Calea zacatechichi

**Ebil** · 02-23-2013 03:34 PM

Hi everyone,

I bought 20g Calea zacatechichi and would like to know the best way to use it.
I heard of drinking as a tea, smoking or just water with a few gram and drink it.
Most drink it as tea, but I just got 20g and as far as I read that would just be one tea, I dont really wanna smoke it. So what is if I crush it and drink it with water. How much should I use?

Thanks in advance.

**Alucinor XIII** · 02-23-2013 05:24 PM

Drinking it with just water probably wont work all that well. Make it as a tea.

Also, if its anything like Mugwort, its the kinda of tea where you'll actually need to bring it to a boil. If Calea can be smoked, then boiling it certainly shouldn't damage any active ingredients in it, and it'll ensure that you extract as much of it out of the Calea as possible.

That being said, I haven't really tried Calea yet. I wouldn't recommend smoking it anyway. It'll last a little longer is you drink it, and if you're gonna be going to sleep, thats probably a good thing. Wont do much good if its worn off by the time you get to a decent REM cycle.

**Ebil** · 02-23-2013 05:28 PM

But that would be pretty expensive, most say to use 20g for a tea, I bought 20g and it costs 13€ x.x, maybe I should first try to crush a few grams, I heard that also works and before I use everything I got I think its worth a try. Otherwise I maybe buy some plants and grow them at my own (if calea is working for me at all ^^)

**Voldmer** · 02-23-2013 11:16 PM

In my experience, Calea tastes too awful to drink as an infusion. My solution has been to grind it to a rather fine powder in a coffee grinder, and mix it into yoghurt. If the yoghurt is eaten quickly, the bitternes of the Calea does not have time to diffuse into the yoghurt, and therefore the Calea poses no difficulty at all. Another possibility is to mix it into cereal with milk - but avoid chewing it for long, because eventually the bitternes comes through.

If a bitter taste lingers afterwards, then eating fresh dates works wonders. A mouth wash may come in handy as well.

I have never personally gone beyond 1.7 grams at once, and the effect has not been earth shattering, but still noticeable.

I would add this as a mild warning: every single time I have ingested Calea before bedtime, I have needed more sleep during the night than normally - typically something like 1-2 hours more. Also, several times I have had a mild headache in the beginning of the following day.