Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

cannabis

With New Investment from HeavenlyRx, Could Jones Soda Be a Leader in CBD Drinks?

Investors are on a high lately towards CBD. Now it seems that at least one CBD company is feeling pretty sweet towards one sugary beverage brand.

Late last week HeavenlyRx, a hemp-focused portfolio company of cannabis investment firm SOL Global Investments, spent $9 million to acquire 15 million shares of Seattle-based Jones Soda Co. The deal brought its ownership stake in the soda maker to 25 percent, which CNN reports could increase to 51 percent due to stipulations within the agreement.

Jones Soda revealed in a press release that it plans to use the new capital from the HeavenlyRx investment to expand its repertoire and develop new products, “including the potential commercialization of C.B.D.-infused beverages.” (Presumably using HeavenlyRx’s hemp extracts.)

We’ve seen plenty of beverage companies exploring CBD partnerships, from big players like Coca-Cola and Dirty Lemon to smaller upstarts like Sprig and Recess. We’ve also seen mega beverage companies invest in/partner with cannabis suppliers to begin developing a CBD-infused option — as with Cannabis Growth/Constellation Brands and HEXO/Molson Coors.

However, we have yet to see it the opposite way around: a cannabis company making a major investment in a beverage brand. Jones Soda is a logical choice for HeavenlyRx: it’s on the “edgier” side of sweetened carbonated beverages, using only natural cane sugar in their drinks and featuring black-and-white consumer-captured snapshots in their branding. Definitely the kind of soda you could imagine embracing a trendy ingredient like CBD. While public, Jones Soda is also not a mega-corporation like Coke or Pepsi, so they’ll ideally have to deal with less red tape when creating a CBD-infused product.

This is a significant move on the part of HeavenlyRx’s (or really its parent company, SOL Global Investments) to get ahead of the curve on the CBD soda trend. Right now the CBD-infused beverage space is relatively fractured, filled with smaller companies making niche products like adaptogen sparkling water and wellness “tonics”. But an industry leader has yet to emerge.

All that said, let’s not forget that selling CBD food and beverage is technically illegal right now (though that’s not stopping smaller players from adding it to everything from chocolates to coffee). The FDA held the first public hearing on CBD this past May which gave some hope that regulatory structure was on its way. However, not long after the NYC Health Department announced that it would begin seriously cracking down on all companies selling food & drink containing the controversial chemical compound.

CBD might not be approved by the FDA yet, but judging by experts’ projections, it’s only a matter of time. There’s certainly a lot of potential in the CBD edibles market: it’s projected to reach a value of $1.4 billion by 2024. With that much cash up for grabs, it follows that as soon as CBD gets the rubber stamp from the FDA there will be a mad scramble by beverage and cannabis companies to get a product to market and grab first-mover advantage.

Right now the field is wide open. With support from a heavy hitter like HeavenlyRx, Jones Soda has a chance to come out in front.

Ben & Jerry’s Will Introduce a CBD Ice Cream, Surprising No One

Half Baked. Phish Food. Willie Nelson’s Country Peach Cobbler.

Ben & Jerry’s may have made plenty of flavors that sound like they’re infused with cannabis, but so far they’ve steered clear of actually putting pot in their pints.

But all that’s about to change. Today the Unilever-owned company announced plans to release a line of CBD ice cream — as soon as the non-hallucinogenic cannabinoid is approved by the FDA.

They might not have too long to wait. The FDA is holding a public hearing on CBD tomorrow, with a public comment period through early July. While it’s unlikely we’ll see any real regulatory change for a few months at least, the hearing is still a significant step in the direction of approving CBD as a food-safe ingredient.

Once that happens there will be a cascade of CPG companies scrambling to release their own line of CBD-infused products. Coca-Cola, Molson Coors, and others have already announced that they’re experimenting with the trendy ingredient. Other companies have kept quiet, but with the CBD market estimated to reach $16 billion by 2025, they’d be foolish not to at least look into ways to use it.

