CBD-infused drinks are of the fastest-growing products in the cannabis sector, with coffee shops from Brooklyn to Portland rushing to get more and more infused lattes, mochas, and chai blends onto the chalkboards perched outside their doors. CBD coffee is also making huge inroads into the brew-at-home marketplace, with myriad companies offering the stuff in pods, as ground coffee, and even as whole beans.
Most people start to experience the effects of coffee in about 10 minutes, and within 45 minutes of consuming your cuppa, your body will have processed 99% of the caffeine. And with an average 150 milligrams of caffeine such as one gets with a good, strong cup of black coffee, you will continue to have caffeine influencing your system for about five hours.
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CBD, on the other hand, takes from 30 minutes to an hour to present itself when ingested (vaping gets the substance into your system much faster, as does oil under the tongue), and will have an influence on most people for about six hours. So CBD and coffee are a great match in terms of timing.
Best CBD Coffee Brands
Green Roads
Green Roads CBD coffee isn’t cheap. It costs $39.99 for an 8-ounce bag. But it is high-quality stuff that is certified as organic and sustainably sourced. The notes of caramel, vanilla, and chocolate informing this Colombian coffee will have your taste buds buzzing long before the caffeine and cannabidiol kick in. Each properly brewed cup (two tablespoons grounds, six ounces of water) packs 31.2 milligrams of CBD.
Buddha Beans Coffee Co.
Buddha Beans offers coffee from three different growing regions: Colombia, Mexico, and Ethiopia. The last of these is a great choice if you like a bit more bite and acidity in the taste of your job, and all three varieties are a great choice for the person who wants whole bean or ground coffee infused with non-GMO CBD extracted from American grown hemp.
Flower Power Coffee Co.
If you want coffee that is bursting with flavor yet pretty mild on the CBD dosing, then Flower Power is a great choice. They offer options like Raspberry Mocha Cream CBD Hemp Coffee that delivers “a rich blast of chocolatey raspberry flavor” yet each serving only has a moderate five milligrams of cannabidiol.
Diamond CBD
Diamond CBD’s Chill CBD Coffee comes in pods that make the brewing process as easy as the push of a button. And with decent 25-milligram dosing of CBD per pod, that easy cuppa will have you chilled out indeed — but also awake and alert. The pods work in any coffeemaker that takes K-cups.
Mary Joe
You know how, like CBD products, cold-brewed coffee is all the rage right now? Well, then it should be no surprise to find the two married together. Mary Joe CBD Infused Cold Brew Coffee comes in 7-ounce bottles that have a midrange 15 milligrams of CBD per serving. The coffee is smooth and mild and goes down easy. Check out our list of the best cold brew coffee makers if you want to prepare it yourself.
Sträva Craft Coffee
Roasted in Colorado by an award-winning roaster, Sträva offers up four different varieties of whole bean coffee with varying levels of CBD. You choose from Focus (30 mg), Restore (120mg), Elevate (240mg), or Escape Decaf (60mg).
Benefits of CBD Coffee
But is CBD coffee healthy, safe, and beneficial?
The short answer is yes to all three, albeit with moderation. Too much CBD can cause headaches, drowsiness, changes in appetite, and some digestive … issues. Then again, that third cup of coffee come with problems as well, so moderation there is a good idea, too. (From my experience and research, the perfect plan for the daily coffee drinker who already enjoys two cups is to make the second one a CBD blend.)
CBD can reduce anxiety and stress, effectively taking the edge off of caffeine without canceling out its benefits.
While coffee can increase energy and alertness, it also causes jitters and anxiety, especially if consumed in abundance and/or if a person already has anxiety issues. CBD can reduce anxiety and stress, helping regulate a person’s mood, effectively taking the edge off of caffeine without canceling out its benefits. The important thing, again, is moderating those doses. While you could just put drops of CBD oil right in your mug, it’s hard to be as precise with that approach both because of human error in measuring and because some of the efficacy of the oil might be reduced by the heat of the beverage.
Article originally published February 28, 2019. Last updated to check availability.
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