The 10 Best Marijuana Strains to Smoke with Your Coffee

The 10 Best Marijuana Strains to Smoke with Your Coffee:

Are you a marijuana patient who also LOVES coffee? Well, you're in luck! Coffee and marijuana go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly, cookies and cream, bread and butter, etc. (I think you get the picture.) This may surprise some of you, as for years there was a popular misconception that weed was less potent and effective when consumed with coffee (particularly, the caffeine in coffee); but we have recently come to find that marijuana and coffee combined actually can provide mutually beneficial effects. Like what? Well, decreased inflammation in the brain, improved blood flow and circulation, feelings of euphoria, and an increased level of energy, alertness, and focus to start.

But according to a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, just how much you consume of each does make a difference. (Hence where the misconceptions about coffee and marijuana combined probably come from.) You see, in low amounts, the coffee and weed can almost cancel one another out, it's true. But in high amounts, the beneficial effects of both the coffee and the marijuana are enhanced. 

So... the medical advice implied here is seemingly to smoke more weed and drink more coffee? Alright!

But what are the best medical marijuana strains to pair with your coffee? In the opinion of this writer, the best strains to combine with the caffeinated jolts of java you inhale throughout the day would be marijuana strains that compliment the coffee (both smell and flavor wise), marijuana strains that provide several similar benefits to coffee, so as to thus be enhanced (like energy, euphoria, etc.), and marijuana strains with clever names that actually match their characteristics and can be paired with other cuisines as if they were foods themselves.

Keeping that in mind, here are my recommendations for 

The 10 Best Marijuana Strains to Smoke with Your Coffee:

Photo from: http://undergroundcannabis.com/2013/12/08/coffee-and-weed-15-best-pics-on-web/

1. Chocolope 

Sativa

Chocolope is (surprisingly) the only full fledged Sativa on this top 10 list; for though Sativas lend themselves well to providing energy and focus, many Sativa marijuana strains do not fit the flavor profiles of marijuana strains that would pair well with coffee. However, this groovy, chocolicious strain does, so it makes the cut! With it's Earthy, sweet, chocolate/coffee aromas and flavors, it is an absolute pleasure to smoke with a hot cup of coffee. Plus, it is uplifting, euphoric, energizing, and it induces happiness and creativity, so this is definitely one of the strains to pair with your morning coffee; that way, you can enjoy your whole day!

2. Girl Scout Cookies

Hybrid

As one of the (seemingly) most popular strains of 2014/2015, Girl Scout Cookies (also called GSC) is a great hybrid medical marijuana strain to have with coffee. If it wasn't obvious due to the pairing of cookies and coffee, a few other reasons I chose this particular strain is that it is potent, usually loaded with THC, and it lends itself well to increasing good feelings of happiness, euphoria, relaxation, and stress relief. Good for stress, depression, and both mild and severe chronic pain, Girl Scout Cookies could be great with your morning coffee or that mid-afternoon cup that keeps you going. 

3. Vanilla Kush

Indica

This pain relieving marijuana strain is perfect for night time with a pot of dark roast. With it's sweet, vanilla-infused Earthy scent and taste, it's thick, therapeutic smoke that acts like aromatherapy, and it's calming, soothing, and euphoric effects, Vanilla Kush will have you savoring every moment; every smoke, and every sip, until eventually you'll just want to slide away into dreamland, It is a wonderful strain for severe pain, muscle spasms, depression, and insomnia and it just tastes so good with coffee!

4. Royal Caramel

Indica

This beautiful marijuana strain has a sweet caramel aroma when ground (which smells great with coffee brewing) and a deep, sweet, Earthy, nuttiness added to it when smoked. It is an absolute delight to the taste buds, and it makes perfect sense on this list. Much like the Vanilla Kush, Royal Caramel is probably better for night time with a dark roast, as it sedates the body slightly, lends itself well to relaxation and stress relief, and acts as a sleep aid, making it very effective for insomnia. 

5. Chocolate Chunk

Indica

With Earthy, coffee and chocolate like aromas and flavors, Chocolate Chunk is an absolute pleasure to smoke while drinking coffee.  Not only does it taste great, but it actually pairs well with the caffeine in the coffee to reduce inflammation and increase blood flow for healing purposes. Chocolate Chunk is a particularly good medical strain for muscle and joint pain, insomnia, muscle spasms, migraines, and neuropathy, so once again, we are looking at a dark roast in the night...

