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Beat the heat with a Bong Island Iced Tea, a fizzy, lifted twist on the classic Long Island that trades five liquors and regret for an energetic cannabis buzz. 

This summer upgrade comes to us from Bong Appétit alum and canna-chef extraordinaire Vanessa Lovorato. Her brand-new cookbook, How to Eat Weed and Have a Good Time, is a colorful guide to getting high with fanciful twists on classic treats.

Unlike its boozy predecessor, this stoney mocktail features caffeinated black tea, a hefty dose of pot, and nostalgic notes of cola gummies and childhood wonder. It’s a bubbly, slightly sweet, slightly tart drink that hits with the refreshing satisfaction of soda and the relaxing body high of weed. AKA all the fun with none of the hangover. 

If you like the sound of such a high-flying beverage, but aren’t much of a mixologist, then these delightful drinks are up your alley. Snag a pack and let Cycling Frog do the bartending.

50mg THC | 4 pack

Check out the video and recipe, and be sure to grab your own copy of How to Eat Weed and Have a Good Time—because edibles just got a little more elevated. 

In How to Eat Weed and Have a Good Time by Vanessa Loverato, you’ll find a treasure trove of sweet and savory dishes from cupcakes to taquitos, with highly tested instructions to get the infusion just right. Be the stoned Suzy Homemaker you want to see in the world.

Bong Island Iced Tea recipe

Video: Vanessa Lovorato

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 2 black tea bags
• 2 cups Coca-Cola
• ½ cup ginger beer
• ½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes)
• ½ tablespoon Turnt Tincture (How to Eat Weed and Have a Good Time pg. 70)
• 5 to 10 dashes of orange bitters
• Fresh mint, for garnish
• Sliced lemon, for garnish

Instructions:

1. In a small saucepan or kettle, bring the water to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the tea bags, and steep in the hot water for 3 to 4 minutes. Discard the tea bags, pour the tea into a large jar or cup, and let the hot tea cool in the fridge before using, about 10 minutes.
2. In a pitcher, stir together the cooled tea, Coca-Cola, ginger beer, lime juice, Turnt Tincture, and bitters until fully combined. Set out 5 glasses, fill with ice, and pour the tea mixture over it. Top each glass with a few sprigs of mint and a slice of lemon.
3. Serve and enjoy.

Shop with Pride all year long by supporting these queer-owned cannabis brands & retailers.

For decades, the cannabis and LGBTQIA+ communities have organized, protested, educated, and advocated for their rights to exist and thrive. And often, their goals overlapped. Lest we forget: Dennis Peron opened the first medical cannabis dispensary in San Francisco, the Cannabis Buyers Club, to help service queer people coping with AIDS and other medical conditions. Brownie Mary Rathbun’s main clientele were AIDS patients.

If not for the combined activism of these two communities, Prop 215 might not have existed, and set off the nation’s slow and ongoing journey towards safe and legal access to cannabis. This June, Leafly is highlighting the fire from authentic torchbearers of this great gay movement.

Use our shopping filter to browse LGBTQIA+ owned dispensaries in your area and place an order for pickup or delivery this June and all year long.

Find dispensaries like SWAY in the Northalsted/Boystown gayborhood of Chicago—the first and only queer-owned dispensary in Illinois.

“SWAY is built on the strong, sassy shoulders of those who came before. The queer rule-breakers who fought for medicinal weed as a remedy against HIV. The Black and Brown activists breaking down barriers to weed, despite bearing the brunt of over-criminalization and prosecution.”

From Flore Dispensary in San Francisco’s Castro District to Massachusetts’s Tree House Craft Cannabis, there are LGBTQIA+ owned dispensaries from coast to coast that you can support this Pride Month and beyond.

Shop queer-owned cannabis brands

Check out our curated list of products from queer cannabis brands who have made the cannabis landscape a better, danker place.

