Cannabis-infused coffee for a gentle wake-up call

It was during a long drive home from a camping trip in eastern Washington State that entrepreneur Adam Stites came up with the idea for his latest product. «What would happen if I infused heavy cream with cannabis and mixed it into my coffee?» he wondered.

He tested his idea as soon as he got home. The first attempt was slightly overdosed; Stites woke up 13 hours after drinking just one cup of his first cannabis coffee. Nevertheless, his professional interest was piqued. Shortly thereafter, he founded Mirth Provisions to sell a commercial version of his creation: cannabis-infused coffee, containing 20 mg of THC per serving. Playfully called Legal, it's apparently the « wake and bake » (the ultimate way to wake up by ingesting cannabis).".

«Our customers aren’t looking to rack their brains; they just want to give their minds a little boost,» says Stites, speaking with the poetic flair of a man who clearly started his day with a cup of Legal. «It’s perfect for a Sunday morning, sitting at a café table, when I want to read the newspaper and focus on a task at hand,» he admits.

The Science Behind This Cannabis Coffee

Adam Stites developed a complex process to create his signature product. Combining weed and coffee beans into a functional blend turned out to be quite a hassle. The coffee and cannabis molecules separate when brewed because the’cannabis oil is not soluble in water. Mirth Provisions’ expertise lies in part in the unique way it uses natural emulsifiers to keep the oil suspended in water.

In addition, Adam Stites has found the ideal cannabis strain to pair with coffee, both in terms of flavor and aroma. Cannabis contains two key components: THC, the psychoactive compound associated with the “high,” and the CBD, which has no psychoactive effects but enhances alertness. The two main varieties of cannabis, the Sativa and Indica, contain varying proportions of THC and CBD. Adam spent months searching for the ideal ratio of each ingredient, testing more than 50 varieties of cannabis before settling on the final combination. The Legal line includes black coffee, coffee with sugar and milk, and even cannabis-infused fruit juices, with each fruit associated with its own cannabis variety.

Weed adds a rich, earthy base to the natural aroma of coffee, Adam explains, while the blend of THC and CBD in Legal adds a calming, focused sensation to the effects of caffeine. Caffeine is absorbed immediately by the body, but it takes 45 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes for the body to process the cannabis and prolong the effects of the caffeine.

Potential Profits

The potential profits for a a blend of coffee and cannabis are high. Annual coffee sales in the United States total $9.4 billion, while the U.S. cannabis market is estimated to be worth $3 billion. Legal has generated 450,000$ in revenue since its launch in September 2014.

Adam Stites isn't the only one in this niche. Fairwinds Manufacturing, a Vancouver, Washington-based company, produces Catapult, a cannabis-infused coffee made by adding cannabis oil to coffee beans before they are ground. Designed as an alternative that can be made at home, Catapult is packaged in capsules that are compatible with Keuring-style machines (the local equivalent of Nespresso). The company sold 2,000 capsules last month, and owner James Hull estimates that sales are growing by 15% each month. The figures apply only to the state of Washington, but it’s easy to extrapolate the market’s enormous potential given the rise of the legalization of cannabis in the United States.

Visit California, where cannabis is legal For medical use, the company House of Jane offers house-brewed coffee infused with cannabis. The owner, Jill Amen, uses a special filter that allows cannabis molecules to pass into the brewed liquid. She also offers several levels of cannabis concentration, up to 200 mg of THC in a single cup, with a cream topping containing an additional 20 mg of THC—if you dare. «I never would have expected it, but a few patients do drink it—especially those who are in a lot of pain, or those with an incredible tolerance.».

Another California-based company also sells its own version of cannabis coffee: the company Compelling & Rich, based in Los Angeles, uses an Ethiopian coffee variety called Yirgacheffe and smokes the coffee beans with cannabis while they are still green and unroasted. However, this process does not produce any psychoactive effects.