Coffee and cannabis: two of the plants most used by mankind, now harmonized for the first time in the world
Mônica Pupo is a journalist, an anti-prohibition activist and she has two great passions: special coffees and marijuana. She’s from São Paulo but is currently living in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, she has been collecting material since 2012, translating into Portuguese and promoting topics related to the therapeutic use of cannabis to treat several diseases.
Mônica created a website – the www.marijuana.com.br – to promote the anti-prohibition movement both in Brazil and the world, she also helped the Mainstream Media to approach such controversial subject. The site is part of the plataforma brasileira de política de drogas (Brazilian drug policy platform), a group that brings together more than 40 entities and NGOs related to the issue.
A very important moment in the journalist’s life was when she met Gilberto Castro, a patient with multiple sclerosis, who has been under treatment with cannabis for more than 18 years.
From this meeting with Gilberto, who, according to his own story, was extremely remarkable, it was then that he decided to take on the mission of talking about cannabis responsibly, focusing on the therapeutic use of the plant.
Great advances towards the prohibition repeal of marijuana have been achieved since then, and by the end of that year, Anvisa will set out the rules for medicinal cannabis cultivation in Brazil. To know more about the Brazilian legislation on the subject access the site http://maryjuana.com.br/2017/12/cultivo-de-maconha-para-fins-medicinais-avanca-no-senado/
Special coffees and cannabis
Mônica, who already fell in love for specialty coffees, decided to gather her knowledge about cannabis and create in 2015, a startup, Marijuana Coffee, the world’s first line of specialty coffees designed to harmonize with cannabis. Attention, readers: the brand’s specialty coffees do not contain marijuana, okay?
“As a recreational user, I can stay a long time without smoking, but without drinking coffee, it’s impossible. Once, I made a promise to stay three months without having coffee because of an illness that my mother acquired and I almost went crazy. I woke up depressed almost every morning. Needless to say, I broke my promise, she confides.
The special coffee came to my life also in 2015, when I worked for Veja Santa Catarina and, because of the profession, I used to have meetings in all the coolest coffee shops in the area. “I already knew I had better coffees, but I was not a consumer. It was from this point that I really cared for the quality of our specialty coffees”, she recalls.
She began to consume organic specialty coffees and, coincidentally, his father had a friend who owns a specialty coffee farm in the south of Minas Gerais, which presented his family with several micro-lots of coffee. “One day, I was in my apartment and it was pleasantly smelling of coffee, and at that time I was doing a study on terpenes, which are the natural aroma and flavor molecules produced by various plants, including cannabis and coffee. I started to search deeper and then there I was, thinking about playing and harmonize the flavors, cannabis and coffee” she explains.
Mônica met her first partner, a specialty coffees producer from the south region of Minas Gerais and started to do some tests. “In fact, I did a study on terpene profiles of some families of cannabis that I was already studying. There we discovered some standards, according to American websites and tastings we achieved at some different profiles.
The first was the Indica and the second the Sativa, both cannabis varieties, which pull for a more citrusy, lighter taste and have more THC. And then I filtered this information and associated it with the specialty coffees. The light roast gives a slightly more citric coffee. “The idea is to harmonize by similarity”, she clarifies.
Prejudices and adversities
After several adversities, from a Federal Police search in her apartment on account of an anonymous report, to the refusal of a print shop to make the packaging of the brand’s special coffees, she and her two partners, her husband and marketing professional of, Rodrigo Aranha and the coffee grower, Cristiano Franco, decided to rename the company with the name MARY 4:20 CAFÉS QUE HARMONIZAM. Currently, society is formed only by the couple.
“Our goal is to provide special, inspired and roasted coffees tailored to harmonize with different strains of cannabis, in order to emulate senses and experiences”, says Mônica.
“The habit of tasting coffee and cannabis is nothing new, just watch the Dutch coffeeshops success”, she says. And she goes on: “in addition to both substances being associated with relaxation and pleasant moments, there are several nuances of aroma and flavor. Harmonizing the aromas of these two plants, either by similarity or complementarity, only follows a worldwide trend”, she argues.
In addition to the new brand and visual identity, it is also launching new specialty coffee labels, inspired and intended to harmonize with two of the most famous cannabis genetics: Haze and Kush.
The origin of the MARY 4:20 coffees
Brand’s current micro-lot is made up of 100% arabica coffees, scoring above 83 on the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) scale, it comes from the Fazendas Cruzeiro in the Cerrado Mineiro region and the sítio da Serra in the south of Minas Gerais, planted at an altitude above 1,000 meters above sea level. These specialty coffees are the Catuaí Amarelo variety and the roast process is in charge of the company Sanches Cafés, from Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais.
Currently, the company is marketing four varieties of specialty coffees that harmonize with four of the most famous cannabis strains: Indica, Sativa, Haze and Kush.
Sativa harmonizes with the light roast coffee, which has predominance of lemon, mandarin and fresh herbs notes, simulating the aromatic profile of cannabis strains of predominantly carrying the Sativa’s genes. With a medium roast, the special Indica coffee is more full-bodied and has a fruity flavor from the best beans. Haze harmonizes with the light roast, it enhances sweetness and freshness, emphasizing the tropical fruits notes. And, finally, the Kush is indicated for lovers of aromatic intensity, with floral and sweet notes. To learn more about harmonization, visit the mary420.cafe website.
Cannabis in Brazil
In addition to the journalist’s own website, one of the main sources of information on marijuana in Brazil is found at www.growroom.net.
In Brazil, the carrying and planting cannabis are prohibited by law, and the penalty is being under arrest.
With her activism, Mônica defends the decriminalization of marijuana in the country. “What brings violence is treating the user like a criminal. Best example is the legal sale of alcohol. If cannabis was regulated it would have no war. We do not see bar owners fighting with his competitors or coffee owners killing around. Everyone is working and paying their taxes, selling to those who can afford, all these commercial procedures happen without violence”, she says.
