One of the major issues with CBD is how it is consumed. For some, the dance in the mirror counting drops takes too much time, some hate the taste of CBD and others just can’t be bothered. For all of these kinds of people, there has been a range of CBD products which are designed to slip into your daily routine without needing to think about it at all…
This is potentially where Kolibri’s CBD offering comes in. We found the brand by complete accident via a Facebook ad for their non-CBD offering and noticed that they were also offering a CBD version of the drink so decided to give them a try!
(This is not a paid promotion; just a simple and honest review)
Who are Kolibri Drinks?
Kolibri drinks can be found in shops and hotels across the country – including Holland & Barrett and in the London Bridge Hotel. The company’s co-founder is partly run by Kamila Sitwell who is an award-winning beverage/catering entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the field. It seems as though she herself lives the idea of the ‘bespoke’ experience, which follows the trend of customers requiring more control over the experience they purchase – this makes perfect sense in the beverage industry.
Her ‘bespoke’ idea lead to the co-founding of Kolibri Drinks which have a little more to them than you may expect. They offer a ‘bespoke’ low-sugar experience which allows the customer to tailor their own beverages sweetness; whether this is a soft or alcoholic drink. This works by offering a flavoursome low sugar drink which can be carefully sweetened by an agave sugar concentrate in a handy measured shot capsule. For us, it seems that a Kolibri drink will be ideal for home mocktail parties or an evening gin sundowner. They have 3 very unique and delightful botanical infusions: Strawberry & Basil, Elderflower & Lime, and Cardamon & Chili.
The whole idea behind the product and design is control… with a little bit of health (low sugar and a potential alternative to an evening alcoholic drink) – which is where their CBD drinks come in (Forest Fruits & Citrus Grove).
Other Reviews
We spend most of our time reading through 3rd party platforms to understand how customers are reacting to certain CBD brands- we mostly use Trustpilot because it is one of the few regulated review platforms. While writing this review the company have 65 reviews on Trustpilot but there are very few about the CBD products specifically. One mentioned that the agave was quite sugary but surely that is the point of the sweetener?
The Kolibri CBD Drink
The Technology behind the Kolibri CBD range is a water-soluble CBD extract which has been infused into the sweetener cap at the top of the bottle. Water-soluble CBD is up to 20 times more bioavailable than an oil alternative. What we love is that the water-soluble CBD is ‘broad-spectrum’ which means that it does not contain THC but it does contain other cannabinoids and phytochemicals. Often CBD that is ‘water-soluble’ (more often a nano-emulsion) is isolated CBD which would be no good. Props to Kolibri Drinks.
Secondly, CBD is a very individual experience; not one person’s body uses CBD the same way. This makes the bespoke caps ideal for those who may want more/ or less CBD in their morning (we’d hope non-alcoholic but we aren’t here to judge) or evening beverage. Each full cap contains 20mgs of CBD which is fairly low in all honesty- you can get the same from a single dose of CBD paste. But we’d suspect that you may just be looking to enjoy a healthy drink, rather than endure 15 minutes of hemp floating about your mouth. To be fair too – it seems as though CBD may not be the focus here: it is to offer a wonderfully refreshing drink which contains a healthy active ingredient.
The CBD contents is produced using a partner who are GMP Certified with ISO certified quality and BRC Food Approval.
We managed to get our hands on the Citrus Grove flavour and thought it was lovely. It could certainly be an alternative for a relaxing slow-sip before bed and way more healthy than a G&T. For a box of 6, it will set you back £34.50 which is £5.70 per bottle.
Even from a little look around the website, it is clear that the company know a fair amount about cannabinoids which is really great to see. You would be surprised how little some retailers actually know. The blog posts are very fleshed out and the company are clearly thinking about the impending novel food registrations which will be processed next year. Water-soluble CBD is one of those products where the jury is out in regards to novel food. Best of luck to them because the drinks look fantastic.
In conclusion
We are pretty serious about CBD, and if you’re serious about CBD then we would maybe suggest that you supplement as well as enjoy a nice CBD beverage. The inclusion of CBD into the brand makes sense and it is done in such a way that is both enjoyable and controllable for the consumer. There aren’t any other products like this on the market that we have found.
