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Nymphaea Caerulea (Sacred Blue Lily of the Nile) was worshipped as a visionary plant and was a symbol for the origins of life. Nymphaea Caerulea (Blue Lily) is also highly respected and by Indians and in Buddhism. When Nymphaea Caerulea (Sacred Blue Lily of the Nile) was smoked or drank after being soaked in water or wine, it acted as an intoxicant. The flowers are suspected to contain aporphine and nuciferine, natural opiate alkaloids.
Blue Lily extracts best into alcohol. Wine is traditional. However, any other alcohol would work, and certainly an ethanolic sublingual or ingestible tincture could be made from larger amounts.
Second, about heat: heat damages free-base alkaloids! This is why sticklers insist on NEVER pouring boiling water on tea leaves. In fact, no tea/brew should ever be exposed to boiling temps UNLESS you have converted the naturally occurring free bases to an acid salt.
Question: Why can I use boiling water on coffee? Because coffee has the protection of the bean shell around it, even when ground, and can take higher heat. LEAVES AND FLOWERS HAVE NO PROTECTION FROM THE ELEMENTS!
Here's the deal: Alkaloids are naturally free bases in the plant. Free bases have very low boiling points and are destroyed easily by temperatures above 140 (approximately; different for each alkaloid type). Pouring boiling water on them and soaking them, or worse yet continuing to boil them will destroy all the actives.
SOOOOO: What to do? Simple! Change their boiling point to something unreasonably high, like broiling temp (400-500F) instead of boiling temps (140-200F)! This is accomplished by soaking your flowers or leaves in an COLD or room-temperature ACID SOLUTION anywhere from 1 hr. to 24 hours (overnight is a sure thing -- strongly recommended). The acid of choice is LEMON/LIME JUICE if you are making a brew that you will drink with honey/sugar. You use enough to lower the ph to 4 max. Acids convert the "base" alkaloids into their practically indestructible acid alkaloid form. (This is why criminals don't smoke cocaine, for instance. Cocaine is an acid alkaloid. Criminals smoke the evil freebase form because it melts at "normal" temperatures).
Once you've converted to the acid form of the alkaloids, go ahead and boil your hearts outs. Actually, don't boil. Be gentle. These are plant spirits after all. Simmer them for anywhere from 1 to 4 hours, and then strain and filter several times with coffee filters. The clearer the better; less chance of producing nausea from other toxins in the plants.
There you have it. You will have a tea with the lemon already built in! Add honey to taste, and you've got relaxation just around the corner.
NOTE: the alcoholic extract in wine produces a freebase, but since alcoholic extract don't need to be heated, there is no danger of harming the alkaloids, see?