For Ben & Jerry’s, a move into CBD makes sense. It may be owned by Unilever now, but the company was started by two hippies from Vermont who make no secret of their affection for the Devil’s Lettuce. The brand still gives off that granola-crunching, liberal-leaning attitude. Ben & Jerry’s has also been on the forefront of other product innovation, embracing growing demand for plant-based and low-calorie ice creams, so it’s not surprising that they’re ready to experiment with a new buzzy ingredient.

But nothing’s going to happen until the FDA gives the industry the green light. Until then, we’ll have to settle in and wait — preferably with a pint of Half Baked.

Cream? Sugar? Cannabis? Coffee’s Latest Trendy Add-On is CBD

There’s not a whole lot new that’s happened in coffee. Sure, Starbuck’s may debut a new kooky frappuccino flavor on the regular (s’mores?!). But in terms of actually changing coffee itself, not much new has come along since we all simultaneously discovered we loved cold brew.

Dave Briskie, President and CFO of wellness conglomerate Youngevity International (YGYI), thinks a new(ish) ingredient is promising to shake up the coffee game: CBD. Cannabidiol (CBD) is the non-hallucinogenic compound in cannabis which wellness influencers have been touting as the new miracle health supplement. It’s also been showing up in gummies, dog food, and a myriad of other food products.

Lately that a includes coffee, too. Maybe you’ve seen it as an add-on option in your local hipster coffee joint, or in a can of cold brew at a health store.

HempFX, a cannabidiol-focused subsidiary of YGYI, is about to release a cannabidiol-infused K-Cup. Each pod has 10mg of CBD isolate that’s water-soluble and, at least, according to Briskie, tasteless. Which is important since cannabidiol is naturally quite bitter. “At the end of the day it has to taste like coffee,” he told me. “I think we cracked the code on that.”

That’s a lot easier said than done. In fact, cannabidiol is notoriously tricky to add to beverages. In addition to its bitter taste, it’s also fat-soluble, so finding a way to add it to liquid is a challenge. That goes doubly when the CBD has to go from a sold (coffee grounds) to a liquid (brewed coffee). Even distribution is another hurdle. Companies want the CBD dosage to be as consistent and reliable as possible; ideally, your first sip of coffee has the exact same amount of cannabidiol as your last.

Briskie wouldn’t give away many details about their technology, but said that HempFX had found a way to make sure that all of CBD infused into the ground coffee ended up in the final cup of joe. This sort of transparency is especially important not only so the consumer knows exactly what they’re, well, consuming, but also for future FDA regulations.

As of now, CBD is not approved by the FDA as a food-safe additive, meaning it’s technically illegal to sell in food or beverage products. (Though the government body is having a hearing on the topic next month, so who knows?) HempFX is hoping to steer clear of any issues by avoiding the word CBD on any packaging. Instead, the company will go with the more FDA-friendly “hemp extract” when their coffee pods hit the market late in May. Hemp may still not be an FDA-approved food ingredient, but the term raises a lot fewer flags than straight-up “CBD.”

HempFX plans to initially sell online and then migrate into retailers. Briskie wouldn’t disclose exact pricing but told me it would be on the upper end of the coffee spectrum.

It may seem counter-intuitive to add CBD, a substance rumored to promote relaxation and anti-anxiety, with caffeine, which keeps us (or at least me) alert and running. But according to Briskie and others, CBD can temper the jittery, anxious effects of caffeine to leave you feeling focused and calm.

There isn’t any solid data to back this up, but that doesn’t mean the demand’s not there. Analysts at Canaccord Genuity project that the U.S. CBD beverage market will reach $260 million by 2022. At the same time, Americans are drinking more specialized coffee beverages (gourmet beans, cold brew, etc.) than ever before. It’s not a reach to predict that cannabinoid-infused specialty coffee will be a big trend, especially if CBD gains FDA approval and becomes fair game for Big Food companies like Coca-Cola and Starbuck’s.

HempFX is far from the only company adding CBD to their coffee beans or cold brew bottles. In addition to the ones listed here, there are several producers making CBD coffee pods, like Diamond CBD, Olala, and BrewBudz. Even Willie Nelson, the Red-Haired Stranger himself, has his own line of CBD coffee beans.

