A New Caffeinated Cannabis Drink Offers Another Sign of Rising Popularity
Those looking to try cannabis in something other than the “traditional” way may find what they’ve been looking for with a new caffeinated cannabis drink that offers users a bit of a buzz with zero chance of a hangover.
It’s the latest product in a growing beverages cannabis market. Introduced in a marketing campaign that features Swedish singer Tove Lo, Passion Peach Mate from the beverage company Cann offers 5 mg of THC in every 12-ounce can.
The caffeinated cannabis seltzer is made from yerba mate, a popular plant from Latin America. Cann asks consumers to think of Passion Peach Mate as “the better-for-you, alcohol-free version of a Red Bull vodka.”
It’s the latest product from a company that is becoming widely known in the cannabis beverage industry. They’ve achieved their success by making their products less potent, not more.
Bringing the THC Levels Down
In an interview with Forbes, the two founders of Cann – Jake Bullock and Luke Anderson – said they decided early on to focus on cannabis beverages rather than flower or edibles. Part of their strategy involved making their products less potent.
Bullock said they arrived at this conclusion after looking at how people consume caffeine and alcohol. Both are low-dose intoxicants when consumed in small amounts, which is why people can drink four cups of coffee or have a couple of beers in one sitting.
Bullock said, “That concept wasn’t in the cannabis industry. Bringing the dosing down makes a lot of sense for a social product. You can consume many of them, it’s incremental, you can share. By bringing the dosing down, you get a euphoric, much more controllable, uplifting experience.”
This is all worth consumers taking note because the two Cann founders seem to have articulated where the cannabis beverage business is going. And it’s working. A writer for Insider already tried the caffeinated cannabis drink Passion Peach Mate and reported that she achieved a “giddy buzz.”
“My tasting companion and I agreed that these would be the perfect drink for a night out,” she wrote.
No Hangover, Fewer Calories
Cann also sums up the attraction of cannabis-infused drinks on its website. They call their products “a social tonic microdosed with cannabis that gives you a light and uplifted buzz, but has no hangover, fewer empty calories, all-natural ingredients and no regrets.”
As consumers continue to take more interest in their options, beverage industry experts have taken notice. Politico reports that major beer companies have started to invest in cannabis drinks. That includes heavy hitters such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, Pabst Brewing Company and Constellation Brands.
That’s all good news for consumers. They have increasingly voted with their pocketbooks. Beverage and edibles sales continue to grow and are expected to reach more than $1 billion in annual sales by 2025. That’s more than double the current sales.
The biggest cannabis drink seller in Canada is Canopy Growth. David Culver, vice president of government relations for the company, told Politico that beverages will attract new consumers to cannabis. ““This is a product that they’re going to be very comfortable consuming,” he said. “They don’t want to smoke it. They don’t potentially want to vape it. But consuming it as a beverage is something that they can do.”