Cannabidiol-infused coffee making Bend impact

You may have heard of cannabidiol, or CBD. It’s an extract mainly taken from hemp, and it comes in many forms. Now, Bend residents can have it in your coffee.

Leasa Wallace runs a coffee stand on the south side of Bend called Goldie’s Espresso. She recently got a big boost in sales, thanks to a mixture of opposite ingredients: nitro coffee and CBD, which provides pain relief and has calming effects.

It was Central Oregonian Sean McDonell’s idea to mix nitro coffee with CBD. He says he’s the first in the region to successfully do it. He says nitro, which has more caffeine than regular coffee, cancels out the tiring effects of CBD, and that the CBD reduces the jitters you’d normally get from the extra caffeine.

So far, it’s been a huge hit. Wallace estimates about 30 percent of her daily customers are new.

She gets her CBD-nitro mix from McDonell. Fifty cents of every pound of his Coffee 4 Kids product she sells goes to an orphanage in San Salvador that McDonell’s dad started about 30 years ago.

“We’ve got 26 kids in the orphanage right now,” McDonell said Wednesday. “It’s the third generation of kids. I’m trying to keep the orphanage sustained, and I do it through coffee roasting.”

Another 50 cents per pound goes to local nonprofit Saving Grace, which helps victims of domestic abuse, among other problems at home.

“I’m big on stopping parent alienation, which is huge,” Wallace said.

She makes these donations despite actually being homeless herself. Since 2009, she’s relied on Saving Grace to help her through tough times.

CBD is actually classified as a Schedule 1 drug by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, on the same level as heroin and methamphetamine. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which oversees marijuana production and sales, does not regulate CBD.

CBD made from hemp is allowed to be sold anywhere. It can also be made from cannabis plants, which have THC, but that product cannot sold away from dispensaries, in non-licensed stores.

Wallace hopes this new product, which she’s only been selling for the past month, can help her, the orphanage and Saving Grace as well.