How It’s Made
How Cannabis Beverages Are Made
Find out how a scientific discovery helped put cannabis in a beverage and created a whole new delicious batch of products to explore.
Last updated December 22, 2025 | Published on November 19, 2020
You can thank science for the variety of cannabis-infused beverages on the legal market. Cannabis beverages have come a long way in a short time, as Licensed Producers (LPs) are experimenting with more ways to infuse cannabis into liquids. Let’s look at the process to see how cannabis extract becomes a delicious drink.
Step 1: Emulsify
Cannabis distillate is an oil — and as you may know from chemistry class, oil and water don’t mix. On top of that, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD) and other cannabinoids are hydrophobic compounds, meaning they repel water. This science is the reason Licensed Producers can’t simply add cannabis oil to sparkling water or juice and call it a beverage.
To avoid a layer of cannabis oil sitting on top of your drink, LPs typically use emulsifiers. Emulsion, in this context, is the process of breaking down cannabis particles into tinier droplets that can be more uniformly dispersed in another liquid. In the food and drink industry, emulsion is usually accomplished by adding an emulsifier, such as lecithin, acacia gum or carrageenan — so don’t be surprised if you see any of these in the list of ingredients on the product label.
Nanoemulsion yields even tinier droplets than conventional emulsion. This technique also makes cannabinoids more bioavailable, so when you ingest them, the onset of effects will likely be faster than with most other edibles.
Step 2: Mix in the flavour
Next comes the tasty part: The cannabis emulsion and flavours are stirred together. Licensed Producers are constantly researching consumer preferences and experimenting to create delicious new tastes.
The process of making cannabis extract can strip out most of the plant’s flavourful terpenes, creating a sort of “clean slate” that allows for the introduction of any flavour. However, some distillates and cannabinoids can taste bitter, leaving LPs with two options: Cover up the flavour or work with what they’ve got.
An extremely concentrated form of cannabis oil, distillate is produced from the cannabis plant using a process of boiling and condensation.
Some LPs try to keep the natural or botanical theme rolling, while others take a page from the craft seltzer world by trying to mimic classic cola, lemonade and root beer, ice pop flavours and other familiar tastes.
Step 3: Test
Testing is an important step to ensure the product not only tastes great but also contains the amounts of THC and CBD the label says it does.
All legal cannabis products undergo rigorous testing for harmful and unapproved substances — such as certain pesticides, Salmonella, E. coli, Staphylococcus, yeast, arsenic, lead, mercury, fungus and mould — by federally licensed third-party laboratories.
With beverages, as with any other cannabis product, it’s better to start low and go slow.
Step 4: Bottle and ship
After a drink is blended, it’s sometimes carbonated to add bubbles. Then the completed beverage is poured into aluminum cans, or glass or plastic bottles.
All cannabis products must adhere to federal labelling and packaging requirements, which for edibles and beverages include the standardized cannabis symbol, THC and CBD content, health warning message, lot number, packaged-on date, barcode, nutrition facts table and list of ingredients. It’s a lot to cram on a label, but it’s important information.
The excise stamp must also be present to show the product is certified legal and the manufacturer has paid the duty on it.
In Canada, you may possess up to 17.1 litres of cannabis beverages, which is about 48 cans of 355 ml.
Now that the problem of infusing cannabis in water has been solved, what’s next for the future of cannabis beverages? As the Canadian cannabis market continues to evolve, expect to see more of your favourite flavours.