6. Ice Cream

Hybrid

With it's smooth, creamy, vanilla taste, the marijuana strain Ice Cream is like a creamer you smoke instead of stirring into your coffee. It's a wonderful pairing, Ice Cream and coffee, and it works well for depression, stress, anxiety, chronic pain, and more; and as the effects of smoking Ice Cream are relaxing yet uplifting simultaneously, it works as a morning or mid-day smoke for sure. Yummy!

7. Maple Leaf Indica

Indica

With aromas and flavors of a sweet, caramel incense, and a syrupy maple perfume, Maple Leaf Indica is one of the most perfect marijuana strains, flavor wise, to pair with coffee. Not only that, but this particularly sweet smelling strain is also quite an aphrodisiac, and can make one feel romantic, happy, giggly, elated, euphoric, relaxed, and even a bit tingly. It can also increase arousal. So maybe save this strain and coffee combo for those nights alone with your significant other/lover. It will be worth the wait...

8. Kaya's Koffee

Hybrid

A relatively unknown hybrid marijuana strain, Kaya's Koffee is actually a great choice to smoke with your coffee - if you can find it! It has a fresh, sweet, and slightly bitter and spicy flavor to it that makes for a good match with a morning cup of coffee : black. 

Kaya's Koffee is best for those with chronic pain, ongoing depression, neuropathy, and anyone receiving cancer treatment, as it makes it possible for them to get through the day. But really, this happy strain addresses a lot of issues, inspires creativity, and lends itself well to euphoria, so actually, it is really good for everyone. Smoke up!

9. Dairy Queen

Hybrid

With it's sweet, pungent, creamy smell and taste, this strain is much like a yummy, frozen, dairy treat from the ice cream truck. It is a mood boosting, energizing, creativity inducing marijuana strain whose effects are most definitely heightened when paired with coffee. With a boost of euphoric feelings and energy as well, this strain is a perfect way to start your coffee drinking day.

10. Cookies and Cream

Hybrid

This marijuana strain has a sweet, vanilla cookie like flavor with soft Earthy and nutty undertones, making it a balanced choice to pair with your morning or mid-day cups of coffee. With it's ability to relax the body without sedating it and chill the mind while still simultaneously stimulating and uplifting it, Cookies and Cream is a great marijuana strain to combine with coffee, especially if you suffer from stress, depression, or chronic pain.  The euphoric feelings are another added bonus, making this a great medical strain for those patients who still have to work all day. Enjoy!

Other Contenders:

Cookies Kush

Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies

Black Velvet 

Black Cherry Soda

Sugar Black Rose

Sin Mint Cookies

Night Train

White Rhino

Blueberry Skunk

Chocolate Rain

Cocoa Kush

Hash Heaven

Sugar Babe

Vanilluna (aka: Vanilla Moon)

Chem Cookies

Platinum Girl Scout Cookies

Vanilla OG

Sugar Shack

Sweet Tooth

Chocolate Thai

Northern Lights

OG Kush

Purple Power

Peacemaker

Sources:

Leafly

AllBud

Medical Marijuana Strains

The Weed Street Journal

Marijuana.com

Psychology Today

Journal of Neuroscience

Medical Marijuana

The Green Leaf Clinic Staff

The Best Marijuana Strains to Start and End Your Day

The Best Marijuana Strains to Start and End Your Day:

Medical marijuana can be very useful in helping relieve and/or treat pain, anxiety, depression, nausea, muscle spasms, ADHD, restless leg syndrome, cancer, glaucoma, etc. But as we discussed here:  Indicas and Sativas and the Importance of Knowing Your Meds, not all medical marijuana strains are created equal, nor do they all address the same medical issues. So, it is important, as a patient in the medical marijuana program, that you do some research in order to find the best strains for you!

We here at Green Leaf Clinic want to keep helping you with your research efforts by putting as much medical marijuana information together that we can for you, here on our blog! We already gave you a great list of strains to medicate with during fireworks displays: 10 Marijuana Strains to Smoke Before a Fireworks Show, but now we want to provide you with a bit more practical information for day to day use. Hence: The Best Marijuana Strains to Start and End Your Day

10 Best Medical Marijuana Strains for Morning:

Morning strains are meant to be a bit more uplifting, cerebral, and energizing. Though they can help with pain, they are not major sedatives, so a patient can still be highly functional on these. Many of these strains ease anxiety, stress, and depression, cultivate focus and clarity, and offer the patient euphoric feelings of well being to help get through the day. Almost all of them will assist with nausea and help patients eat a solid breakfast as well. What a perfect way to start a day!