I haven’t tried cannabidiol in my coffee yet, but as someone who occasionally suffers from the jittery effects of over-caffeination, I’m definitely curious. Maybe eventually I’ll even be able to get CBD in my Starbuck’s S’mores Frappuccino.

FDA Makes First Step Towards Regulating CBD-Infused Food and Drink

You just got one step closer to being able to legally purchase CBD-infused chocolates, sugar, beer and more.

Today the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) released a statement announcing a new action plan to jumpstart regulations for “the lawful marketing of appropriate cannabis and cannabis-derived products.” Basically, the FDA is taking initial steps towards regulating foods and drinks infused with CBD, the non-hallucinogenic compound in cannabis.

According to the statement, the FDA will create an internal agency to explore pathways to legalization for CBD as a dietary supplement or food ingredient. It will also host a public hearing on the topic on May 31.

This is kind of a big deal. In December of 2018, Congress passed the Farm Bill, which removed hemp-derived CBD from the Controlled Substances Act and made it legal for sale. However, since the FDA hasn’t yet approved CBD as food safe, it’s technically still illegal to sell food or drink products containing the substance.

Companies were selling CBD-infused edibles anyway, with little to no consequences. That is, until New York City, Maine, and Ohio cracked down on purveyors earlier this year. For a while it seemed like the FDA was going to really hard-line CBD regulation.

But with this new agenda, the FDA seems to be taking a step back and genuinely seeking a clear pathway to create a regulatory framework for CBD-infused foods. The forthcoming hearing is an important first step. It will not only legitimize CBD as a food ingredient, not a drug. It will also get the ball rolling and start the process for legally regulating CBD as a food and drink additive.

However, the agency also took pains to point out they will not tolerate the sale of CBD as a health product. The statement noted that the FDA has issued “multiple warning letters” to companies marketing CBD products “with egregious and unfounded claims that are aimed at vulnerable populations.” Those include claims that cannabidiol could cure cancer or reverse Alzheimer’s. This strict stance could make things tricky for product developers, as CBD has become something of a darling for the wellness community, who treats it as the next miracle natural ingredient, like turmeric or charcoal. Clearly edibles companies are going to have to be very cautious about what they claim their products can do.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is stepping down this month, so it makes sense he’s trying to get a regulatory framework for CBD in place before he leaves. Of course, regulatory processes have a lot of red tape and move notoriously slowly, so it’ll probably be a while before CBD actually gets the FDA stamp of approval.

But with this new agenda, the FDA is at least taking the first step towards catching up with public opinion when it comes to CBD. If they do eventually approve CBD as a food-safe ingredient — and I don’t see why they wouldn’t — we’ll likely see Big Food companies like Starbucks and Coca-Cola rolling out CBD-infused products of their own. In fact, they’re probably already working on them.

One final note: It’s sort of ironic that we’ve had several public hearings on cultured meat — a relatively new technology that’s not even to market yet — before we had one on CBD, a substance that’s relatively widely available and has a market that’s projected to hit $22 billion by 2022. Maybe it’s because CBD is still stigmatized as a “drug.” Regardless, once it gets FDA approval the CBD market will explode. And now that “when” is looking sooner than ever.

Jelly Belly Creator Launches (and Sells Out of) CBD-Infused Jelly Beans

Ever since I blindly got a vomit-flavored jelly bean from the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans box, I’ve been pretty wary of the candy.

But that might be about to change. The creator of Jelly Belly, David Klein, has launched a line of jelly beans infused with cannabidiol (CBD), the non-hallucinogenic compound in cannabis (h/t USA Today). The beans come in 38 flavors including many Jelly Belly-inspired favorites, like my personal ride-or-die roasted marshmallow. There are also sour and sugar-free options, and each bean has 10 mg of CBD.

Kelin’s company, Spectrum Confections, sells the jellies in bulk: each order includes a whopping 800 beans, so it’s probably not for the casual candy or CBD lover, unless you’re stocking up for a 4/20-slash-Easter party for the books.

Even if you are, you’re out of luck. All beans are already out of stock, but Spectrum Confections notes on their website that they are still taking orders over phone and email.

Putting CBD into jelly beans is a pretty sweet idea (sorry). Demand for the non-hallucinogenic cannabinoid, which some herald for its healing and relaxation properties, is high.

