ok those laquered looking pods are weird. never seen that.
anyways, im here to dispell ALL poppy pod tea myths.
water
Ok, first of all the calcium carbonate thing is absoutlety essential if you want a strong tea. Just buy a Calcium vitamin from a store, and break it up. The water should look kinda milky but alot clearer than skim milk.
Then heat this calcium/water untill it comes to a rolling boil. You dont have to leave it boiling for any amount of time, just get it there.
pods
for the pods, they should be light tan, but can be darker brown (think the colors of parchment) or even grey/brown. It's far better to get them from a grower who knows the intended use, as they will be picked at the right time and the seeds will have fallen off the pod. This is important, because if the seeds are still clinging to the side of the pod then the tea will taste horrible. I throw away pods with seeds still attached.
Crack open pods, pour out the seeds, then crush pods. the finer they are crushed, the better; but i get away with putting them in a cup and cutting them with scissors until they are all about 1/8" to 1/32". measure around 20g of crushed pod material.
cooking
as soon as the calcium/water is brought to a rolling boil, bring it off the stove. you may accidentally evaporate all of your calcium out of the aqua. then pour the crushed pods in the water and then put it on a low heat. On my stove this is at like 3-3.5. But for you this could be anywhere. If you can leave the pods on the eye, and put a lid on the pot and leave it for 10 minutes, and if the water isn't boiling, the heat is just right. It should be boiling by 20 miutes later though. *this is with a lid on the pot though... You dont want the water to boil
MUCH with the pods in there, it might burn up the morphine. A little boiling wont kill it, and will reduce the amount of nasty ass tea you have to drink later.
straining
after you leave the pod/water mixture on for about 20 minutes its time to take it off. get a bowl and a mesh strainer, and put a paper towel in the metal strainer. I use a strainer with holes around 1/8" big. Put the strainer lined with paper towels ontop of the bowl and pour the pod/water mixture in. Let it drain for about 20 seconds, then press the pods, getting all the water out. This is VERY important, because it breaks up the remaining plant material releasing all the morphine trapped in there. This step here makes the tea alot, alot, alot stronger. Then let cool, and add about a teaspoon of sugar, or just sugar to taste.
Enjoy!
