Mixing CBD and coffee is becoming a popular trend in the CBD world these days. You can even buy coffee grounds that come pre-mixed with CBD.

More than just a marketing trend, there are several advantages to doing this – the relaxing effects of the CBD help reduce the unwanted side-effects (jitteriness and anxiety) of caffeine consumption.

On top of this, CBD is even reported to enhance the alertness induced by coffee and prolong the effects of both compounds – it’s a match made in heaven.

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about mixing CBD with your morning coffee. We’ll go over doses, a few tips and tricks for getting the most out of the combination, and go over all the benefits of this glorious combination.

CBD & Caffeine: The Ultimate Combination

Caffeine, the active ingredient in coffee, is by far the most popular stimulant on earth. It’s estimated that over 2.2 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day. Tea, another source of caffeine, is even more popular, with as many as 3 billion people drinking tea daily.

No other stimulant comes close to the popularity of caffeine.

Our obsession with productivity might be to blame for our high caffeine consumption. Caffeine helps us wake up early in the morning for work, focus more intently at work, and even helps us work longer hours by delaying fatigue.

But caffeine is far from perfect.

Most people who drink coffee are familiar with side-effects. It can make us feel jittery, anxious – sometimes, we can even feel our heart skipping beats or pounding out of our chest. All of these effects actually hurt our ability to be productive – counteracting the very reason for using it.

This is where CBD comes in. It’s a perfect solution for eliminating these negative side-effects, allowing the caffeine to do the job we wanted it to in the first place.

What the Research Says

There’s a ton of research available for coffee (and caffeine) as well as CBD – but not much information about how the two work in combination.

For the past several decades, the hemp plant (and its primary ingredient, CBD), were lumped together with marijuana. This was a problem for researchers because, despite the fact that hemp is completely non-psychoactive, its relationship to marijuana (a psychoactive form of the plant) made it very difficult to study due to legal restrictions.

But things are different now.

CBD is legal throughout most of the world, and research is thriving. In fact, research is coming out of all corners of the earth on different facets of CBD. As more people are starting to mix CBD with their coffee for added benefits, it won’t be long before more research comes out examining the interaction between these two substances.

There is some research showing that the active constituent of coffee, caffeine, shares similar mechanisms to the cannabinoids [1]. This is a good starting point for researchers to begin understanding why caffeine pairs so well with CBD.

Here’s what we know about how CBD and caffeine work together.

1. Enhance Mental Alertness

CBD can further enhance the feeling of mental alertness produced by caffeine by interacting with some of the same neurotransmitters responsible for carrying out the effects.

Mental alertness is controlled by a few key neurotransmitters in the brain. One of the most important is adenosine.

As more adenosine builds up, our neurons become progressively slower at sending messages. This makes us feel slow and tired. It’s designed to help us wind down to fall asleep at night.

Caffeine blocks the effects of adenosine by attaching to the receptors itself – thereby preventing adenosine from doing its job [2] – keeping us awake when we would otherwise feel tired.

CBD offers many of its own benefits through its interaction with adenosine, but the interaction is much more complex than it is with caffeine — it’s considered a modulator of adenosine. This means that CBD appears to work by improving the efficiency of the adenosine receptors directly [2, 3, 5].

Other stimulating effects of CBD may come through its interaction with serotonin – often considered the “happy” neurotransmitter [6]. Increased serotonin activity leads to a greater sense of well-being and motivation.

More research is needed to truly understand how CBD can enhance caffeine-induced alertness. We’ll keep you posted as more research on this connection comes out.

2. Avoid Anxious Side-Effects

One of the best-known uses of CBD is for treating anxiety.

CBD is a very good anxiety-reducer because it offers several separate mechanisms to achieve this – rather than relying on one thing.

In total, CBD offers the following improvements for anxiety:

• Increases GABA Activity – causing widespread relaxation in the nervous system.

• Regulates Hypothalamic Function – the region in the brain that controls our stress-response.

• Relaxes The Muscles – easing anxiety-related tension.

• Stops Inflammation In The Brain – neuroinflammation (inflammation in the brain) is an underlying cause for anxiety.

All of these different effects combine to produce the potent anti-anxiety effects attributed to CBD.

Studies have shown that CBD is effective at reducing states of anxiety in various experimental models [7, 8, 9]. User reports online say CBD is able to alleviate the anxiety caused by caffeine as well — something we can attest to.

3. Experience Longer-Acting Benefits of Both CBD & Caffeine

Almost everything that enters the body needs to be processed by the liver in order to be eliminated from the body.

In order to do this, the liver uses a series of specialized enzymes (CYP enzymes) to disassemble drugs, cell byproducts, and other compounds in our bloodstream.

Caffeine and cannabidiol are similar enough in structure to require the same enzymes by the liver – CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4.

There’s a limit to the metabolizing power of the liver. If there’s a sudden increase in compounds such as caffeine and CBD, the liver gets backed up. The liver can only process these compounds as fast as it can.

Just like rush hour traffic being slowed down by the sheer volume of cars – traffic to the liver for metabolism is also slowed down.

This essentially means that CBD and caffeine taken together may lengthen the duration of effects for each other.

Guide to Mixing CBD With Coffee

1. Making CBD-Infused Bulletproof Coffee

Bulletproof coffee is a combination of coffee and a source of fat – usually grass-fed butter and MCT oil from coconuts.

The brew is popular by those on the ketogenic diet for inducing ketosis – a metabolic state where the body uses fats stored in the body.

You can think of sugar like jet fuel – it burns very hot, but doesn’t last long.

The oils in bulletproof coffee behave like coal – they burn relatively hot but last a very long time.