However, CBD’s rise is somewhat hampered by the fact that the FDA still considers it to be an illegal food ingredient, meaning it’s technically not allowed to be sold in food or drinks. That hasn’t stopped companies from making and selling everything from CBD-infused chocolates to sodas. However, recently New York City health inspectors cracked down on local shops selling food products with cannabidiol, so really it’s just unclear what exactly is allowed and what’s not in the CBD edibles space.

Clearly that lack of clarity isn’t stopping Klein, or his jelly bean-loving customers.

Analyst: Starbucks Could be the First Major Chain to Launch CBD-Infused Drinks (Eventually)

Cannabidiol (CBD) — the non-hallucinogenic ingredient in cannabis meant to promote relaxation — could be headed to your neighborhood Starbucks.

Well, eventually. This week financial services company Cowen released a report predicting the CBD market could be worth $16 billion by 2025. More interestingly, it hinted that Starbuck’s could be one of the first major chains to offer cannabidiol-infused drinks.

In the report, Cowen analyst Andrew Charles noted that Starbuck’s probably wouldn’t adopt CBD in the “near term,” which makes sense since no major chain will put it on their menu until the FDA gives its stamp of approval. However, he went on to write that, should the regulation of CBD change, “we could envision Starbucks ultimately piloting the ingredient.”

That’s pretty theoretical language. Starbuck’s hasn’t made any indication that it’s actually exploring cannabis-infused beverages. In an interview with CNBC, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson stated that Starbucks was aware of the edible/drinkable cannabis trend, though it didn’t have any immediate plans to pilot any drinks with THC or CBD.

It seems like the Cowen report called out Starbuck’s less because of any concrete hint from the company and more to illustrate a future in which CBD is so mainstream, it’s available somewhere as ubiquitous as Starbuck’s.

However, it will likely be a while yet before that’s the case. Though CBD-infused beverages have been popping up at local coffee shops and bodegas for some time, the chemical hasn’t been approved as “food-safe” by the FDA (despite its becoming legal with the passage of the Farm Bill in 2018).

Up until recently most CBD edibles sellers have been operating under the radar with little to no consequences. However, last month New York City health inspectors cracked down and put a citywide embargo on selling food or drink infused with CBD. The ban was recently delayed until this summer.

The FDA likely won’t approve CBD as food-safe by then, and some see the NYC crackdown as a bellwether for more restrictions on the sale of cannabidiol-infused food and drinks. But that doesn’t negate the fact that demand for the non-hallucinogenic ingredient is on the rise, thanks in part to celebrity endorsements and the recent “wellness” movement.

We’ve written before that despite all the buzz surrounding CBD beverages, it’ll likely be a while before it’s ready for the mainstream.

“High” Tech: CBD Can Be Made with Genetically Engineered Microbes (AKA Yeast)

When you think of what yeast can do, your mind probably goes to bread or beer. But in a paper published today in Nature, scientists from UC Berkeley announced that they had successfully created the chemical compounds in marijuana — both THC and CBD — from bioengineered microscopic fungi. AKA yeast. (H/t Quartz.)

To do this, the team of scientists extracted THC and CBD genes from cannabis, then implanted them in yeast (specifically Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the same yeast used to brew beer and wine). When the yeast is put into a liquid solution with the sugar galactose and other nutrients it outputs the chemical compounds in marijuana.

Basically, scientists can now grow cannabidiol (CBD) in a lab.

There are a few benefits to this. According to Quartz, producing THC and CBD via genetically engineered yeast is cheaper than extracting the chemicals from hemp or cannabis plants (over 99 percent cheaper, in fact). That means that companies purchasing these chemical compounds to make, say, CBD-infused soda, can pass those savings onto consumers. While CBD products aren’t astronomically expensive right now — a twelve-pack of that CBD soda will set you back fifty bucks — but if they want to reach a larger audience, a cheaper price tag can’t hurt.

