There has been a global culture shift in the last few years around cannabis. Legalization and widespread medical use, particularly across the US, has brought attention to the plant and products derived from it. So what can we expect to happen in the future? How will the UK react to shifting attitudes overseas? And, with new products appearing all the time, will that have an effect on the beverage market – specifically coffee?
In the UK, CBD oil is the most popular legally accessible part of the cannabis plant for consumption. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the principal psychoactive compound in cannabis – what gets you high – but cannabidiol, or CBD, is one of 104 cannabinoid compounds that do not have that effect. The most popular way of administering CBD is extracting it and combining it with a carrier oil. This appears in many products, from skincare to food and beverages, and is beginning to make waves in the coffee world.
However, CBD occupies a legally indistinct position in the UK. Under the terms of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, CBD can be sold and purchased as long as its THC levels are under 0.2%. But recent Home Office rulings have caused some confusion for hemp farmers. For example, this summer Hempen Cooperative in Oxfordshire lost its license to grow hemp and was made to destroy an entire crop. Previously it had been legal to harvest seed and stalk to make CBD. Hempen’s Ali Silk says, “Users can buy it from the high street or online, and businesses can import it. But, no licensed hemp farmer in the UK is allowed to grow hemp for CBD, and they have to destroy the flowers and leaves – the parts we’d use to extract CBD.”
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Denne historien er fra Issue 41-utgaven av Caffeine.
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The Future Of Decaf?
A US company claims its pouch extracts caffeine without harming flavour
Great Coffee Shouldn't Cost The Earth
Caffeine’s editor-at-large Tim Ridley explains how to lower the environmental impact of your coffee-drinking habit
What The F**k...Is Honey Processing?
Apart from natural and washed coffees sits a whole other category, as Sierra Wen Xin Yeo explains
The grind
SEASONAL COFFEE
Tea with purpose
Michelle and Rob Comins explain how tea can be a force for good
Ten years on
We celebrate the London Coffee Festival’s first decade with a look at its successes
Chocolate and espresso pavlova with fennel roasted grapes
This year I’m giving coffee centre stage on the Christmas dessert table. I firmly believe coffee shouldn’t just be an afterthought to accompany dessert, it should be the dessert – but aside from that, it just makes sense.
Bitter Barista
Latte art competitions have been milking it for too long – they used to be fun, but now their focus on the wrong things is harming barista skills, says our cantankerous columnist
What The F**k ...Is The Maillard Reaction?
It’s just one of the elements you need to know about if you’re going to roast coffee successfully, as Edgaras Juška explains
Work Wonders
Coffee gets people through the working day. So it stands to reason that better coffee produces better work – and in some places the two are in perfect harmony, says Phil Wain