Bulletproof coffee provides a slow-burning source of energy, as well as a slow-drip of caffeine while the fats are gradually absorbed, resulting in all-day energy.

This is also a perfect vector for CBD – it’s a perfect way to combine these two substances. Generally, if you try to add CBD oil to a coffee, the oils will just float on the top of the coffee. CBD is fat-soluble, so it will dissolve perfectly in the butter and MCT oil in bulletproof coffee.

Learn how to make bulletproof coffee.

2. Stacking CBD with Caffeine Pills

The dosage range for caffeine is between 100 and 400 mg. One standard cup of black coffee contains around 100 mg caffeine.

Some people don’t like the flavor of coffee but want the same benefits. The simplest way is to take caffeine tablets and a source of CBD instead.

CBD in comparison is about 20 – 150 mg per day.

You can use any form of CBD for this:

• CBD Capsules

• CBD Oils

• CBD Gummies

For best results, take CBD and caffeine at the same time. Whenever taking new supplements for the first time, remember to start with a lower dose than you need, and build up slowly over a few days.

You will need to dial in your dose of each depending on how you react.

In general, high doses of CBD relative to caffeine are better for preventing anxiety while lower doses are better for enhancing the stimulating effects of the caffeine.

3. Vaping With Your Morning Coffee

Vaping is another popular and effective way to take CBD along with your morning coffee.

It’s the modern version of the timeless cigarette and coffee combo – only much better for us.

Vaping CBD may not be for everyone, but it remains a great way to get CBD into the body. It can be paired easily with a morning coffee, and only takes a few seconds. Vaping also makes it easier to get the dose right and is the fastest way to get effects. This makes it better for addressing anxiety on the spot.

4. Use CBD-Infused Coffee

A lot of people are starting to see the benefits of mixing CBD with morning coffee, so there are new companies popping up all over the place that are pre-infusing CBD into their coffee grounds.

This is the most convenient way of mixing CBD and coffee – it’s already done for you! All you have to do is brew your coffee as you normally would and you’ll get CBD along with it.

The only problem with this method is that it’s really hard to tell exactly what dose you’re taking with each cup unless the manufacturer specifically lists this estimate on the bag. Even when they do, it’s only an estimate.

CBD-infused coffees are perfect for people using CBD casually and aren’t using it to treat a specific medical condition.

Some companies just sell really great coffee, the CBD is just an added benefit. The CBD definitely adds a nice touch to the coffee itself.

Key Takeaways: Mixing CBD With Coffee

There are plenty of reasons you might want to start mixing CBD with your morning coffee, or any consecutive coffees for that matter.

The caffeine in coffee (and other sources of caffeine) turns out to be synergistic with CBD. When taken together, they both produce a heightened level of productivity through increased alertness and concentration. They also slow the breakdown of each other, allowing them to circulate through the body for longer periods of time.

And finally, CBD directly counteracts many of the most frustrating side-effects of caffeine – such as anxiety episodes, jitteriness, shaking, and muscle cramping.

We recommend mixing your CBD in with a bulletproof coffee for all-day effects. CBD-infused coffees and CBD capsules are also excellent ways of mixing the two together.

Do you take CBD with your morning coffee?

References

1. Cornelis, M. C., Erlund, I., Michelotti, G. A., Herder, C., Westerhuis, J. A., & Tuomilehto, J. (2018). Metabolomic response to coffee consumption: application to a three‐stage clinical trial. Journal of internal medicine, 283(6), 544-557.

2. Costenla, A. R., Cunha, R. A., & De Mendonça, A. (2010). Caffeine, adenosine receptors, and synaptic plasticity. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 20(s1), S25-S34.

3. Liou, G. I., Auchampach, J. A., Hillard, C. J., Zhu, G., Yousufzai, B., Mian, S., … & Khalifa, Y. (2008). Mediation of cannabidiol anti-inflammation in the retina by equilibrative nucleoside transporter and A2A adenosine receptor. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 49(12), 5526-5531.

4. Gonca, E., & Darıcı, F. (2015). The effect of cannabidiol on ischemia/reperfusion-induced ventricular arrhythmias: the role of adenosine A1 receptors. Journal of cardiovascular pharmacology and therapeutics, 20(1), 76-83.

5. Castillo, A., Tolón, M. R., Fernández-Ruiz, J., Romero, J., & Martinez-Orgado, J. (2010). The neuroprotective effect of cannabidiol in an in vitro model of newborn hypoxic–ischemic brain damage in mice is mediated by CB2 and adenosine receptors. Neurobiology of disease, 37(2), 434-440.

6. Nelson, K., Walsh, D., Deeter, P., & Sheehan, F. (1994). A phase II study of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol for appetite stimulation in cancer-associated anorexia. Journal of palliative care.

7. Zuardi, A. W., Cosme, R. A., Graeff, F. G., & Guimarães, F. S. (1993). Effects of ipsapirone and cannabidiol on human experimental anxiety. Journal of psychopharmacology, 7(1_suppl), 82-88.

8. Crippa, J. A. S., Derenusson, G. N., Ferrari, T. B., Wichert-Ana, L., Duran, F. L., Martin-Santos, R., … & Filho, A. S. (2011). Neural basis of anxiolytic effects of cannabidiol (CBD) in generalized social anxiety disorder: a preliminary report. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 25(1), 121-130.

9. Zuardi, A. W., Shirakawa, I., Finkelfarb, E., & Karniol, I. G. (1982). Action of cannabidiol on the anxiety and other effects produced by Δ 9-THC in normal subjects. Psychopharmacology, 76(3), 245-250.

By: DailyCBD.com