Secondly, using this technology scientists can create new cannabinoids, ones that could be tweaked to have specific effects (e.g., high levels of relaxation). Finally, creating THC and CBD in a lab could reduce the surprisingly high environmental footprint of cannabis crop cultivation, both indoors and outdoors. However, as with cultured meat, there is a counter-argument that keeping the lab running requires a level of energy tantamount to just producing the crop the old fashioned way.

Bioengineered yeast is opening doors for scientists to grow all sorts of food ingredients in labs. Perfect Day is using yeast to produce dairy-free milk. Impossible Foods uses genetically engineered yeast to make heme, the molecule that makes their burgers ‘bloody.’ And earlier this week, new company Motif Ingredients launched (with a cool $90 million in funding) to use yeast to create proteins to replace animal products.

This innovation is coming along at an exciting time for CBD. After the passage of the Farm Bill in late 2018 made hemp-derived CBD legal in the U.S., analysts (ourselves included) began predicting that 2019 would be the year of CBD. It’s unclear if CBD derived from genetically engineered yeast — as opposed to hemp — will be legal, and regulators probably won’t tackle that can of worms for a while.

This news got me thinking. I wonder if we’ll see major cannabis and hemp companies pushing back against CBD made in a lab, much as we’ve seen big meat producers take issue with cell-based meat calling itself “meat.”

More immediately, this sort of research could help shed more light on the properties of CBD and maybe even accelerate the process for the FDA to decide if cannabidiol is a food-safe ingredient.

Prima Raises $3.3M to Educate Consumers, Regulators about The Benefits of CBD

Yesterday prima, a wellness brand championing the use of CBD, announced it had closed a seed round of $3.3 million. The round was led by Lerer Hippeau, with participation from Greycroft and other undisclosed investors.

As of now, the website is just an email signup form to request early access to the site. The Santa Monica, CA-based prima plans to launch an education platform to share data and research about CBD and, eventually, sell CBD-infused products. (If you’re not familiar, CBD is short for “cannabidiol,” the non-hallucinogenic chemical compound in cannabis.)

According to Techcrunch, prima will initially peddle beauty and pain-management products. This entry point makes sense. One of prima’s founders, Christopher Gavigan, previously co-founded The Honest Company, a wellness brand which sells nontoxic beauty and household products. Besides beauty products, down the road, prima will add edible products to its lineup, including powders that can be added to everything from coffee to water. Each blend will have a different intended effect, such as sleep, energy, or immunity.

It’s a tumultuous time in the CBD market. The passage of the Farm Bill in late 2018 legalized sales of hemp-derived CBD, but the FDA has yet to approve CBD as GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe). In other words, it’s not exactly legal to sell food products infused with CBD.

Up until recently, however, regulators seemed to have been turning a blind eye to companies selling things like CBD-infused gummies or skin serums. But the tides may be changing. Just this week, the New York City Health Department issued a ban on CBD in food and beverage items and cracked down on local NYC establishments selling CBD-infused products.

That’s where the platform aspect of prima could really do some good. According to a press release from the company, prima wants to help lead the global transformation from “fear-based cannabis prohibition into a hemp industry fueled by facts, market data, medical research, customer-patient experiences, and evolving legislative solutions.” Essentially, prima want to help de-stigmatize CBD and re-label it as a wellness ingredient, not an intoxicant.

Though they don’t provide any details on how they plan to achieve this mission, there’s one reason that Gavigan can help move the needle on CBD acceptance for one reason: his resume. Gavigan’s past experience at the Honest Company — which built its brand on transparency and ethical, non-toxic products — could give prima a boost not only in terms of media buzz, but also consumer trust. True, his co-founder was Jessica Alba, who did a lot of heavy lifting to give Honest Company its status, but just being associated with the brand will work in Gavigan’s (and prima’s) favor.

On the regulatory side, Gavigan told Fortune that the startup also plans to work with the FDA to push CBD products labeled as a nutritional supplement — though again, he didn’t give any details.

We predicted that 2019 would be a big year for CBD. In fact, over the next three years, the CBD market is expected to grow to as much as $22 billion. However, continued regulatory hurdles and health department crackdowns would put a serious damper on what has the potential to be the next big wellness ingredient. Hopefully prima will be able to use its pedigree to destigmatize CBD for consumers — and maybe even get the FDA to play ball.

