Poppy Seed Tea
How to Make and Enjoy Poppy Seed Tea
Poppy seed tea is an analgesic narcotic tea, and is brewed from dried poppy plant parts. It has been used for psychoactive effects for nearly as long as poppies have been cultivated. In some areas, the preparing of this tea is preferred to opium as the plants' latex is illegal. In the Netherlands, every part of the poppy is illegal, except for seeds. This law is not actively prosecuted, however, since the poppy is used also for decorative purposes. In the United States, it's not illegal to buy poppy seeds, but every other part of the plant is considered a controlled substance.
Poppy seed tea possesses different groups of alkaloids, which include codeine, morphine and papaverine. Morphine is the most potent, because its effects come from its ability to bind to opioid receptors in the intestine, stomach, spinal cord and brain.
There are many different ways to prepare the tea. In most methods, only the seeds, the stem and the seedpod are used. These are ground into a fine powder. Sometimes the seeds are discarded, as they are not very high in alkaloid content.
Many people debate on the best ways to prepare poppy seed tea. Some claim that boiling the tea rapidly is the best way, and others insist that you use very cold water instead. Most people say they steep the tea in hot water.
Some of the methods used call for the acetic or citric acid to be used while you extract the tea. The purpose of this is to lower the pH level of the water down to a more acidic level, which is the optimal level for morphine extraction. Many tea makers believe that distilled vinegar, lime juice and lemon juice contain small amounts of acid that can chemically make the opium molecules more potent.
When poppy seed tea is drunk, the effects may begin in thirty minutes, and can last up to eight hours. The taste is very bitter, and some drinkers add flavors to the tea to make it more palatable. The bitterness and color of the tea is an indicator of how potent the seedpods are. The more bitter and darker the tea, the more potent it will generally be. New users especially should be careful of how much tea they consume if it is dark and bitter. If you add grapefruit juice, this can also inhibit the activation of liver enzymes, and this will increase the duration and strength of the effects of the opiate.
Poppy seed tea is sometimes evaporated over low heat in order to make a concentrated, thick liquid or a dried powder. This is put into gelcaps so that the dosage can be more accurately measured.