Nevada residents now have an extra choice to make as they brew their morning joe: cream, sugar, or…marijuana? According to Claire Shaffer of Newsweek, The Silver State has become the first locale to sell Brewbudz’s cannabis-infused, Keurig-ready “coffee pods,” which have been in development for over a year.
The coffee pods come in regular as well as decaf. For those averse to coffee, Brewbudz offers hot cocoa and three different varieties of tea (black, camomile, and decaf). Consumers need not worry about putting downers in their morning pick-me-ups or uppers in their nightly relaxation beverages—Brewbudz is no “hippie speedball.” The morning options will contain sativa strains, which keep users energized, while the night-time choices will incorporate calming indica strains.
Brewbudz’s are by no means first THC-infused coffee products to hit the market. There is a litany of similar products available, from Ganja Grindz to House of Jane.
Brewbudz differentiates itself from the herd in that its products contain cannabis flowers rather than extracted THC oil. As a result, Kevin Love, strategic accounts director at Cannabiniers, Brewbudz’s parent company, told Westword, the high is “functional and medicating.” 10-, 25-, and 50-milligram THC dosages will be available.
A carefully-studied delivery system will make Brewbudz products more efficient than other edibles, according to Love.
“We changed the barrier properties in cannabis, so as the compound is running through your system, it’s not breaking down until it reaches your liver,” he says. ”Most drugs have bioavailability, or how much your body actually receives versus how much you eat. Most edibles are at 5 percent because of how your body absorbs them, but Brewbudz is closer to 40 or 50 percent.”
Because the high does not compromise a user’s ability to function, Brewbudz are the perfect product for marijuana enthusiasts to integrate into their daily routines, the company says.
“Our vision was to create a revolutionary product that would deliver a medical solution to patients in a beverage that was consumed and enjoyed as part of our daily life.,” Brewbudz says on its website.
Of course, with the wide variety of edibles available, consumers can conveniently consume marijuana on a daily, even hourly basis. But, Love explains, unlike candy or cake, coffee and tea are already woven into the fabric of many people’s routines. He hopes the ubiquity of morning beverages will translate into sales.
“Weed chocolate bars account for almost 3 percent of the total purchase market in Colorado,” he says. “And an average American eats two candy bars every eight days. That’s 24 billion servings a year. Annualizing all the coffee Americans drink came out to over 200 billion servings.”
According to James Hamblin of the Atlantic, just under one third of American households use a pod-based coffee machine. Brewbudz, of course, hopes that a sizable portion of those machines become cannabis delivery mechanisms.
Unlike K-Cups, which “generate a ton of plastic waste” because they are neither biodegradable nor recyclable, Brewbudz pods are 100% compostable.
“The Brewbudz product is a responsible solution to [the] major ecological problem created [by] single serve coffee pods [like] the K-cup,” the company’s website says.
There is a financial premium to be paid for getting high and saving the planet, though. Each Brewbudz pod will cost $7; Keurig, by comparison, sells its K-Cups for $0.69 a piece.
Once it establishes a solid market presence, the company plans to produce THC-infused products compatible with traditional coffee makers. Brewbudz is taking steps to expand into Colorado and California. It is working toward a manufacturing agreement with the Bronner Corporation, which operates a 25,000 square foot edible factory in Denver.
“It’s an opportunity to bring together two different rituals in life,” BrewBudz Vice President Jeffry Paul said of his product in November, per Westword’s Kate McKee Simmons.
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