Cat Cora Thinks It’s Time to End the Stigma Around CBD, Starting with Crab Cakes

You might know Cat Cora as the first female Iron Chef on Food Network’s Iron Chef America, or the first female inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame. But what you might not know is that this culinary celebrity is also an outspoken advocate for cannabis — specifically CBD — as a health and wellness ingredient.

While at Seattle’s Cannacon this week I got to watch Chef Cora whip up a feast worthy of a white tablecloth, all of which was infused with CBD. “The effect of CBD is not a high,” said Cora. She — along with many people around the world — views CBD as a wellness ingredient, not an intoxicant.

Onstage Cora whipped up crab cakes with mango coulis and avocado salsa, adding a teaspoon of CBD isolate (a powder that contains 99 percent CBD) to the crab mixture. She also mixed together a mocktail of pomegranate juice and muddled mint, poured over ice cubes made with Above Water, which contains 15mg of CBD in each 20-ounce bottle.

After the demo, Cora spoke candidly about what drew her to begin advocating for marijuana legalization and de-stigmatization in the first place. She saw both her parents pass away from cancer and witnessed firsthand how medical marijuana could have alleviated some of their pain. She has been experimenting “publicly” with different ways to cook with CBD for the past year and a half.

Plenty of companies are working to make CBD more accessible as a cooking and baking ingredient. Azuca infuses CBD into granulated sugar and sugar syrup, which you can add to everything from coffee to cookies. Levo is a countertop device that helps you infuse CBD into fats, like butter or olive oil. Stillwater has an odorless CBD powder which can incorporate into everything from tea to cookies, and Tarukino has a water-soluble CBD serum that can be added easily to any drink (even water).

“This is the new Prohibition,” she told the audience, referring to the fact that cannabis is technically illegal in all states, even the ones that legalize it. “I want to take the stigma out of it, I want to debunk the myths around how cannabis can be used.” For example, you don’t have to eat a bitter CBD tincture or a stale gummy to experience the wellness benefits of CBD. Instead, you can use them as functional ingredients to make really elevated dishes — including crab cakes worthy of an Iron Chef.

For the Future of Beer, “New is King” — That Means Cannabis, Automation, and Glitter

Fittingly, we held our Future of Beer food tech meetup last night at Pike Brewing Company’s Beer Museum, which features an epic collection of memorabilia spanning from the invention of beer in 6,000 B.C Sumeria to Prohibition to the craft brewery revolution of today.

But we were concerned with where beer is heading next. To tackle this subject, we brought in Erin James of Sip Northwest, Annie Johnson of Picobrew, Scott Riefler of Tarukino, and Drew Gillespie of Pike Brewing Co. Here are a few takeaways from the experts on what the beer drinking experience of the future might look (and taste) like (yes, robots are involved).

Photo: Catherine Lamb

For beer, new (and fresh, and local) is king
Our panelists all agreed on one thing: in the beer world, consumers are always looking for what’s new. That can be new ingredients — like different varietals of grain, CBD and THC, wine yeast, or even glitter (gag) — or new drinking experiences, like cans instead of bottles or breweries with child play areas.

It can also be a new twist on beer itself, like different styles or infusions, or even new drinks that beer-like (carbonated, with low-ABV), such as hard kombucha and boozy sparkling water. James called the latter trend the “adulting” of traditionally non-alcoholic beverages. She explained that this new wave of beer-ifying non-beer drinks is feeding the demand for two things: “more” and “new.”

Millennials are leading the charge
Millennials love beer. No, but really love it. According to James, in the millennial demographic, beer has surpassed spirits as the most popular alcoholic beverage. However, this audience is not just driven by taste. “They’re also very value-driven,” she explained. And they value both ingredient sources (local is king), opt for local craft breweries and prefer cans to bottles (for environmental reasons).

Turns out, they’re not so keen on brewing at home, at least with Picobrew’s countertop brewing and distilling device. “At first, we thought our customer was a millennial,” explained Johnson. “Actually, it’s more of an engineer.” Millennials prefer to drink their beers straight from the source: local craft breweries.

