Cannabis Coffee sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Cannabis is widely consumed for health reasons, including as a safe way to get high. Commonly used to treat anxiety, depression and PTSD, the idea of combining cannabis with a stimulant to make cannabis coffee seems counterintuitive and not sensible. And yet, on a global scale marijuana coffee is gaining in popularity.
Coffee Basics
For over 1000 years, people the world over have enjoyed coffee, also referred to as Java, Joe, High Octane, Rocket Fuel, Leaded, Brew and many others. It’s estimated that 2.25 billion cups of a coffee are consumed globally each day.
In addition to the buzz coffee drinkers get when they consume, there are myriad health benefits associated with the caffeinated beverage. Coffee is an antioxidant, which fights free radicals. Simply explained, free radicals are toxic compounds that our bodies naturally create (they’re also found in certain foods and live in the air we breathe). Free radicals lack an electron, and they’ll stop at nothing to fill the void, including stealing from our healthy cells. Foods high in antioxidants fight against this process, ergo in moderation, coffee is good for us.
The Harvard School for Public Health contends that coffee drinkers may avoid early death from colorectal cancer by drinking four cups or more of coffee per day. And despite the feeling of having tachycardia after having a cup of Joe, other health benefits of coffee include reducing risk of:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Parkinson’s disease
- Cirrhosis of the liver
- Uterine and liver cancers
- Gout
- And oddly, cardiovascular disease
However, if some is good, more is not necessarily better. The risks of drinking in excess of four cups of a coffee per day can have an adverse effect on the body, including increased risk of bladder, pancreatic and esophageal cancers, as well as cardiovascular disease.
Conclusion: In moderation, coffee is a sensible beverage for us.
Cannabis Basics
The marijuana plant contains more than 500 components that are responsible for treating a possibly unending list of ailments. According to the National Institute of Health, scientists and researchers have been able to identify 104 cannabinoids and 100 terpenes, each with its own distinct profile and medicinal property. Because there isn’t just one marijuana plant but rather somewhere north of 1000 strains, each with its unique genetic makeup of x, y and z cannabinoids and terpenes, in fact, we haven’t even scratched the surface of how powerful cannabis is.
Although THC is responsible for the psychoactive effect we feel when we consume, did you know that strains that are high in THC in combination with certain terpenes may result in a strain that, when consumed, causes zero psychoactive effect? Conversely, there are strains high in CBD—generally not thought of as something used to get high—that because of certain terpenes and other cannabinoids, can make a consumer “couch locked” and even sleepy?
And while consumers and opponents of cannabis focus on how this plant makes the user feel (paranoid, sleepy, stoned, euphoric, energized, lucid, unfocused, pain-free), what’s taking place on a cellular level is what’s critical.
Conclusion: Cannabis is a sensible way to treat myriad illnesses.
Benefits Of Cannabis Coffee
Imagine a beverage that is high antioxidants, has the ability to reduce the risk of diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Cirrhosis of the liver, etc. and to treat (even cure) things like cancer, HIV, depression, pain, MS and many others. Wouldn’t that be a powerful drink or a super drink?
Cannabis Coffee Recipes
Before making any recipes involving cannabis, the first step is to decarb your weed. This article also tells you how to make cannabis sugar, which can be used as a sweetener for both coffee and in coffee cake.
1. Easy Cannabis Coffee
Ingredients
- 6 cups of water
- 1 gram of your favorite weed
- Your favorite coffee or espresso
- Butter (you can also use coconut or avocado oil, as neither has a strong flavor)
Directions
- Grind your weed. For extra finely ground weed, use a coffee grinder.
- Boil 6 cups of water.
- Add 4 tablespoons of butter.
- Add your weed.
- Cover and let simmer for 40 minutes. This is best done at a low temperature so as not to lose any of the liquid to evaporation. (This step replaces decarbing your weed in the oven.)
- After 40 minutes, strain off any plant matter.
- Use the drained liquid to make your coffee (works really well in a French press).
Add milk or other creamer as normal. For extra zing, add a little cannabis sugar or cannabis honey. It’s important to remember you may not feel the full effect for 30 minutes to an hour and a half later.
2. Cannabis-Infused Bulletproof Coffee
Ingredients
- 1 gram of high-quality cannabis
- 1 stick butter (yields an overall potency of approximately 120 milligrams THC)
- 2 cups black coffee, freshly brewed
- 1 teaspoon Bulletproof® Brain Octane
- 2 tablespoons unsalted grass-fed butter infused with cannabis (see instructions below)
- 2 tablespoons MCT oil (optional)
- blender
Directions
- First, make the weed butter: Preheat the oven to 240º F.
- Grind 1/4 gram high-quality cannabis sufficiently to increase surface area without turning it into powder, then spread evenly on the bottom of a baking sheet. Place in middle of oven and allow cannabis to decarboxylate for one hour and fifteen minutes, stirring halfway through.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- Next, bring butter up to temperature slowly. Since cannabis is already decarboxylated, the butter only needs to be hot enough to extract cannabinoids (not decarb them). So bring to a very slow simmer and then spoon cannabis into it while stirring gently.
- Keep on a slow simmer for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and never reaching a boiling point. Then turn off heat and let cool for at least 20 minutes. While infusion cools, line a strainer with cheesecloth. Pour infusion through cheesecloth to separate out plant matter. Strain more than once if needed.
- The infusion is now ready to use (with potency of approximately 30 milligrams THC). Refrigerate when not in use (in a clearly marked container not accessible to children!). Will keep for about 2 weeks.
- Next, make the cannabis-infused Bulletproof Coffee: Start with 8 ounces (237 ml.) of filtered water, fresh off the boil. Add 2 ½ tablespoons (37 ml.) freshly ground Bulletproof® Coffee Beans and brew using your preferred method. If you are new to Bulletproof Coffee, add 1 teaspoon (5 ml.) Bulletproof® Brain Octane to 8 ounces (237 ml.) of hot coffee. Gradually increase the amount each day to reach 1–2 tablespoons (15–30 ml.) per cup. Add 1–2 tablespoons (15–30 ml.) grass-fed unsalted butter or weed butter to hot coffee and add MCT oil (optional).
- Mix it all in a blender for 20–30 seconds until it is frothy.
3. Cannabis-Infused Coffee
Ingredients
- 1/4 oz ground marijuana buds
- 8 tbsp ground coffee
- sweetener to taste
- cream or milk to taste
- Makes 4 6-oz cups of coffee
Directions
- Combine marijuana with coffee and brew as normal
- Add cream, milk, and/or sweeteners as desire
- Works with conventional coffeemakers, Turkish coffee pots, French presses, pour-overs, and drip-style methodsresses, pour-overs, and drip-style methods
