Amsterdam Unity Cup 2016 - Results

You may have seen it on our Instagram, we decided at the last minute to head up to Amsterdam for a quick day trip on 2016 Unity Cup with our friends from Légalisation Douce. This competition among coffee shops replaced the now-defunct High Times Cannabis Cup, which ended in 2014. The event was held at the Melkweg and drew a large crowd of weed enthusiasts.

The Unity Cup is a smaller event and featured 14 coffee shops for the 2016 edition: 1st Hulp, Baba Coffeeshop, Bagheera, Boerejongens, Club Media, De Kade, Easytimes, Grey Area, Het Ballonetje, MrKandCo, Original Dampkring, Smoke Palace, Stones Cafe Zuid, Voyagers.

From now on, the judges have to go from coffee shop to coffee shop to sample each product. The budtenders quickly present their entries, without really trying to describe what makes the strain or hash special. It’s up to each person to form their own opinion. The votes are then collected and tallied using an online app. To be clear, we did not participate in the voting. We arrived after 6 p.m. at the Cannabis College and the organizers had already left. So we mostly just wandered around the cafes out of curiosity and tried the same strains as the «judges» at three cafes (Dampkring, Easy Times, and Club Media).

That, in fact, is the main criticism: the organization. It was difficult to find information about the event, both online and on-site. Fortunately, the budtender at Dampkring gave us the lowdown, and some of you were there to provide us with more details. Thanks to all of you, by the way!

We’ll now hand it over to Johnny Gielen, who participated in the Unity Cup as a judge and unofficial photographer 🙂

Johnny, how did you find this second edition?

In terms of organization, not everything is clear—both regarding the list of participating coffee shops and the event app, which lacks information. On the other hand, the voting system via the app is a nice touch.

The welcome at Cannabis College was warm, and the staff was friendly and ready to answer our questions.

What were the products presented by the coffee shops like?

Quality is always a given in Amsterdam. You don’t even need a Cup to find excellent weed or hash. I was a little disappointed with the products on offer. I’ve attended several Cannabis Cups, and the products don’t change much. They’re good, but I’d love to discover more unknown strains like the magnificent Valley Kush 1.0.

What about concerts?

Well organized, even if they’re smaller than they were back in the days of the Cannabis Cup: B-Real, Ghostface Killah, The Wailers… Budgets aren’t what they used to be these days. We still got to enjoy some great music, though. Can’t wait for next year!

Results of the 2016 Unity Cup

INDICA

1st – Grey Bone by Grey Area
2nd – Valley Kush by Bagheera
3rd – OG Reek by Mr. K

SATIVA

1st – "Silver Bubble" by Grey Area
2nd – White Choco Haze by Boerejongens
3rd – Somari from the 1st Hulp

HYBRIDS

1st – Headbanger from the Grey Area
2nd – 24K Gold by Voyagers
3rd – A5 White by Original Dampkring

HASH

1st – #GA from Grey Area
2nd – Nicole Dry Sieve of Bagheera
3rd – Amnesia by Het Ballonnetje

EDIBLES

1st – Bagheera's Brownie
2nd – Brownie from Baba Coffeeshop
3rd – "Space Cake" by Easy Times

And finally, here are a few Photos from the 2016 Amsterdam Unity Cup.

Photo Credit: Johnny Gielen