Beer drinking isn’t just about the beer itself
According to Riefler, when medical marijuana becomes legal in a state, alcohol consumption drops 15 percent. “It gives people a choice about how they intoxicate,” he said. Beer is one such vehicle, but not the only one, and when people have more choice, they might move away from booze. That doesn’t mean that you can’t fuse the two: In October 2018 Tarukino launched Reeb, a cannabis-infused barley soda “reminiscent of a pale ale.” But instead of alcohol, Reeb has THC.

Gillespie isn’t worried that cannabis will take too much business away from the alcohol industry — or at least the craft beer industry. “Craft [beer] is different than general liquor,” he said. He believes craft beer drinkers want a specific drinking experience, one that’s “sensory and social,” not just a new way to get intoxicated.

Photo: Catherine Lamb

Science can enable better beer drinking
Craft beer brewing may be an art, but it still relies on science and technology. “There’s a lot of science going on in the ‘back room,'” said Riefler. That can be relatively basic technology — like brewing tanks and taps — or more futuristic stuff, like Picobrew’s countertop brewer, which some would categorize as a robot.

Johnson, who has a strong craft brew pedigree (she won the American Homebrewer Association’s Homebrewer of the Year award in 2013), still thinks that in order “to get good beer, you need automation.” That’s true whether you’re a craft brewery or just an avid home brewer: automation helps ensure that beer is consistent and tastes good. Which means that, with Picobrew’s tech, you could make a batch of Pike Brewing’s Monkey’s Uncle beer at home using the same ingredients and brew method — and it would (at least theoretically) taste just as good as if you’d gotten it fresh from the source.

—

We can talk about glitter beer and robotic brewers all we like, but as Johnson put it, “at the end of the day, all that matters is the taste.” Consumer tastes and brewing technology can change, but appreciation for quality and consistency will never go out of style.

For the short term, there is one type of beer you should expect to see dominating the taps at your local brewpub: lager. James explained that, after the IPA craze, lager is coming back in popularity with a vengeance. Johnson made another prediction for what’s going to be the next big thing in beer (you heard it here first): wine/beer hybrids. Cheers to that.

Keep an eye out for our next food tech meetup coming soon! 

CitizenGrown Wants To Create a Network of Home Cannabis Farmers

While the arrival of 2019 could mean an influx of micro-entrepreneurs looking to start cottage food businesses with the passage of California’s AB 626 last year, there’s another potential side-hustle awaiting industrious types with room to spare: at-home cannabis farming.

That’s at least if a new startup called CitizenGrown gets its way. The San Francisco-based company plans to create a network of residential cannabis farmers by providing them with grow systems and handling the sale of the flower.

CitizenGrown would supply each home with a 5×5 hydroponic automated grow system at no cost to the home owner. The company would then manage and monitor the tech-enabled grow systems. Once weed is ready for harvest, CitizenGrown will sell it to local dispensaries and split the revenue with the home grower (to the tune of $1,000 to $3,000 per month).

Company CEO Redg Snodgrass told me that CitizenGrown will assist the home grower in obtaining a grow license from their local government. The first units are already operational in Oregon, and the company expects the first home systems in California to be up and running early next month.

According to Snodgrass, the former CEO of Readwrite and Wearable World, the company initially raised a “friends and family round” and just closed a seed round at the end of 2018. The formal launch of CitizenGrown is planned for April.

I’m intrigued by the idea of distributed farming networks as an option in the sharing economy; cannabis could be the one crop that could make the concept work. While small plots likely aren’t big enough to generate enough yield for lower value crops like vegetables, the high value per plant of cannabis could make smaller distributed growing systems economically viable.

That said, it remains to be seen if cannabis farming will join the ranks of the rideshare driver, Airbnb host or cottage food cook as the next big sharing economy gig. Not only do legal hurdles potentially remain to creating huge networks of home weed farmers, but the growing industrialization of cannabis farming will likely continue to drive pricing down over time.

Ultimately, only time will tell if this idea will work. But who knows? If CitizenGrown does succeed, maybe your neighbor who rents that spare room out on Airbnb will pull it off the home-share marketplace and become the friendly neighborhood cannabis farmer.