1. Peacemaker

2. Super Cheese

3. Durban Poison

4. Cinderella 99

5. Power Plant

6. Jack Herer

7. Super Lemon Haze

8. Killer Queen

9. Blueberry Yum Yum

10. Kushage

More great morning strains: Pot of Gold, Kandy Skunk, Super Sour Diesel, Blue Dream, Green Crack, Platinum Bubba Kush, Lemon Drop, AK47xBubblegum, Purple Haze, White Fire, CheeseWreck, White Widow, Headbanger, Emerald Jack, Tangerine Dream, Super Silver Haze, Pineapple Express

10 Best Medical Marijuana Strains for Night:

Night strains are meant to be more relaxing, soothing, and calming than morning strains. Medical marijuana strains that are best used after dark also act more like sedatives, muscle relaxers, and high dose painkillers than the morning strains do.  They also assist with insomnia issues. Many recreational "stoners" will claim that these strains will give you "couch lock," (as if it is a bad thing) and they will actually steer people away from these strains; but as a patient and a budtender I can tell you right now: if you are in massive amounts of pain after a long day of work, "couch locked" is exactly what you need to be - and these strains will help! Offering full body relaxation and with just enough added oomph to happily buzz the brain, these nighttime strains are the perfect end to a long day.

1. Granddaddy Purple

2. Northern Lights

3. Purple Urkle

4. Lavender

5. Grape Ape

6. Blue Cheese

7. G13

8. Blackberry Kush

9. Afghani

10. White Rhino

More great nighttime strains: Dr. Funk, Brand X, Deathstar, Purple Rhino, Critical Kush, Skywalker OG, Purple OG Kush, God's Gift, MK Ultra, Purple Passion, Hindu Kush, God Bud, Blueberry, Bubba OG, Deep Purple, Power Kush, Grunk, Blueberry Skunk, Romulan, Vanilla Kush, Ogre Berry

Cannabis Coconut Oil Recipe

Cannabis Coconut Oil Recipe:

Photo originally used on BuzzFeed

What You'll Need:

oven

crockpot/slow cooker

aluminum foil

spoons

cheesecloth

cannabis (trim, shake, and/or bud)

coconut oil

sunflower liquid lecithin

glass storage container/jar

about 5 hours 

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Directions:

1. Start by decarboxylating your cannabis. Preheat the oven to 230 F. 

2. Break up your plant material (trim, shake, and/or bud) but do not grind.

3. Place the plant material on a cookie sheet in a thin, even layer and cover with aluminum foil.

4. Place the prepared cookie sheet into the oven and "bake" for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

5. After 45 minutes to an hour, remove the cookie sheet of marijuana from the oven and set to cool.

6. Turn the crockpot/slow cooker on low/medium (around 150 F - 175 F)

7. Combine 1 cup coconut oil and 1 teaspoon sunflower lecithin in the crockpot/slow cooker for every 14 grams of decarboxylated bud (24-28 grams if you are just using trim)

8. Cover and let it all simmer for about 3-4 hours, making sure to stir every 35-45 minutes or so.

9. After 3-4 hours, turn off the crockpot/slow cooker and allow contents to cool, but not harden.

10. Once mostly cool (but still very much in liquid form) strain the contents of the crockpot/slow cooker through the cheesecloth, collecting the liquid cannabis coconut oil in a glass storage container.

11. Store in a cool, dry, dark place, and use for cooking, in capsules, on sore gums, as a topical cream on it's own, or as a base for massage creams, lotions, hair care products, etc. 

Indicas and Sativas and the Importance of Knowing Your Meds

As a medical marijuana patient, much of your treatment once you are certified depends on you! But figuring out which varieties and strains of medical marijuana work best for you can seem a bit overwhelming, I know. So today on The Green Leaf Clinic Blog we are going to discuss some major similarities and differences between indicas and sativas, the magic that is the hybrid, and the importance of knowing your meds.

