Rebekah Hall, entrepreneur and founder of Botanic Lab is a fresh-faced poster girl for the wellness industry. Her drinks company make weed drinks. But not as you know it. Her drinks are infused with CBD, the non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant. She believes her company is the future of drinks. Functional by nature but with bags of personality and a hint of intrigue.
Drinks with intrigue and health credentials
This year, Botanic Lab won three industry awards for innovation in drinks. So, what are the secrets behind this ever-growing business?
Interest in the ‘green space’ is exploding, with hundreds of products flooding the market. This brand is a little bit different.
Hall, 38, has her sights on successfully navigating the cannabis market to become the first person in the UK to make a million from CBD. She hopes her CBD tea will become an alternative to a glass of wine after work. Her products are already stocked in Harrods, Waitrose and Ocado, and she next has her sights set on Marks and Spencer.
Rebekah hopes just as women might have a shot of CBD in their morning coffee they can just as easily sip her drinks at a bar in the evening. A social lubricant as it were.
Botanic Lab is the first new brand in Europe to create a CBD Botanical Tea Drink, with Sour Cherry and Hibiscus.
Why should I drink CBD?
CBD is renowned for its ability to reduce anxiety along with a myriad of other benefits making it the perfect drinking partner, without any of the negative impacts of alcohol.
In short, they’ve taken the healthy part of cannabis and put it in a drink.
The mum brigade are taking to it with gusto and ditching the vino sessions for some ancient botanicals!
CBD helps some people to relax and some people believe it has anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory, and anti-pain properties. Plus you are guaranteed a clear head in the morning. Dutch Courage without the general malaise of a hangover. They’ve aptly called their tea with CBD ‘Dutch Courage’, who knew?! And not forgetting that it is, of course, legal in the UK and throughout the EU.
What does CBD taste of?
Hemp has an earthy flavour, but Botanic Lab’s Dutch Courage and Melodrama is spiked with Cannabidiol. CBD is an extract of the Cannabis Sativa plant – in this case, Hemp. Mixed with Hibiscus, Green Tea and Sour Cherry, it’s Dutch courage with a difference.
Laid-back drinking that is functional – mood-enhancing, anti-inflammatory and relaxing.
The functional drinks market
Botanic Lab came into being in January 2014, with the aim of making “drinks that do something”, using ingredients like ginseng for immune system support and turmeric to fight inflammation. The turning point to launch a CBD drinks product came last summer with the plight of Billy Caldwell, the 12-year-old boy with a severe form of epilepsy that could be treated with medical cannabis. His fight caused public perceptions of the drug to change drastically, leading then Home Secretary to issue a licence allowing doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis oil in the UK. She knew the public would be receptive.
Although she originally imagined Botanic Lab’s customers would be health-conscious young professionals, they are also receiving growing interest from people in middle-age and approaching retirement, using it to help with a variety of ailments. The demographic has widened.
The Queen of Cannabis
“I totally want to be the queen of cannabis,” she says. “Someone’s got to be it.”
Hall says she will expand her cannabis business if regulation allows and would release a drink containing THC, “Whatever your views about legalisation, we’re fully committed to cannabis as a plant, to its efficacy and its history, and THC is all part of that.”
This is one lady making a mark in an exciting space.