Will There Be a CBD Unicorn? Takeaways from The Spoon’s CBD Slack Chat

Last Friday we had our first ever Slack Chat, which was kind of like what would happen if Twitter chat and a Reddit AMA had a baby. Led by industry experts, each chat explores a different topic making waves in food tech. For the first installment, we decided to tackle cannabidiol, better known as CBD.

The chat was led by Kris Taylor of Lumen, a hemp elixir company; Caroline Yeh of Kiva Confections, a marijuana edibles company; and Merril Gilbert and Rhiannon Wallstedt Woo of TraceTrust, a marijuana dose-verification startup. We only had 60 minutes (time flies when you’re Slack chatting, am I right?), but still managed to take a deep dive into some of the biggest opportunities and challenges of the CBD edibles market. In case you missed it, here are a few of the takeaways:

Quick refresh — what’s the deal with (hemp-derived) CBD? 
According to our experts, chemically there’s no difference between CBD from the marijuana plant and CBD from the hemp plant. Nonetheless, only CBD derived from hemp is legal under the Farm Bill, which passed a few months ago. And the FDA still considers CBD to be an illegal food ingredient. So while the sale of hemp-derived CBD may be legal, the sale of food or drink containing CBD is not. The FDA will open a comment period around the use of CBD in food soon — our panel guessed some point over the next six months.

Photo: The Spoon Slack.

When will Big Food get involved?
The panelists were pretty unified on this: Big Food will get on board when the FDA concludes that CBD is GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe). Until then, big corporations — like Coca-Cola, which was rumored to be researching CBD — won’t make any significant moves.

While major CPGs may not launch products until the FDA gives the green light, our panelists guessed that many (if not most) of these Big Food companies are already at work developing CBD-infused products. But for now smaller, artisanal producers are dominating the space.

The Spoon founder Mike Wolf wondered if we might see a unicorn in the cannabis/CBD edibles space over the next few years, as has happened in other food tech markets like food delivery and meal kits. (Again, as soon as the FDA declares CBD as food-safe.) “I have a feeling we’ll see some big new entrants that become big mainstream CPGs,” he wrote. That is, as long as they’re not acquired by larger CPG companies first.

But not all startups will be subsumed by Big Food. Woo wrote that “I think it will be more like coffee where the explosion of the industry made room for so many small brands to flourish.”

Who’s the target CBD consumer?
Our panelists concluded that the target consumer is… everyone. Well, pretty much everyone. “[It’s] a broad segment of the population,” said Yeh. “People who are already taking supplements, interested in wellness products, etc.” Gilbert agreed, also citing those interested in health and wellness, especially older consumers — for example, ones who might use CBD to treat problems like arthritis.

But if CBD is going to achieve this widespread appeal, it’s going to need some seriously good marketing. “This is where branding and marketing comes in,” wrote Taylor. “I firmly believe that most people have a use for CBD in their lives. It’s just when and how they choose to incorporate it that is the question.” Friend of The Spoon Surj Patel had an even more optimistic take: “It’s the new quinoa,” he wrote.

Photo: The Spoon Slack.

So, what’s next for CBD?
“We have not scratched the surface on what is possible,” said Yeh. As the technologies evolve and companies develop new methods of extraction, new products and marketplaces will unfold.

While Taylor wrote that there’s no need for more CBD-processing capacity, there are new opportunities in terms of technology. For example, CBD naturally has a bitter taste; companies can use tech to develop better flavor-masking agents.

Going forward, brands will play a bigger and bigger role. As long as they can make themselves stand out from the sea of companies hustling to enter the growing CBD edibles space. That level of competition could make fundraising a challenge, especially if investors are wary to support a company making products that aren’t FDA-approved.

Until the FDA designates CBD as GRAS, there’s still plenty of opportunity for education about this trending ingredient. Brands can begin teaching consumers about the effects, (potential) benefits, and versatility of CBD now, so that when the FDA gives the thumbs up, the market is already in place.

—

Our next Slack Chat is slated for February 15th from 10:30-11:30am PST, and will be all about food robotics! So sign up for our Slack channel (if you haven’t already) and mark your calendar!