Cannabis in Your Coffee at Boulder - Dispatch Weekly

Two local startups, Native Jack in Louisville and SteepFuze in Boulder are mixing coffee beans with cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive compound of the cannabis plant that originates from hemp, to stop coffee shakes and headaches. 

Startup Native Jack Wants to Be the Starbucks of Weed Coffee

Jason Walsh, the founder of Native Jack startup out of Louisville said that the coffee stops coffee jitters.

By making a Thai style beverage with spice, condensed milk and cannabis and then canning the product:

“You can maintain a level of caffeine focus but CBD turns down the noise a little bit.”

He explained that he used to get headaches caused by coffee, “but because of CBD’s anti-inflammatory properties I never get that.”

Startup SteepFuze Uses CBD to Treat Pain

Founder Devin Jamroz used to take CBD oil to treat the pain of herniated dics in his back, which he admitted, “tastes awful.”

Jamroz got the idea of combining CBD and coffee in an inspired “aha” moment which soon lead him to spend many hours researching infusion chemistry, trying to preserve the coffee taste whilst adding CBD.

Infusing the beans with CBD from the inside as well as outside keeps the coffee fresher for longer due to hemp’s anti-microbial properties, he then sells the coffee bean by the pound.

Pot in Your Coffee Ain’t Cheap

A can of Native Jack will cost $10 and a pound of SteepFuze beans are $75.

High costs are due to the use of CBD that costs from 5-25 cents per mg. A can of Native Jack included 15mg and SteeFuze uses 450mg.

Medibles: Cannabis and Coffee Expanding

In March 2015, Ben and Jerry co-founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, said that they would consider making marijuana ice cream for markets with legalized marijuana.

Jerry Greenfield said, “I think legalizing marijuana is a wonderful thing, rather than putting people win jail.”

The market for edible cannabis is growing in potential due to laws legalizing marijuana for recreational use in four states (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington), with pot legal for medical use in 23 states.

Another product infusing cannabis and edibles is MagicalButter, which is made for patients that enjoy consuming rather than smoking cannabis.

The cannabis is more potent when ingested as the liver metabolizes cannabis, then converted from Delta-9-THC to 11-Hydroxy-THC.

Legal US pot sales soar to $5.4B in 2015

According to  ArcView Group, legal U.S. pot sales soared to $5.4 billion for 2015, up 17.4 percent from $4.6 billion in 2014.

Figures included medical and adult consumer sales with a large profit made by the increase in consumer sales where state have approved of recreational marijuana use.

Consumer products includes: edibles, capsules and vaporisers. In Colorado alone the sales surpassed $100 million in 2014.

Adult marijuana sales grew to $998 million, up from $351 million in 2014

Growing “Cannabis Connoisseurs” and Celebrity Endorsements

According to Forbes magazine, Colorado’s legal marijuana sales grew more than 40% to nearly $1 billion in 2015, creating more than $135 million in revenue from taxes and fees that the state put toward school construction and other public projects.

Lucie Green, worldwide director of JWT’s Innovation Group predicts a sharp rise in “cannabis connoisseurs.”

“With changing legislation, interest in potential uses of cannabis in food and drink is growing, fast.”

Snoop Dogg, long-time supporter and advocate of cannabis, has launched a marijuana-based media company, Merry Jane which focuses on the cannabis industry in the US, providing up to date news, information and entertainment.