Cute and vibey Reverie: Coffee & Craft Beer in Patterson, NY became the first Hudson Valley cafe to offer cold brew coffee infused with organic hemp oil/Cannabidiol when they added it to the menu in late July. Also known as CBD, this compound of the hemp plant is becoming hugely popular nationwide for its medicinal properties, including easing anxiety and relieving chronic pain. (It is currently being studied as a potential treatment for arthritis, diabetes, MS, schizophrenia, PTSD, and epilepsy, to name a few.)
“It’s something co-owner Bruce Petty and I use ourselves,” says Reverie co-owner Megan Denaut. “I have bad anxiety and was trying to find natural ways to help with that. We tried the CBD coffee and loved it, so we thought other people could benefit from it, as well.”
Reverie has proudly partnered with Sträva Craft Coffee, a specialty coffee roaster in Denver, Colorado to offer their Peace & Wellness collection that brings all the benefits of full-spectrum CBD coffee sourced from European and Colorado growers. By offering three options containing different amounts of CBD customers can experiment to find the right blend for them. (The java options are Focus; which has 2.5mg of CBD per 16 ounces, Restore; which has 9mg of CBD per 16 ounces, and Elevate; which has 240mg CBD per 12oz whole bean.). According to Sträva, hemp oil is not only naturally rich in phyto-cannabinoids, including CBD, but also contains amino acids; vitamins B1, B2 and D; omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids; and minerals zinc, calcium and magnesium.
“It really doesn’t taste any different than other coffee,” explains Denaut. “I’m a big coffee drinker to begin with, but I didn’t like the jitters or the anxiety it gave me. Since drinking this every morning, it calms the anxiety but still gives me the coffee boost I need to get through the day without having those pitfalls.”
Hemp plants, by definition, contain CBD and only small traces of THC (the active chemical in weed), meaning the consumption of hemp products will not cause a psychoactive effect or high, nor will it show up on any drug test. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers hemp oil a dietary supplement.
This Putnam County café is not the only participant in this movement of treating Hemp/CBD as a medicine. Others like Miriam Novalle’s High Tea Company in Kingston, NY believe in the benefits of this natural remedy and offer products (in this case teas) infused with CBD.
According to Denaut, CBD has a bad reputation due to its association with its psychoactive sister plant, marijuana. “We’re doing this to let people know that it’s not closely connected to cannabis,” says Denaut. “We want to educate people on the benefits of CBD and eliminate the stigma.”
If you are interested in giving CBD infused cold brew a taste, visit Reverie’s retail location at 21 Front Street in Patterson, NY. In addition to its caffeinated beverages, Reverie also offers an impressive selection of local craft beers on tap and in bottles, as well as a tantalizing food menu complete with locally sourced ingredients and health-conscious options.
If you can’t make it to the café in person, buy Reverie CBD coffee online.
