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Stoners love to party on 4/20, but the best kind of party looks different for everyone. Sure, a parking lot bonanza or a warehouse throwdown can be fun, but so can a civilized, pastel-hued, flora-filled affair—with maximum charm and minimum doink ash. Not to downplay the value of a good old-fashioned 4/20 mixer, grower’s cup, or slash-and-burn dispo sale, but plenty of stoners long for something a little more refined. And with a little creativity, they can bring their dream vibe to life in their own backyards, neighborhood parks, or nearest breathtaking butte by hosting a sweet little 4/20 tea party.
In fact, gathering your squad for a springtime cannabis high tea is a delightful way to make fuzzy memories that not only celebrate the frivolity of the cannabis holiday but also the colorful arrival of spring.
For the uninitiated, a tea party doesn’t need to be an overwrought, overthought, overbought exercise in performative decorum. All you really need are a few mugs (or matching cups and saucers—easily found at your local thrift store), comfortable seating (think picnic blankets, pillows, or freshly dusted patio chairs), a kettle full of hot water, a teapot, a delightful tea blend, and a bit of potlucked nosh (i.e., classy munchies).
Want to go the extra mile? You can even make your own signature cannabis tea blend. Here’s how:
1. Gather Your Botanicals
Dried flowers like hibiscus, chamomile, chrysanthemum and fresh herbs like mint can usually be found at your local grocery store. Chamomile and chrysanthemum (often tucked at the end of the ethnic foods aisle) are grassy, earthy, and slightly savory, making them excellent base notes for a tea blend. Hibiscus brings a slightly sweet, tart flavor and gives your brew a gorgeous fuchsia hue. Dried mint helps tie everything together in herbal harmony. If you’d like a little caffeine, a pinch of loose black or green tea will do the trick.
When assembling your blend, start by measuring one serving in pinches, then steep, taste and adjust. Then scale up for your number of guests.
2. Cannabify Your Blend
To create a psychoactive tea, you’ll need to do more than toss ground flower into the pot—you’ll need to decarboxylate your cannabis or, in simpler terms, activate it. While smoking activates cannabis through heat, you can achieve the same effect in your oven.
Grind your buds (or chop them finely) and spread them evenly on a baking sheet and bake them at 220 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes to decarboxylate them completely—and be careful not to overbake. While edibles typically require infusing the decarbed cannabis into butter or oil for tea, the hot water becomes your infuser—no oil required.
3. Adjust Your Dose
When buying your flower (gram, eighth, quarter, etc.), check the THC percentage. Move the decimal one place to the right to calculate how many milligrams of THC are in each gram. For example, 20% THC equals 200 mg THC per gram.
You may be surprised how little plant material you need for a potent dose. Divide the total milligrams by your number of guests, and always base your serving size on the guest with the lowest tolerance. A good place to start is 3 to 5 mg per serving.
4. Or Just Order Out
If a tea party sounds delightful but crafting your own canna-tea feels like a stretch, don’t worry—there are plenty of premade options. Here are a few of our Oregon faves:
Magic Number Sparkling Peach Tea
One 12–ounce can, 100 mg THC. $14.
Magic Number dominates the canna-beverage scene with a diverse lineup of tonics, elixirs and teas. This seasonal peach variety is perfect for spring and can be shared among guests or diluted into a larger pot of tea.
Uncle Arnie’s Iced Tea Lemonade
One 8–ounce bottle, 100 mg THC. $10.83.
For fans of the classic Arnold Palmer flavor profile, this high-potency blend offers a refreshing, citrusy option. Add a few drops to each cup or dilute for a group-friendly batch of sippers.
Barbari Muse Blend plus Hemp Flower
16 grams, 18% CBD. $48, barbari.shop.
Barbari’s herbal smoking blends are dreamy in a spliff, but they also brew into soothing herbal teas. Each of its blends are unique, but the Muse blend, a mélange of blue cornflower, peppermint and raspberry leaf, is an all-time fave. Barbari’s Inspire Bouquet includes both the herb blend and a specially curated hemp flower by East Fork Cultivars, which you can decarb and infuse yourself, or roll into a tea-coded doink.