Boiling a few grams of Calea Zacatechichi doesn’t leave you with the bestest tasting tea. In fact, it’s pretty nasty. I found the following quotes in the Erowid archives expressing this point, saying:
“The tea is down right disgusting even when mixed with camomille, california poppy, and honey”
” How bad can boiled leaves possibly taste? So bad you’d want to chuck everything you’d just bought into the trash…”
“I drank the tea slowly, it was really bad-tasting and I almost had to throw up.”
“There is nothing in the world that tastes worse than this. It engulfed my entire mouth with bitterness, and made me want to vomit for a good 10 minutes.”
So…
What are some methods of improving the taste of Calea Z tea?
I don’t have much but here’s what I’ve discovered so far!
1) Boil additional bags of OTHER teas when making Calea Z tea. The idea here is to cover up the taste with another taste!
If you find that a certain tea works especially well, please share this with everyone in the comments section below.
2) Drinking it HOT as opposed to COLD is supposed to be better.
3) Adding other liquids and sweeteners to the tea is the most common and successful method of improving the taste.
This includes the follow:
milk, soy milk, agave nectar, honey, sugar, juice.
Dear reader…
As you can see, this list is not that extensive. Please contribute your own thoughts on the taste of Calea Z tea and how you made it taste better!
”I think if the Chantal indians knew
what capsules were, they wouldn’t have
been drinking that awful tea.”
Fisherman’s Friend or other hard and strong candies helps. It both covers up the worst bitterness and makes the mouth produce more saliva, which washes the bitterness out.
i made a cup for 3 of my friends and myself. the next day i found that i was the only one able to drink it. i only had a tiny amount of honey to add, so i doubt that even did much. id suggest making sure to strain all pieces of herb from the tea, for it gets nasty towards the bottom. what i did though, that did make a difference, was smoking a joint of it as i drank the tea. it made it taste significantly better, like it was supposed to work in such ways. other than that, take a few chugs everytime you drink any of it and it’ll be gone before you know it.
oh yeah, and ive read all over the place, DO NOT add citrus. i dont know why, but if it supposedly makes it taste worse i aint tryin it.
um honestly the best and easiest way lol is koolaid. i kno it sounds to simple but yea its true. it does nothing to the chemicals and it tastes good.
[...] this point, I concur; Calea Z tastes is so bitter!. But I’m getting ahead of [...]
These are good tips – mix it with kool-aid (I love this one…), and try some hard candies to increase saliva and mask the bitterness! And
do not add citrus, got it…
I don’t think I ever tried it with hard candy, and I definitely never mixed it with kool-aid.
Thanks Josh, DreamShaman, and Siiw!
I am unable to find how much of the leaf I require for tea + smoking. How many grams or oz do I need to try this with? Is it worth it? Where can I get it for reasonable price (I know ebay has many sellers)Thanks!
Check out my other site called caleaZdreams.com.
There is a section for standard dose and usage, as well as a page for trusted buyers with links to purchase calea leaf/resin/capsules/etc.
Hope this helps!
I tried Calea for the first time the other day, i expected the taste to be horrible, BUT OH MY LORD. I will not refer to it as anything else but “Pass me the God awful tea”
god awful.
but I read somewhere about Mint Gum.
so i tried it
IT WORKS!!
but after about two chugs the mint washes away and it tastes like Calea gum…………pretty sickening.
so, i reccoment a pack of MINT gum for each person consuming the tea.
it really really works
I noticed after a ricola the bitterness minimal, insted of packs of gum, why not keep an altoid under you tongue.
yeh i tried calea, and i conquer, terrible tasting stuff, to me it tastes like i just chewed up a bunch of ibuprofen and swished it in my mouth, super super bitter and chemical tasting, my sister said if she had not brewed itherself she would have thought it was poison lol, but yeh i think this herb is somewhat of a placebo, i say that cause i’ve gulped down massive amonts on several occasion. the power of suggestion is strong.