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Coffee… for the majority of us, it’s the catalyst for how successfully we start our day. The speed and efficiency at which we can get that dark liquid gold into our bodies can determine being on-time to work or school, help you find enough energy to hit the gym in the morning, or even boost your mind & body to the point of making that all-important Monday meeting. Even if you’re one of those otherworldly beings who claims “they don’t need coffee”, you can’t deny that java is the morning lifeblood for many business professionals, athletes, students and people who live an active (and productive) lifestyle.
Cannabis… now there’s a word you don’t often associate with mornings. Although there are some proponents of “waking and baking”, most people don’t look to this wondrous weed for a boost. In fact, many stoners rely on marijuana for quite the opposite – to relax, to chill out, take the edge off, or aid them in having fun. Where coffee and tea are typically preferred tools for improving productivity, motivation or energy (all work-related exploits), cannabis is mostly associated with socializing, personal time and recharging after a long day (obviously, personal-time and leisurely pursuits).
What if we told you that many Canadians are actually combining these seemingly divergent commodities? Marijuana infused coffee is quickly becoming one of the most popular trends in the world of weed. Weed coffee is easy to make, customizable and can be a very simple way to get your daily dose of dro. Not only can you combine any of your favorite lattes or cappuccinos with THC or CBD, but you can actually improve the jolt of energy you get from caffeine or cut down on the java jitters.
With companies like Starbucks & Tim Hortons essentially ingrained in our day-to-day lives, it’s only a matter of time until cannabis coffee makes its way into the mainstream of everyday mornings. Let’s take a look at the current and future trends surrounding weed infused coffee beverages in Canada. Time to wake up, smell the coffee, and taste the buds!
What exactly do we mean by “cannabis coffee”? Simply put, coffee beans brewed with marijuana infused water or adding THC/CBD tinctures to your cup of joe constitutes weed coffee. The simplest way to have cannabis coffee is to brew or buy your favorite grounds, add in your desired level of THC or CBD through cannabis oil, and enjoy. There are many other ways to brew a cup of mary java, but for the most part the idea is to combine cannabis infused oils with coffee or tea.
Why do cannabis infused beverages typically use cannabis oil? Cannabinoids like Tetrahydrocannabinol or Cannabidiol are not actually water soluble, so to introduce them into a beverage like coffee we need to combine them with a base like coconut or hemp seed oil. Cannabutter coffee is an age-old tradition among veteran stoners, and it’s the same principle as weed coffees today, but we’ve learned how to optimize the potency, consistency and overall quality of our ganja java drinks.
For starters, we’ll provide a simple but timeless recipe for cannabis coffee that has been brewing for decades:
What you need:
How to make weed coffee (1 batch, 1-2 people):
Before we begin, if you’ve never made cannabutter or cannabis infused oil before, check out our helpful blog on how to make your own cannabis infused coconut oil. Alternatively, if you’re not a fan of DIY, you can buy cannabis oil or cannabis infused butter online.
1. Once you’ve chosen a strain of cannabis, grind up ½-1 gram per 750 ml of water you’re going to brew into coffee (up the water to 1 L if you like a less strong cup of coffee)
2. Pour 750 ml of water (or 1 L for less strong coffee) into a pot and bring to a boil
3. When the water comes to a boil turn the heat down so it is at a rolling boil, add 30 ml of your oil of choice (2 tablespoons) to the water (up this to 3 tablespoons, 45 ml, if you’re brewing 1 L of coffee). Stir the water & oil thoroughly.
4. Next, mix in the ground up cannabis (ensure it is ground up as finely as possible – the more finely it is ground, the better chance it will have of becoming soluble in the oil carrier). Stir the concoction thoroughly.
5. Keep the water, oil and marijuana at a rolling boil for 30 minutes or so, stirring frequently to prevent the buds from sticking to the pot.
*If you have your own cannabutter or you have some premade that you’ve purchased, you can skip steps 1, 3 and 4 (simply bring water to a boil and add the cannabutter or marijuana infused oil to the boiling water)*
6. Next, remove the pot from the stove and pour the mixture through a strainer into your final container, pot or mug (make sure all of the plant material is caught by the strainer, pick out any chunks of buds from the final container with a tea-steeping spoon).
