Has anyone else had any experiences with Blue Lotus wine, tea or other infusions?
I’ve tried a few methods so far with mixed results, but have finally decided to take the plunge and start brewing a batch based more on the principles of what I have found in my research and learned from experiments, rather than any specific ingredients or processes.
If anyone is curious I’d be happy to record the process and the results. I’m confident it will go well given where the inspiration came from, as well as how many experiments I’ve performed.
I’ve read that Blue Lotus is legal in the UK, but it’s illegal in the USA. Thought I’d mention this in case we have anyone on here from the USA. I’m not sure whether it’s illegal in any other countries.
I’m a bit unsure about blue lotus. I drink alcohol and caffeinated drinks, but a wary of psychoactive substances from other sources…
I‘ve bought the dried blossoms in Germany from an online shop. They sell many ingredients to make your own incenses.But I haven’t tried the blossoms yet.
There are a number of sources inside of the UK, although i have to admit I have tried ordering on eBay from Sri Lanka and India and didn’t find any potential issues in my research on the legality of this.
I am not an authority but I have found no evidence that there are restrictions, on import or otherwise. There are public medical papers of recent provenance that sourced their samples abroad without any special dispensation…
Here is a gov.uk source that doesn’t positively exclude it, but negatively excludes it from their list of controlled herbal ingredients.
As far as I have come to understand it has a fairly unique position as being exempt from the recent Psychoactive Substances Act 2017. designed to clamp down on legal highs, due to its being covered by existing legislation from the 1970s. (EDIT: its actually covered by the exemption for food and drink)
All that being said, I would suggest exercising caution if it feels wrong to you.
EDIT: my pile of dried fruit for the experiment has turned up. apt timing… it wasn’t due for two more days
You can buy them on Amazon, which wasn’t the case when I first investigated this…
What I should say is that if anyone does decide to try brewing it into tea or with alcohol, it is illegal to consume it off premises, the same as any homebrew beer etc…
I was refused its use in perfumery due to unknown toxicology a couple of years ago, a friend who is a chemist said it was listed as schedule 3. Maybe not specifically listed (???), it is after all not a common substance, and I know plenty who have had hold of it and used it in the UK. Of course what anyone will do if you have it is unknown and personally I’m not really into any of that stuff in whatever form. Each to their own.
Thats interesting to know. I guess the regulations for perfume are quite different to food stuffs and medicines… I do often buy blue lotus flavoured incense sticks, but I guess it could well be flavouring rather than the real thing.
I won’t be experimenting again for a while… maybe the gods were against it. The brew exploded, after I left the house abandoned for a day after an accidental house fire…
Although I have a few bags of flowers I’ll stick to using them for tea like the packet suggests.
In varying degrees, I’ve worked in pharmaceutical and food industry and the closer a product gets to being inside the body, the increasing level of safety is required. For example soap and things you wash off the skin the permitted allergens are lets say, 1. For cosmetics in any form that linger then the permitted levels drop to 100th or 1000th of that. Then, as soon as some product mentions any kind of health benefit be it food or cosmetic, MHRA (medication laws) kick in and it has to go through trials and all sorts.
Thing is, food stuffs that are herbal and don’t make any medical claims are outside any regulations more or less. Crazy things. Same goes with incense. Candles and diffusers have to have CLP chemical labeling but incense is not covered by default. Its as if it being natural is better, well, I can tell you nature is not necessarily safer - concentration matters.
By all means do rant. Its fascinating how complicated, confusing, powerful or impotent the laws are surrounding different use cases of natural products.
Everything will work out with the fire… just need to keep picking up pieces and keep on going.
