In the world of American coffee culture, 1971 changed everything. That was the year Starbucks was born. For much of the country, Starbucks was the first coffee shop in their town.

In New Orleans, our first coffee shop opened in The French Market - in the late 1700’s. For a city not known for being on the cutting edge of business, we were 200 years ahead of the coffee game.

Today, we’re the country’s second biggest coffee importer, after New York City. In part that’s because we’re the home of coffee giant, Folger’s. But New Orleans has always been – and still is - a hub of green coffee markets.

Green coffee is raw, unroasted coffee beans. It’s the world’s second-largest traded commodity, second only to oil. One of the major players in the green coffee market is International Coffee Corporation. Besides importing and shipping beans, they do something called Q-Grading. Q-Grading is a specialized skill performed by people trained in the art of coffee tasting. People like Drew Cambre.

As Sustainability Manager at International Coffee Corporation, on an average day Drew will sample and grade 20- 40 different coffees. 

We drink a lot of coffee in the United States, but we drink around three times as much beer. The reason we drink all this beer is partly because it tastes good, but it’s also for the feel-good effect alcohol has on our brain.

Well, now, there’s another drink that’s competing with beer for both taste and mood-altering, and it’s not alcohol. It’s cannabis. THC to be exact. THC - tetrahydrocannabinol - is the chemical in cannabis that gets you high.

One of the country’s fastest growing manufacturers of THC sodas is a New Orleans company called Crescent Canna. Crecent Canna was already manufacturing and selling THC-based products when it launched its drinks division in 2022 - and saw its fortunes radically improve.

Today, Crescent Canna has a lab and brewery in North Carolina, a head office in New Orleans, sales in over 1,000 locations in 20 states, online sales in all 50 states, and the company’s CEO, Joe Gerrity, says the company is negotiating with major distributors with the goal of becoming the Budweiser of THC drinks.

Few of us have advanced degrees in medical science, but we all know that for survival, human beings have to stay hydrated. We could conceivably just drink water, but we long ago abandoned mere survival as the benchmark of human success. And that’s why we have flavored drinks.

Hundreds of years ago New Orleans was one of the earliest American cities to import and sell coffee. Today we’re becoming one of the earliest American cities to manufacture and export THC infused sodas.

Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.