Frequent visitors to Rodrick Markus’s lair expect to encounter powerful aromas such as truffle, strawberry, or barrel-aged tea. No one expects it to smell like weed. But that was the unmistakable perfume I inhaled one recent afternoon as we sat at the table in his twilit warehouse-tasting-room/laboratory at Rare Tea Cellar in Ravenswood. Between us he’d lined up a half dozen glass bowls, each filled with a different premium tea blend—except for the one containing a pile of fat, green Oregon- and Vegas-grown Honolulu Haze nugs.
Over the last four years or so Markus has developed about 17 different CBD and hemp-infused products—not just teas, but syrups and shrubs—that he’d like to unleash his demanding customers on. “I’ve never had more people reach out in my life,” he says. And yet, though chefs and bartenders all over the country are increasingly experimenting with CBD (and cannabis in general), he’s holding back. He’s avoiding a perceived legal gray area that persists even after the 2018 farm bill essentially legalized CBD products as long as they are derived from hemp (which contains less than 0.3 percent THC), and not marijuana (what all your friends in California, Colorado, and eight other states are enjoying without holding a medical license or breaking the law).
Chefs are often the first to introduce ingredients to the general culinary lexicon. That doesn’t seem to be true when it comes to CBD. “Everyone’s taking really pedestrian ingredients right now and trying to make something inexpensive and make a lot of money on it,” says Markus. “I think if you put the really good stuff behind it people are gonna be really into it. If you start with something great it’s gonna taste great.” He’s particularly excited to infuse some imported French cultured butter he has coming in.
