Looking for a new, delicious way to add CBD oil into your health and wellness routine? Making your own CBD-infused drink is easier than it sounds and is an excellent way to elevate your next smoothie, turmeric latte or mocktail.
So long as your drink is full of fat, you can mix CBD oil into it.
Australia heavily regulates CBD, so you can’t just walk into a grocery store and buy CBD-infused drinks. However, many Australians are purchasing high-quality products from the green market, including CBD oil that can be used to create your very own beverage.
This article will walk you through how to make your own CBD drinks at home, and we’ll also show you how to create a CBD syrup that can be easily mixed into drinks with a lower fat content, such as homemade CBD lemonade.
Importantly, we’ll also discuss the cons of using CBD isolate products to make CBD drinks and why we recommend full-spectrum oil to get the best therapeutic benefits.
Why Some Drinks Work Better Than Others
Cannabis is fat-soluble, which means the substance dissolves in fatty acids. That’s why it’s common to see people extract cannabis into butter or oil. And why you don’t ever see cannabis extracted into water or fruit juice.
The same principle applies here if you’ve ever seen oil flat on top of the water. Even if you mix CBD oil into a drink of water, the oil won’t separate. With enough time, it floats back to the top.
So you need to mix CBD oil into a fatty drink. The fat and CBD oil will combine to create consistency. Beverages like milk lattes to make a CBD coffee or smoothies work the best.
How to Add CBD Oil to Drinks
Adding CBD oil to drinks is as easy as mixing in your desired dose. How long it takes to work depends on your metabolism. So it always helps to have some examples.
CBD-infused Energy Drink
Sports drinks that use MCT oil have enough fat for the CBD oil to bind to. If you shop for low-carb or keto-diet brands specifically, you’ll find energy drinks high enough in fat. Perfect for making CBD-infused energy drinks.
CBD-infused Coffee
Jittery and anxious from caffeine? CBD-infused coffee drinks can help provide alertness from caffeine with CBD’s anxiolytic effects. Ensure you use enough milk so the oil has something to infuse with.
CBD-infused Smoothies
The best CBD drinks are the ones that were already healthy before adding CBD. And what on the planet is more nutritious than a drink you made at home from a cocktail of fruits and vegetables? Just make sure you add the fatty ingredient.
Whether it’s milk or avocado, you can make it a CBD smoothie if it’s a fat-rich smoothie.
How to Make CBD Syrup
Fatty beverages don’t satisfy everyone; some of us prefer a lighter option. That’s where making your own CBD syrup comes in handy.
Making CBD syrup is relatively simple. You’ll need to decarboxylate your cannabis first to activate the CBD. But so long as you’ve got an hour and access to a kitchen, the process couldn’t be more straightforward.
Combine water and honey in a saucepan and bring to a soft boil. You want the honey to dissolve in water.
Reduce the heat and mix in your cannabis, simmering over low heat for an hour and stirring occasionally. After the first hour, add about a tablespoon of vegetable glycerin. The vegetable glycerin gives CBD a fatty molecule to bind to.
Heat and stir for an additional ten to twenty minutes. Then, pour the infused syrup into a jar through a cheesecloth. When it cools, you’ve got yourself some CBD-infused syrup.
This syrup is ideal for adding to drinks that aren’t high in fat content. So if you’re not a fan of lattes or smoothies and would instead drink a CBD-infused soft drink, this syrup is for you!
“Hemp Oil” Drinks
You might see “hemp oil” drinks advertised or sold over the counter. Sellers derive these drinks from hemp seeds.
Hemp seed has little-to-no CBD. You won’t feel any beneficial CBD-infused drink effects with “hemp oil” drinks.
Frankly, it would be best if you didn’t waste your hard-earned income on these drinks. They’re a marketing ploy capitalising on the popularity of CBD’s benefits. But hemp seed oil drinks do not have enough CBD to make them therapeutically relevant.
If you’re consuming hemp for its essential fatty acids, omega-3s and omega-6s, then all power to you. But if you’re looking for a CBD drink for therapeutic benefits, you’re best to steer clear of anything bearing the description of “hemp oil” or “hemp seed oil.”
Pros and Cons of CBD-Isolate Infused Drinks
If it’s a beverage, you can put CBD isolates in it. While CBD oil needs fatty drinks (see above), CBD isolate is water-soluble.
Many people like CBD isolates because this product removes all the cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids from the plant. Ideal for people with plant-related allergies or those uncertain about trace amounts of other cannabinoids.
However, there are cons to CBD isolates.
With CBD isolates, you lose what’s called the entourage effect. Since cannabis contains over a hundred phytocannabinoids, many prefer a “full-spectrum” product.
Full-spectrum CBD, for example, contains essential interactions between the plant’s cannabinoids and terpenes. A review of studies in the British Journal of Pharmacology confirms the entourage effect.[1]
People find taking a range of cannabinoids helps with pain, anxiety, epilepsy, and inflammation.
Other research finds neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects when one takes CBD with flavonoids and terpenes.[2]
For these reasons, CBD isolate alone won’t provide all the benefits cannabis has to offer.
While it’s true that CBD isolates dissolve in water, it’s like dissolving milk into water. Very few find benefits in drinking water-down milk. Likewise, few find comfort in CBD isolates.
In Summary
You may not be able to find legal CBD drinks online in Australia, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy them. Making your own has never been easier.
Whether it’s adding CBD oil to a fatty drink like a smoothie or latte. Or whether you’re making your own infused syrup to add to your favourite beverage.
So long as you’ve got a little time for preparation, the sky is the limit. The best CBD drinks are at your fingertips. If you can drink it, you can add CBD to it.
Consuming CBD in a coffee or smoothie is a great way to access the healing benefits, but there’s no shortage of ways to absorb this healing molecule.
Check out our article that explains the benefits of CBD bath salts and shows you exactly how to make them at home.
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