Cannabis Beverages: How They Are Made And How They Are Tested

Cannabis beverages are having their moment. This once-small category of marijuana infused products (MIPs) is growing larger by the day. That has much to do with market maturity as it does improvements in techniques that make cannabis beverages homogeneous, enjoyable, and delicious. How these beverages are made also influences how they are tested for potency, contamination, and other tests as conducted by a cannabis laboratory.

In this blog, you will learn:

• Why cannabis beverages are becoming so popular

• How cannabis beverages are made

• How cannabis beverages are tested in the laboratory

What is a cannabis beverage?

A cannabis beverage is a drinkable marijuana-infused product (MIP). Sodas, coffees, non-alcoholic wines, and seltzers are just a sampling of the many beverage types you will find infused with phytocannabinoids. Drinkable cannabis products also include dry powders or liquid beverage enhancers that can be mixed into a regular drink to make an infused concoction at home.

How are cannabis beverages made?

Cannabis beverages are made with a process known as emulsification. The use of emulsification is relatively new to the cannabis industry, although it’s been a mainstay in the beverage market for a long time. This process creates water soluble cannabinoids and enables them to be mixed into water-based solutions. 

Cannabinoids are naturally hydrophobic, meaning they do not mix with water. These hydrophobic molecules tend to clump together when they enter a water-based solution, instead of distributing evenly throughout the medium. That means cannabis beverages made with cannabis that has not been emulsified will not be homogenous, or the contents will not be evenly distributed for predictable portions.

To solve this problem, cannabis beverage producers use emulsifying agents, just like when mixing water- and oil-based ingredients in baking and cooking. These emulsifying agents encapsulate the cannabinoids in a hydrophilic, or water-friendly, coating. This causes them to form structures known as micelles when mixed into water-based solutions; in a micelle, the hydrophobic cannabinoids cluster on the inside to avoid the water-based solution and the hydrophilic aspects of the emulsifying agents cluster on the outside, bonding with the water. 

Then, using a variety of methods such as pressure or soundwaves, cannabis beverage producers break these micelles down into smaller sizes, evenly distributing them throughout the beverage and effectively making the cannabinoids soluble in water-based solutions. These techniques have enabled the expansion of MIPs into a wide array of different drinkable products. 

Further, there is some evidence that emulsifications make cannabinoids more bioavailable, increasing the absorption rate to deliver a serving size of phytocannabinoids more quickly into the body.

Homogeneity and cannabis beverages

Beverages can range widely in portion size and potency per serving. Some products are single serve while others are designed to sip and save some for later; a total serving may be an entire drink or just a portion of a drink. True Labs for Cannabis recommends examining cannabis lab test results to fully understand the phytocannabinoid profile, serving size, and serving amount of any cannabis product before consuming.

Importantly, those serving sizes are only reliable if a cannabis product is homogenous. Thankfully, with the application of emulsification, cannabis beverages can contain an even distribution of phytocannabinoids throughout the product. This results in a more pleasant experience for customers, who can more accurately predict the type of experience they are going to have once the beverage is consumed. True Labs for Cannabis offers homogeneity testing for all MIPs, including cannabis beverages.

How are cannabis beverages tested in the lab?

Just like any other cannabis product, cannabis drinkables need to undergo phytocannabiod profiling. However, because these drinkables are liquids (with the exception of dry powders) and because of the emulsification process, cannabis testing labs must first extract the cannabinoids from the beverage. Most states require phytocannabinoid profiling and potency testing, including New Jersey, where the emerging adult use cannabis market is poised to introduce legions of customers to the state’s cannabis industry and the personal use market is predicted to drive $850 million to $950 million in annual sales by 2024. 

Analysts use special equipment to detect the levels of phytocannabinoids and compare them to the overall volume of the water-based solution to determine potency. This process involves the use of cutting-edge techniques, including high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS), which can detect water soluble cannabinoids throughout a product.

Drinkable cannabis products also undergo testing for the full range of contaminants that could be introduced at any part of the supply chain. These include microbials, like molds and mildews, the mycotoxins that microbes leave behind; heavy metals that may have been absorbed by the cannabis plant during cultivation; residual solvents leftover from the extraction process; and pesticides encountered at any stage of production and distribution. All of these tests for contaminants are required under New Jersey law. 

Since cannabis beverages have so long struggled with consistency and homogeneity, True Labs for Cannabis also recommends homogeneity tests for all drinkable cannabis products. This test can demonstrate that cannabinoids are evenly distributed throughout the beverage, guaranteeing a consistent experience for consumers and enabling producers to offer reliable dosage information as well. 

As cannabis beverages become more popular, testing becomes more important

Cannabis beverages are a quickly rising sector of the industry now that emulsification has solved many issues faced by early iterations of cannabis infused beverages. And as consumers in New Jersey and across the U.S. now have access to a growing array of cannabis drinkables, it is important they also have access to reliable, precise cannabis testing results that guarantee consumer safety and help to inform their buying decisions.