Wake up and smell the coffee

In times when we all need a little something to take the edge off UK consumers are waking up to smell the coffee.

How do you take your coffee? Milk? Sugar? CBD?

With young professionals looking for something to help take the edge off their workday rituals or ease them into lazy Sunday mornings, since lockdown sales of CBD coffee have shot up.

No longer able to pick up their Starbucks on the office commute, people have had to improve their home brews – and it turns out coffee and cannabis is the perfect combination (who knew?).

“Our sales quadrupled in a month,” says Tristan Adlington, founder of premium CBD brand, Pot Head Coffee.

“It was completely correlated to lockdown, but it was really interesting to see people start experimenting with new ways to brew coffee at home. It was a distraction from the stress and I think it opened their eyes to how much their daily coffee habit was costing them. They could have CBD coffee at home and still save money.”

And the trend has continued now that people have got a taste for it.

Launched two years ago, Pot Head Coffee was one of the first CBD coffee brands, but it has taken a little while for people to understand why you’d mix the two.

“At first people thought it was just an expensive coffee, but consumers are beginning to understand CBD and how coffee is a healthy, easy way to get your daily dose of cannabinoids” continues Tristan.

“We are used to having a coffee every morning, so it is a good ritual to build your CBD consumption into.”

Each cup is made using organic hemp extract and arabica coffee beans and a serving contains approximately 10mg of CBD as well other cannabinoids.

“Our customers find that the CBD takes the edge off the caffeine – creating an alert, yet calm state to start their day ,” says Tristan.

“While it is particularly perfect for a lazy Sunday morning brew, a lot of people use coffee as a mental primer for work and the ritual of making the coffee and sitting down to work is a big part of it too.”

He adds: “The brand resonates well with people in the creative industries, who find cannabis is actually quite useful for their job when they need to think differently or outside the box.”

Tristan was in the tech industry before setting up the brand and always felt like he had to hide his cannabis consumption. When he found out a family member was accessing it illicitly to help with a medical condition he started exploring the research and the parallels between coffee and cannabis.

While Pot Head was born out of a bit of fun at first – Tristan and his friends would pair coffee beans and blends to their favourite strains of cannabis – the brand has grown up and is actively trying to educate the public that responsible cannabis use is possible, and maybe even beneficial. Part of this effort is a podcast where Tristan interviews creators, makers and entrepreneurs about their lives, with a very honest focus on their cannabis use.

“The vision is to help grow the UK’s cannabis scene whether it is legal or not. Through our online coffeeshop and our stockists we are creating our own version of the dispensary experience. Eventually we will open our own coffee shop.

“It would also be great to be serving THC coffee,” he adds.

“When cannabis is legalised recreationally here, we’ll be ready for it.”

Visit www.pothead.coffee/ and www.instagram.com/pothead.coffee/