Indicas and Sativas and the Importance of Knowing Your Meds:

Medical marijuana on the whole, regardless of strain or variety, tends to help with pain, nausea and food issues, anxiety and stress, and inflammation. But particular strains and varieties obviously have the potential to do more in some areas over others. Here, we will discuss some of the key ways in which indicas and sativas affect and help the body.

INDICA:

Popular strains: OG Kush, Granddaddy Purple, Afghan Kush, Blueberry, Purple Urkle
 

Indica plants are typically more stout and bushy, with thicker fan like leaves than a Sativa plant. The aromas and flavors can vary from sweet, musky Earth tones, to juicy fruit-laced flavors, to super skunky and pronounced scents and flavors that will indicate to everyone around you that you indeed have weed on you!

Indica strains are mostly known as being the "couch lockers;" this is because indicas tend to produce more of an overall body "high" as opposed to just a head "high." Indicas are great for treating chronic pain, muscle spasms, MS, Fibromyalgia, EDS, nausea, insomnia, CFS, anxiety, stress, Restless Leg Syndrome, migraines, seizures, and other disorders and symptoms that heavily affect the physical body. Indicas and Indica heavy hybrids are usually best for evening use, particularly right before bed, as some can give a feeling of physical numbness or sedation.
 
SATIVA:

Popular strains: Kali Mist, Durban Poison, Green Crack, Lemon Haze, Jack Herer

Sativa plants typically grow a bit more tall and spindly than indica plants do and their leaves are usually more thin and finger-like than fan like. The aromas are typically not as "skunky" as with indicas either, so hiding a sativa plant or bud is usually a bit easier than an indica plant or bud. Many of the flavors for sativas are bright, fruity, & spicy; some may have a bit of an "industrial clean" smell & taste to them as well. 

Sativas are known to give a more heady "high" as opposed to a body "high," but that does not mean that the physical state of the body is not altered whilst using a sativa; sativas actually can address pain and muscle issues in similar ways to indicas. Though the pain relieving aspects of sativas surely do not act as intensely, the mental/psychoactive effects are much more pronounced. Sativas are stimulants! Sativa strains are great for energy, happiness, arousal, relieving anxiety, depression, stress, migraines, and nausea, as well as inspiring creativity, productivity, and overall feelings of euphoria. Sativas are a great choice to smoke with other patients too, because they help stimulate the imagination and get conversation flowing.

HYBRIDS:

(AKA: The best of both worlds!!!)

Popular hybrids:
Chem Dawg, AK-47, Juicy Fruit, Pineapple Express, Blueberry Skunk, Headband, Tangerine Dream

Hybrids are great for people with chronic illnesses who have a plethora of symptoms or ailments, because hybrids have the ability to address key areas, hit on by sativas and indicas on their own, together at once! So a patient with high pain levels who also has an anxiety disorder, for example, could get maybe a 60 Indica/40 Sativa hybrid to better meet his or her needs.

Hybrids can also be great if you want the benefits of certain plant strain but don't want to wait to grow it! Some hybrids take key elements from notoriously hard to grow strains and put them in an easier, more accessible strain to grow, taking some of the headache out of things for patients who grow for themselves or caregivers who grow for their patients.
 
The Importance of Knowing Your Meds

Knowing your strains and what they do for you is very important, because as a patient, you are not just smoking, eating, & applying marijuana to "get high," have a good time, or recreationally get messed up with your friends. You are medicating with a natural, herbal medication in order to alleviate symptoms that affect your well being and life!

Look at it this way: If you were using traditional medicines and not medical marijuana and you had a headache, you would take ibuprofen, Tylenol, aspirin, etc. right? You wouldn't reach for the Tums and then wonder an hour later why you still had a headache, would you? Medical marijuana is similar in that there are particular varieties and strains that address certain medical issues better than others. Some are meant for severe chronic pain, some are meant to stop seizures, some are meant to ease anxiety and stop panic attacks... if you needed one of those and then got one that was an appetite stimulant first instead, you would be in a similar boat as the headache/Tums scenario... but with the munchies involved...

So do your research! Find the varieties and strains of medical marijuana that work for you! There will still be lots of choices, so you will still be able to mix it up from time to time (and avoid "strain lock") but you will have a better idea of what you need, what really works, and a slightly smaller array of plants to choose from in order to make the decision making process a little easier.
 
Good luck and stay medicated!