Hemp Tea: A Kentucky Farmer's Guide to Brewing the Flower
Hemp tea is hemp flower steeped in hot water. That's the whole concept. We grow the flower on our USDA Organic farm in Wilmore, Kentucky, and customers ask us about brewing it almost every week. This guide answers what hemp tea actually is, how to make it at home, what cannabinoids and terpenes it carries, and what separates a clean cup from a sketchy one.
We've been farming hemp here since 2018. The flower we ship for smoking and roll into pre-rolls is the same flower our third-party lab tests for cannabinoid content and contaminants. Not powder, not flavoring. Whole plant.
What Is Hemp Tea?
Hemp tea is a hot infusion made from the dried flowers and leaves of the hemp plant. Broken up, it looks like loose-leaf herbal tea. It smells grassy and slightly resinous. The flavor lands somewhere between green tea and a strong herbal blend, with the strain's terpene profile coming through underneath.
Two facts up front. Hemp tea brewed from compliant hemp flower contains less than 0.3% Delta-9 THC by dry weight, the federal Farm Bill threshold. That's why our flower ships to all 50 states. Hemp tea is non-intoxicating. Hemp flower also contains no caffeine, so it's a drinkable infusion that won't keep you up.
Hemp Tea vs CBD Tea: Is There a Difference?
People use these terms interchangeably, but there's a small difference in what's actually in the cup.
Hemp tea uses the whole hemp flower, sometimes with leaf and stem mixed in. When you steep it, you pull cannabinoids, terpenes, and other plant compounds straight into the water. CBD tea usually means a regular tea base (black, green, rooibos) with CBD extract or isolate added in. Same idea, different sourcing. The whole-flower brew keeps the natural terpene mix and minor cannabinoids the plant produces, like CBG and CBC, alongside the dominant CBD.
If your goal is to taste the actual plant we grew, brew the flower. If your goal is a familiar tea flavor with a known dose of CBD layered in, the extract-based versions get you there.
What Part of the Hemp Plant Makes Tea?
The flower carries the cannabinoids and terpenes. That's the part you want. Sugar leaves (the small trichome-frosted leaves growing out of the bud) work too. Fan leaves and stems carry less cannabinoid content, so trim tea is lighter and easier on first-time drinkers. Whole-flower tea is stronger and more terpene-forward.
Our flower ships ready to brew. Break a bud apart with your fingers, drop it in the pot, and the trichomes do the rest.
How to Make Hemp Tea
There are three real methods. Pick the one that matches what you want out of the cup.
Raw Hemp Flower Tea (Basic Brew)
This is the simplest method. You steep dried hemp flower in hot water like any loose-leaf tea.
What you need:
- Hemp flower: 1 to 2 grams of dried flower per cup
- Water: 8 ounces per cup
- Heat source: A pot or kettle
- Strainer: Fine mesh strainer or a tea ball
Bring the water to a low simmer (just under boiling). Break the flower up with your fingers so the trichomes are exposed. Add it to the water. Cover the pot. Let it steep for 10 to 15 minutes. Strain into a mug.
What you'll get: a light golden brew with grassy flavor. You'll pull out CBDa (the raw, non-decarbed acid form of CBD) and a portion of the volatile terpenes. CBDa has its own properties, but it's not the same compound as activated CBD. If you want activated CBD in the cup, use the next method.
Hemp Flower Decarb Tea (Activates CBD)
Decarboxylation is the heat step that converts CBDa into activated CBD. Smoking does it instantly. Brewing tea does it partially. For a more fully activated cup, decarb the flower first:
- Preheat oven to 240°F (115°C).
- Spread 1 to 4 grams of broken-up flower on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
- Remove and let cool. The flower will turn slightly brown and smell stronger.
Brew the decarbed flower the same way as the basic method. The result is a tea with more activated CBD per cup.
One note. CBD is fat-soluble, so plain water doesn't carry it well. Add a teaspoon of coconut oil or unsalted butter, or a splash of full-fat milk or oat milk, and absorption goes up. Cover the pot during steeping so the volatile terpenes stay in the liquid instead of evaporating off the surface.
Tea Bags vs Loose-Leaf Hemp Flower
Pre-made hemp tea bags exist. They're usually a milled blend of hemp leaf and stem, sometimes with added flavor herbs (mint, ginger, chamomile, rooibos). Drop one in a mug like any tea bag and you're done.
The tradeoff is potency and freshness. Tea bag blends are typically lower in cannabinoid content than whole flower because they use trim, not bud. They've also been sitting on a shelf longer than flower a customer brewed within a few weeks of buying it. Loose flower brewed fresh is stronger and tastes more like the plant. Tea bags are convenient and give a steadier, milder cup. Neither is wrong.
If you're brewing from our hemp flower, that's loose-leaf by default. You're working with the same buds people smoke or roll into pre-rolls, just steeped instead of combusted.
Hemp Tea Benefits
Here's where we have to be careful. Hemp tea is not a treatment for any disease, and CBD has not been approved by the FDA for any condition outside of one prescription seizure medication. We can describe what's in the cup and what some users report. We can't promise what it'll do for you.
