Dive Brief:
- Mirth Provisions produces a marijuana-infused cold brew coffee named "Legal." Legal coffee has garnered nearly $440,000 in sales since its September 2014 launch.
- Because coffee and marijuana molecules separate during the brewing process, Mirth found a way to use plant-based emulsifiers so the oil would stay evenly suspended in water.
- Mirth had to identify a strain of cannabis that balanced out THC, which makes people feel high, with CBD, which does not cause hallucinations but instead can make people alert. "Legal's mixture of THC and CBD confers a calm sense of focus on caffeine’s jittery high," Bloomberg reported.
Dive Insight:
Legal coffee capitalizes on a few different major and fast-growing industries. U.S. coffee sales totaled $9.4 billion for the year ending Nov. 1, and marijuana sales are estimated to be around $3 billion annually.
Also, within the coffee category, cold brew coffee reached $7.9 million in sales in the U.S. at a growth rate of 115% this past year, according to Mintel. From 2010 to a 2015 estimate, growth for cold brew has increased by about 339%.
Legal's lineup ranges from plain coffee and coffee with sugar and milk to fruit drinks, each made with an individualized herb recipe.
Legal isn't the only cannabis coffee of its kind. In Washington, Fairwinds Manufacturing applies cannabis oil to whole coffee beans before the mixture is ground and stabilized to create a home-brew alternative in capsules that fit Keurig-like machines. Its sales are increasing 15% month over month. In California, Jill Amen's House of Jane "uses special filters in prepackaged sachets that allow the weed molecules to pass freely into the brewed liquid," according to Bloomberg.
"It doesn’t hurt that canna-coffees are high-margin, novelty gimmicks for dispensaries to use in luring curious newcomers," Bloomberg reported.