CBD Coffee Review: Is it worth it?

photo by Ally Griffith

multimedia by Lydia Underwood 

Overnight, CBD has become America’s hottest food and drink additive for promises of benefits ranging from pain reduction to relieving anxiety.

Hopping on the CBD movement, the Roasterie announced on Jan. 7 that it would be selling CBD canned cold brew in partnership with the Kansas City company, CBD American Shaman. The cold brew is made through the slow-steeping process for 19 hours in their KC factory and contains 10 milligrams of natural CBD per 8 ounce can.

In case you’re like me and have just been nodding your head and pretending to know what CBD is for the past months, it’s short for cannabidiol and is a non psychoactive extract from the cannabis plant. It recently became legal in Kansas, as long as there’s no trace of THC (the chemical provides the high in marijuana). CBD has become the unavoidable three letter word due to its the health benefits, which range from reduced acne, anxiety, pain, and cancer related symptoms according to Healthline.

I was confused by this concept: wouldn’t the calming CBD, known for making users sleepy, cancel out the energy boost of the caffeine leaving the user feeling neutral? But after bombing an oral presentation for school that was on par with a Tina Belcher level of awkwardness, I was feeling more than a tad anxious and wanted to put the benefits of CBD in the Roasterie’s new product to the test.

The $5, eight-ounce can’s only ingredients are purified water, coffee, and CBD. I’m not someone who lives by the suburban mom motto of “can’t start my day without my coffee,” so maybe my opinion on coffee doesn’t matter. Despite not being at the expert coffee level status, I thought it tasted like any old cold brew — just a less bitter version of coffee. I drank it all, but overall there was nothing noteworthy about the taste. It has more of a classic coffee taste with no added sugars or sweeteners.

The CBD is supposed to be complementary to the caffeine so the goal of CBD coffee is the energy of coffee without the jitters of coffee. I was hoping the CBD would relieve my anxious shaky hands, but I was (if it’s even possible) more jittery from the caffeine post-CBD infused cold brew.

However, there are only 10 mg in the cold brew and the serving standard for CBD oil is 25 mg. Maybe there just wasn’t enough CBD in the cold brew to provide any benefits, especially when combined with coffee.

This was my first CBD experience, and I’m interested to try oils, chapstick or even gummies that people seem to swear by, but I would rather spend my $5 on a chai latte than this underwhelming brew.