FLAMER

Available in New York

New York’s FLAMER crafts high-quality, high-style pre-rolls and whole flower, featuring cheeky names and clear effect and terpene information, so you have all the information you need to find your best fit. The queer brand is “chosen-family-owned-and-operated” and draws inspiration from the gritty glamour of New York nightlife. Their newest release, Sasha Colby Kush, is a must this Pride season.

Drew Martin

Available in California & New York

Queer-owned Drew Martin combines sun-grown cannabis and botanicals to create terpene-rich, perfectly mellow, low-dose pre-rolls. Joints as unique as you are.

Stone Road

Available in California & New York 

Stone Road has something for every smoker, from single joints to hash-infused pre-roll packs to eighths to pre-ground ½ ounces to dabbables. As with life and love, there’s no wrong way to be.

Grass Queen

Available in Vermont

The woman- & queer-owned Vermont cannabis company, Grass Queen, makes small-batch flower and botanical blends while creating space for communities underrepresented in today’s cannabis industry.

Available in Oregon

Founded by two queer women, Katie Stem and Kate Black, Peak Extracts makes tinctures and topicals, though most know them for their vape pens and strain-specific chocolates, extracted using an eco-friendly and proprietary CO2 process. Their chocolates have six categories that cycle through strains chosen for their terpene profiles and medicinal benefits.

Shop queer-owned hemp

These queer-owned hemp brands make fabulous products that you can shop online and have shipped right to your door.

Xula Herbs

Queer- and Latinx-owned Xula Herbs is on a mission to help folks feel good. Xula makes plant-powered formulas combining botanicals, adaptogens, and hemp to address everything from period support to unwinding.

CANN

CANN prides themselves on concocting exciting, limited-edition THC drink flavors that tantalize the tastebuds. CANN’s roster of social tonics are infused with a microdose of THC per can, making their delightful beverages an ideal partner for any sort of gathering. 

President Donald Trump’s on again, off again tariffs have rattled many industries, including the regulated cannabis industry that will be affected as vape hardware and packaging prices get hit with tariffs in shipments from Asia. But according to a new report from Whitney Economics, one segment could actually benefit: hemp beverages.

While hemp beverages are sold in aluminum cans and will face increases in container costs from the tariffs, other parts of the supply chain are less affected by tariffs and the products are sold domestically. Add to that the surging popularity of the products, and you have a winning formula.

Hemp drinks have hit the beverage industry by storm. Major distributors are stocking them even as states look to ban intoxicating hemp products. Some states are even carving out exceptions for the beverages in those proposed bans.

Another advantage, according to Whitney Economics analyst Beau Whitney, is that all of this is happening as the craft beer business struggles. Alcohol consumption has been experiencing declines in sales, and the once-hot trend of craft beers is already looking like the moment is fading. The Brewers Association recorded 399 closures in 2024 compared to 335 new breweries, indicating a shift in the industry’s trajectory. The latest tariffs are adding another headache for those brewers.

In addition to the aluminum used in cans, Whitney noted that beer companies also face tariffs on stainless steel, which is used in brewing equipment. Beer businesses are also dependent on hops, which are also tariffed.

“On the other hand, the Trump tariffs could represent a significant upside opportunity for the hemp beverage industry, which has been experiencing strong growth for several years now,” wrote Whitney. “As alcohol and beer sales decline, hemp beverages have filled in the gaps in demand. The popularity of hemp cannabinoid beverages is just at the beginning of its ramp.”

Whitney Economics noted that the hemp beverage sector has come on strong, especially since the market opened up in Minnesota in 2022.

“Recent surveys in Texas, Illinois and Tennessee indicate that hemp beverages are capturing an increasing amount of market share among hemp retailers, distributors and manufacturers,” Whitney wrote in a recent newsletter.

Hemp beverages tend to be more expensive than craft beers. A four-pack of infused seltzer can range from $9.99 to $16, while a 12-pack of craft beers often runs $20 or less. If the craft beer makers raise their prices in response to the increased expenses from tariffs, hemp beverages no longer look quite so expensive.

So, while hemp beverages are fighting in various states to keep from getting banned, at least the group gets one gift in the form of avoiding most tariffs.