods, and for them what you do is crush them as well as possible (blended is good, powder is ideal if you have dry pods), boil some water and pour the freshly boiled water over the crushed pods. Then let it steep, stirring occaisionally, for 20-45 minutes. I sometimes simmer it lightly in a pot during the steeping process to make it more concentrated. I've also added lemon before, as well as various things to basify it, not at the same time of course, because I've heard that both of these things aid absorbtion/make the tea stronger, I think basifying it is better then adding lemon though, but I'm not certain. You use the same technique (more or less) for seeds.

Every tea I've had that wasn't bitter and generally horrid tasting was weak tea from weak pods/seeds. The tea seems to be bitter and disgusting in proportion to how powerful it is, but I'm not sure if that's actually true, it's just my observation.

How much water you use is irrelevant as long as you drink it all and add enough to extract the goods properly. I generally use a large jar for brewing/drinking the tea, and I pretty much fill the jar with water. You can't have too much water unless you have too much for you to drink. One pound of seeds is usually about right but it's hard to tell because different batches are completly different, so one pound of seeds might not get you at all high once and then make you overdose the next time you try it. Start small with each new batch, but you probably know that. Pods are way easier to work with then seeds in my opinion.

 

[daysonatrain]

dude, hes using seeds not pods. there is no reason to use hot water with seeds, your esentially just washing off the leftover morphine that coat the seeds. your process was fine op, though i usually let it sit for about 15 minutes at least. some seeds just arnt good, also those organic ones your getting probably wont work and will be much more expensive.

 

[cashcropkiller]

this kid i no uses hot water in a bottle. he sais he does that cuz factually warm water absorbs the desired chemicals more efficiently.as far as he knows and has read, many people dispute whether chemicals are just on the outside or are inside too therefore he believes that using the warm water is a good idea as it cant hurt it can only help. he does not use boiling water although factually the chemicals should not begin to melt down until over twice the temperature of boiling water. he also told me that he shakes the bottle for at least 15 minutes, straining out the seeds he pours the contents of the bottle into a cup. he then puts the seeds back in the original bottle and repeats the shaking with fresh water. he then adds this water to the same cup as the origional. he prefers to chill the drink before consumption. i have never tried this but he sais it works great if you have enough seeds. in his experience, supermarket seeds are usually washed very thouroughly and require 12oz or more depending on brand, he has never tried pods or organic seeds

 

[radiationman]

I used to buy poppy seeds and put them in my french press. This was before I knew you could buy pods off the internet. Any way I would pour hot water over the seeds and put a little vinegar in with it and let it steep. It never did much for me. Are the seeds as potent as the pods?

 

[Puffpuffcup]

Most of the time from my experience the reason it's bitter and really dark is because u make te tea using the actual pods not the seeds, I mean u can use the seeds but the potency varies so much more than the pod concentration which I more reliable, I bet that why u didn't get that nasty tea I'm used to back when eBay sold pods!
Good luck, it could just be ur seeds were washed really well and u didn't get much bc of that!

Good luck

 

[Munroe]

this kid i no uses hot water in a bottle. he sais he does that cuz factually warm water absorbs the desired chemicals more efficiently.as far as he knows and has read, many people dispute whether chemicals are just on the outside or are inside too therefore he believes that using the warm water is a good idea as it cant hurt it can only help. he does not use boiling water although factually the chemicals should not begin to melt down until over twice the temperature of boiling water. he also told me that he shakes the bottle for at least 15 minutes, straining out the seeds he pours the contents of the bottle into a cup. he then puts the seeds back in the original bottle and repeats the shaking with fresh water. he then adds this water to the same cup as the origional. he prefers to chill the drink before consumption. i have never tried this but he sais it works great if you have enough seeds. in his experience, supermarket seeds are usually washed very thouroughly and require 12oz or more depending on brand, he has never tried pods or organic seeds

As cashcropkiller said, the warmer the water the more soluble the alkaloids in it and as a result the more that get absorbed from the pods.

Using boiling water may break down some of the alkaloids so using not quite boiled water is the best option. The longer it's left and agitated the better.

Some people suggest lowering the pH of the water, (adding lemon juice or vinegar) also increases solubility.


@radiationman, in my experience pods have always been more potent than seeds.

also in my experience, the more dark and foul tasting the tea the better.

 

[Oxide]

Don't let the seeds steep or use hot water. Use room temp at the most, but I prefer cold. Not only does hot seed tea taste 10x worse, but letting the seeds steep for any length of time is a bad idea as it will leech gross fats and oils into your mix, giving you that pale yellow color. It happened the first 2-3 times I made the tea, using the same seed I'm now addicted to.

The method you should be using goes like this:

Place seeds in bottle, mix a little lemon juice in with your water. Fill the bottle with water until the water level is JUST above the seeds. Don't go crazy with the water, less is more here. Once covered, seal the bottle and shake non-stop for 3 or so minutes. If you turn the bottle upside down and hold it toward the light you should be able to see the color of the water in the bottle. It should be yellowish brown or close to that. Drain it, drink it. Chase with something sweet if needed. Easy as pie.

Trust me, this is the best way to do it. Lemon juice is optional, but I find it helps a lot.