If you love combining a freshly packed bowl of top-shelf herb with a pippin’ hot cup o’ joe in the morning, keep reading.
Whether you’re looking to step up your health and wellness game, or you simply like starting the day with a high-energy strain coupled with caffeine, cannabis flower and coffee beans are as perfect a pair as peanut butter and jelly. But in terms of flavor and aroma, it might be hard to pinpoint exactly what weed strains smoke best with which coffees. Thankfully, we’ve got a few awesome recommendations below.
Why Pair Cannabis and Coffee?
For well over two thousand years, humans have enjoyed the effects of both cannabis and coffee. Today, we’ve got more options than ever before when it comes to customizing our caffeinated and cannabinoid pairings.
Furthermore, coffee and cannabis both confer health benefits. Cannabis contains a slurry of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. But guess what? So does coffee. In fact, the regular plain-black coffee drinker consumes more antioxidants than they get from some fruits, like blueberries.
Consume Cannabis and Coffee for Quality, Not Quantity
Before we dive into pairings, understand that how you consume cannabis and coffee will affect your overall experience.
Butane from lighters, along with smoke from matches or wicks, can adulterate your cannabis’s true aromatic profile. Rolling papers and blunt wraps will also contaminate your puffs. Instead, look into a dope digital vaporizer like The Volcano, which produces pure, tasty weed clouds, minus the combustion byproducts.
Additionally, solar hits, or solar puffing, is the best way to burn good weed for maximum flavor. For a dedicated solar pipe that’s got centerpiece style, check out the Sun Token. Since you’re already up in the morning, you might as well take advantage of the sun, too.
For the vape pen lovers reading this, companies like Cresco and Dime Bag make vape carts that mimic a given weed strain’s terpene profile. Meanwhile, Lil Wayne’s GKUA pods don’t even taste like weed — they taste just like the fruity flavors stamped on their packages.
As for the best method to home brew coffee, consider the old-school pour-over method. Paper filters trap bitter oils, and a rush of right-off-the-boil water unlocks the coffee’s flavor better than a drip machine ever will. To avoid any paper-filter funk running into your cup, pre-wet the filter and discard the drainage before loading it with coffee grounds and pouring.
If a traditional pour-over isn’t your thing, this blog post from a self-described coffee snob swears by the high-tech AeroPress.
Weed Strains That Best Enhance a Morning Coffee
A lot goes into a bud’s bouquet. Genetics play a part and so does grow-room temperature, the curing process, and even how your herb is packaged. The surest way to get a grasp on your bud’s bouquet is by smelling it. Then, store it in an airtight container, and keep it in a cool, dry place.
The recommendations below are in no way final or definitive. Scientists are still trying to figure out how cannabis terpene combos affect our noses and taste buds. Also, novel weed strains hit the shelves every day. So feel free to experiment with that new wave strain that just landed in your local dispensary.
A vanilla or sugary cannabis bouquet pairs best with regular ol’ cup of plain-black joe. Think of a glazed donut dipping into your coffee. Try the weed strains Cookies, GSC, Gelato, Wedding Cake, Ice Cream Cake, and, of course, Vanilla Kush.
The terpenes to sniff for are ones with vanilla qualities: linalool, ocimene, myrcene, and limonene.
If you fancy a chocolate bouquet, try any strain with “Chocolate” or “Choco” in the name. Some examples include Chocolope, Chocolate OG, Choco Haze, and Cuvée. Pair with a light- or medium-roast, such as Ethiopian or Sumatra coffee.
The terpenes to sniff for are ones with chocolate qualities: ocimene, linalool, and myrcene.
If you dig an earthy bouquet, try Northern Lights, Bubba Kush, Green Crack, Earthquake, or any Cambodian landrace. Pair with a darker roast of Sumatran or Ethiopian coffee.
The terpenes to sniff for are ones with earthy qualities: caryophyllene, myrcene, pinene.
If fruity bouquets perk you up, try Mountain High Purps, Orange Cream, Orange Soda, Grandaddy Purple, Grape Ape, Runtz, or Zkittlez. Strains high in ethyl propionate may smell skunky, but they’ll taste citrusy sweet. Combine these with fruit-hinting Robusta or Arabica coffees, or coffees grown in Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, or Kenya.
The terpenes to sniff for are the ones with citrus, mango, and rosemary qualities: myrcene, limonene, pinene, and caryophyllene.
A charred, mesquite bouquet will complement an Irish coffee whenever knocking out a hangover hair-of-the-dog style. For that burnt smokiness, try GG4, Peanut Butter Breath, White Widow, Northern Lights, or Durban Poison.
The terpenes you’re looking for are: humulene, terpinolene, caryophyllene, and myrcene.
Few things are as sweet as this impeccable, earth-grown combo in the morning. This is one of those indulgences you don’t have to feel bad about partaking in, especially in the middle of a pandemic. So, sip and puff as much as your heart desires. You deserve it.
