It’s two great tastes that taste great together: cannabis and coffee. Legal Cold Brew, a weed-infused, cold-pressed coffee, will be ready to hit store shelves, assuming the great State of Washington gets its act together, by the first week of July.
Adam Stites and his delightfully named Mirth Provisions have concocted a cold brew that creates a true “wake and bake” experience combining caffeine with 20mg of THC from a sativa strain of weed creating a nice body buzz and smooth head high. “Sativa pairs nicely with coffee,” notes Stites, who had experimented with a coffee/cannabis combo for his own personal consumption. “The coffee and cannabis flavor also complement each other nicely.”
The pairing totally screams Washington State thanks to our reputation as the coffee capital of the United States and one of the first states to legalize marijuana. Legal has two cold-brew offerings—one with milk and sugar, and another that’s just straight up cold-pressed coffee (dubbed the John Wayne of cold brews). There is also a trio of sodas: Rainier Cherry, Lemon Ginger and Pomegranate. All the drinks have locally grown ingredients, including the cannabis extract.
One of the challenges Stites faced when creating the beverages was controlling the levels of THC. He wanted to keep the amount to 20mg so people could enjoy a whole bottle much in the same way they would a nice craft beer or a good glass of wine.
“You wouldn’t open a beer and just drink half. It’s wasteful,” he says. “In Washington State you can legally have up to 100mg of THC in an edible. In Colorado you can actually go up to 300mg [in medical marijuana products], but that’s not a pleasant experience.” Both Washington and Colorado limit the THC in edibles to 100mg with the official serving size being 10mg of THC.
“We want people to be able to enjoy our drinks,” says Stites. “Not to get blasted. We work hard to keep the level of THC consistent in our products. Everyone has a bad edibles experience story.” (Just ask Maureen Dowd.)
Legal also doesn’t just haphazardly infuse its beverages with weed. The strains are selected to balance the flavors. For example, the Ginger Lemon soda uses indica-dominant cannabis and is designed for people who want to just kick back and relax. However, the Pomegranate soda is a combination of both indica and sativa, which creates a euphoric head high and gentle body buzz great for hanging out with friends in the backyard or campside. Sounds like the perfect drink for a sunny Seattle summer day.
Would you drink a cannabis-infused cold brew? Let us know in the comments below.