Cannabinoids and the Endocannabinoid System
Hemp flower contains a family of compounds called cannabinoids. CBD is the dominant one in the strains we grow. Minor cannabinoids in the same flower include CBG, CBC, and trace CBN, depending on strain and harvest maturity.
The human body has an endocannabinoid system: a network of receptors (called CB1 and CB2) involved in mood, sleep, appetite, immune response, and pain signaling. Cannabinoids like CBD interact with this system. People commonly use CBD products in evening routines and for general relaxation. The science on cannabinoid pharmacology is well-established. The clinical claims about specific outcomes are not, outside of one FDA-approved seizure medication.
Terpene Profile and Flavor
Terpenes are the aromatic oils that give hemp flower (and a lot of other plants) their smell. Pinene is the compound that makes pine smell like pine; limonene comes from citrus peels; myrcene is heavy in mangoes. Hemp carries all of these in different ratios depending on the strain.
The terpene profile shapes how a hemp tea tastes. A few examples from strains we grow:
- Mothership: Heavy in myrcene and caryophyllene. Brews earthy, slightly fuel-forward, with a deeper bass note.
- Orange Gas: Limonene-forward. Has a citrus brightness on the front of the sip.
- Hawaiian Haze: Tropical and slightly sweet. Reads lighter and more floral.
Same plant, very different cups. Strain selection matters more than people expect when you're brewing rather than smoking.
Is Hemp Tea Caffeine Free?
Yes. Hemp flower contains no caffeine. Whether your final cup has caffeine depends on what else you add. A pre-blended hemp tea bag with green tea or black tea in it will have caffeine from those leaves. A pure hemp flower brew will not. That's why a lot of customers reach for hemp tea in the evening, when coffee or black tea is off the table.
What to Look for in Quality Hemp Tea
Hemp is an extraction crop. It pulls heavy metals, pesticides, and other soil compounds straight into the plant. That's useful for environmental remediation and a serious problem if you're going to drink it. Sourcing matters.
Third-Party Lab Testing (COA)
A Certificate of Analysis (COA) is a third-party lab report on a specific batch of flower. It tells you the cannabinoid profile (so you know how much CBD is actually in there), the Delta-9 THC level (to confirm Farm Bill compliance), and the contaminant screen for pesticides, heavy metals, microbials, and residual solvents.
Every batch we ship has a COA. Customers can see the third-party lab results for the flower they're drinking. If a hemp tea seller can't show you a recent COA on the actual batch in your hand, that's the answer. Don't drink it.
Organic vs. Non-Organic Sourcing
USDA Organic hemp is grown without synthetic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or sewage sludge inputs, and the farm passes a federal audit to keep the label. For a tea you're drinking, that matters more than for flower you're combusting, because steeping pulls water-soluble residues into the cup the same way it pulls cannabinoids and terpenes.
You don't have to buy USDA Organic hemp tea. Plenty of clean non-organic flower exists, especially if it's been tested and the COA looks clean. But if "organic" is in the marketing copy and there's no certification number on the label, the word's doing nothing.
Our farm in Wilmore is USDA Organic, audited annually. The live farm cam on our site shows what the fields actually look like.
Hemp Tea FAQ
Does hemp tea get you high?
No. Hemp tea brewed from compliant hemp flower contains less than 0.3% Delta-9 THC by dry weight, the federal Farm Bill limit. The flower is non-intoxicating. Marijuana is a different cannabis cultivar bred for high THC; hemp is bred for low THC and high CBD or CBG.
How do you make hemp tea?
Bring water to a low simmer. Break up 1 to 2 grams of dried hemp flower per cup and add it. Cover the pot. Steep 10 to 15 minutes. Strain. Add a teaspoon of coconut oil, butter, or full-fat milk to improve cannabinoid absorption (CBD is fat-soluble). For more activated CBD, decarb the flower in a 240°F oven for 30 to 40 minutes before brewing.
Is hemp tea the same as CBD tea?
Functionally similar but not identical. Hemp tea is whole hemp flower steeped in water. CBD tea usually means a regular tea base (black, green, herbal) with CBD extract added in. Whole-flower brewing gives you the full terpene profile and minor cannabinoids alongside CBD.
Is hemp tea caffeine free?
Pure hemp flower tea has no caffeine. The hemp plant doesn't produce it. Pre-blended hemp tea bags that include green tea, black tea, or yerba mate as a base will have caffeine from those ingredients. Read the label.
What does hemp tea taste like?
Earthy, grassy, slightly floral. The exact flavor depends on the strain. Myrcene-heavy strains like Mothership brew earthier and a little fuel-forward. Limonene-forward strains like Orange Gas come through citrusy. Hawaiian Haze leans tropical and lighter.
If you want to brew our hemp flower at home, the whole catalog ships farm-direct, with same-day shipping on orders placed before 2 PM Eastern. Prefer to skip the brewing step? Our CBD pre-rolls use the same flower, hand-rolled and ready to light.
All products contain less than 0.3% Delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis and are compliant with the 2018 US Farm Bill, or products sold on this site contain 0% THC. All our hemp derived products are U.S. grown non-intoxicating cannabinoids.
FDA Disclaimer: The statements made regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA-approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. These products should not be used if you are pregnant or nursing. No statements are offering medical advice. Please consult a healthcare professional before use of any of our products.