7. Finally, use the cannabis infused water instead of regular H2O to brew your coffee.
Some things to keep in mind:
Cannabis infused coffee is actually an edible form, and just like a pot cookie or weed brownie, it might take up to an hour or more to feel the cannabis kick in after drinking your weed latte or canna-cappuccino. So, be careful when, where and how much weed coffee you drink, and always be cognizant of how caffeine and cannabis affect you separately before you try them together.
You might be one of those cannabis users that supplements your health with CBD or THC tinctures, so adding a little bit of weed magic to your daily cup of coffee makes sense. For most Canadians, cannabis is both a medicine and a feel-good part of their day – you don’t have to need marijuana for health reasons to enjoy it. In fact, the majority of Canadians report that they consume cannabis for recreational reasons first, deriving a variety of medical benefits from it as they learn more about its effects on their minds & bodies.
Whether you’re a rec marijuana user or medically reliant on cannabis, weed infused coffee is a great way to benefit from the energy boosts of caffeine and cannabinoids. Did you know that there are actually some synergistic benefits to combining caffeine and THC or CBD? First, we need to understand how caffeine and cannabinoids influence your biochemistry differently.
Coffee, matcha, tea and other sources of caffeine are known for giving you a jolt of energy, but the chemical caffeine doesn’t actually imbue you with energy. Caffeine is actually an inhibitor of the dopey, sleepy sedative-like neurochemical adenosine. Adenosine occurs naturally in our bodies and is produced to cause us to seek rest and sleep. Caffeine effectively blocks our receptors from receiving this neurochemical, therefore giving us the feeling of being awake, energized and freed from the shackles of sleepiness.
Cannabinoids, on the other hand, interact with our Endocannabinoid System (ECS) which is a complex nervous system and network of receptors inherent throughout our minds and bodies. Cannabinoids bind to our ECS receptors and the resulting biochemical reactions from these interactions essentially lead to reduced pain, inflammation, nausea, anxiety and a number of other health benefits we’ve come to expect from marijuana.
You could say that caffeine is an inhibitor, while cannabinoids like THC or CBD promote activity in certain areas of the brain and body. So what do these very distinct compounds do to your body when you consume them together? Many stoners love the idea of combining cannabis and coffee, but they might be afraid of the idea that coffee is an upper (wakefulness, cutting down on sluggishness), while cannabis is typically consumed as a downer (relaxing, sleep-aid, calming an overactive mind, etc). These concerns are valid, and it is important to point out that combining any chemicals – even if they’re plant-based – needs to be carefully managed to avoid any adverse reactions.
When it comes to how cannabis infused coffee makes you feel, it depends on the strength of the caffeine and the potency of THC, CBD or both. Some proponents of CBD advocate for Cannabidiol infused coffee because it can help to take the edge off (less coffee jitters), or put your mind in a state of calmness that will amplify the effects of the caffeine (meaning you can consume less, for the same effect). Alternatively, a lot of bud baristas brew coffee with THC-dominant strains to “enhance their high”. As long as you’re a savvy stoner and you know how marijuana impacts you, combining coffee beans and cannabis can lead to a stronger high with more noticeable psychoactive effects.
Just like certain coffee grounds suit certain situations, you wouldn’t want to drink a medium roast coffee (high in caffeine) with a superchill, couch-locking hybrid like Northern Lights. You can play mad scientist and mix the coffee and cannabis that you like best, but just always keep in mind that uppers and downers don’t mix well, so try not to dabble with competing kinds of java and ganja. When you get right down to it, the combinations of marijuana infused coffee are almost endless and they will depend on the person who is sipping on it. Your personal caffeine and cannabis tolerances might be vastly different to others, so until more research is done on the relationship between cannabis and coffee we’ll have to keep experimenting for ourselves.
Next time you have a very important meeting at work, or if you’re looking to improve your creativity and mindfulness in the morning, try some weed infused coffee instead of just your average double-double. Any caffeine drink can benefit from a combination of THC or CBD, especially those half-hot, one-pump, non-fat, soy milk, decaf espresso with sugar free caramel drizzle monstrosities. Even if your morning joe sounds like an essay on modern dietary requirements, what’s one more ingredient on top? Particularly when that final ingredient could mean the difference between unlocking your coffee’s true potential?
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