Instead of a chill pill, why not try some chill powder? New York City transplant Konstanze Zeller, originally from Austria and now inhabiting a 300-year-old refurbished stone house in Marbletown that she calls “Seven Miles to Kingston” after the sign outside, has added CBD powder to her burgeoning business. CBD stands for cannabidiol, one of the many psychoactive ingredients found in marijuana.
Unlike THC, the major active ingredient in weed, CBD is legal for use. It has found its way into a variety of products, including medicine for epileptics and nervous pets.
Zeller’s “CBD Sublime Adaptogenic Powder” was being sold at a CBD-promoting event at Anderst on North Front Street in the Kingston Stockade. Mixed with sparkling water, Zeller billed the mixture as “CBD champagne” (apparently, you can also mix the powder into real champagne).
From the moment I finished my small glass, I felt markedly — shockingly — calm. An irksome pain in my neck was forgotten. According to the packaging, one or two teaspoons of the stuff should be mixed into each five-ounce serving of liquid you imbibe.
Along with CBD, other “adaptogens” are mixed into the powder — including astralagus, a flowering plant also called “locoweed” and “goat’s thorn,” which is beneficial for the immune system, according to Zeller. There’s also maqui berry, a sweet purple antioxidant; rhodolia, a golden root herb with a calming effect; eleuthero, a staple of eastern medicine; and MCTs — man-made fats produced by processing coconut oil.
Zeller’s company, Cocorau, was founded in 2015 by the fashion-world entrepreneur after a 35-year career as a hairstylist and makeup artist preparing top models to look and feel their best in front of the camera. Zeller said she took her experience and knowledge and designed what she calls the ‘Raw Couture Collection,’ a handmade variety of raw nutrient-based snacks and herbal powders.
She attributes her flair with raw ingredients to a lifetime of traveling the world and witnessing the power of natural, healthy foods first-hand, Cocorau’s products are, in Zeller’s words, intended to “bring sophisticated flavor and gift-worthy design to the raw-nutrition category.”
Free of soy, sugar, dairy, and genetically modified ingredients, the company’s line of “Power Bites” serve as quick, ready-to-eat snacks for health-conscious consumers looking to elevate their health and energy while meeting their nutritional needs. Based on a foundation of 100 percent raw organic cacao, each of the six types of bites is tailored to provide a different benefit according to its herbal components. For example, their “So Hum” bite is infused with essence of lavender, touted for its calming, anti-inflammatory properties. The “Dopatonin” bite comes packed with metabolism-boosting chile peppers and a generous chock of mood-elevating, pain-relieving L-DOPA, an amino acid produced regularly by the human body.
Of particular note is Cocorau’s “CBD Bite.” Cannabidol, an extract of the hemp plant, has been making a big splash in headlines and storefronts over the past year. It’s believed to be a widely beneficial and legal alternative to the hemp plant’s more infamous kissing cousin, THC. Unlike THC, products containing cannabidol lack the effects of a psychoactive, euphoric “high” but can provide relief from inflammation, pain, anxiety and stres.
For Zeller, cannabidol isn’t just good business, but a product poised to make serious headway in the health world. “CBD has such a market now. It’s taking over and they’re predicting it’s going to be bigger than THC ever was. I think it’s an important product for health, and feeling well. … With CBD you don’t get ‘stoned’ but you’re really relaxed. It’s healing for any kind of inflammation.”
Zeller’s father has arthritis. “I help him with it,” she said. “People are already believing. I am meeting with Hudson Hemp, the first CBD producer in New York City. I would be interested in stopping working with [my current producer in Oregon] — I love working with local farmers to see exactly how they make it.”
A cannabis analytics firm projects that, the sale of cannabidol products is likely to skyrocket, quadrupling from $535 million in 2018 so far to forecasts of over $1.9 billion in sales by 2022.
Zeller’s wares are available at a number of other locations in the Hudson Valley, including Sunflower Natural Foods in Woodstock, Omega in Rhinebeck, Barnday’s in High Falls, and at O & Co. in Saugerties. Zeller has also hosted dinner events at her location in Marbletown. She plans many more tastings and CBD sampling activities at Seven Miles to Kingston in the future.
For now, it is Zeller’s hope that the availability, quality, and ease of use of her products might tempt you to dip your foot into a new world of natural wellness that you may have otherwise overlooked. A glass of CBD “champagne” a day may be enough to keep the doctor at arm’s length for another day. For more information, Konstanze Zeller can be easily contacted via Cocorou’s website.
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