Multitrance Cannabis Ice Tea 250ml, Case of 24

Why this can needs no caffeine statement and its sibling does

Start with the sibling, because the contrast is the point.

Multitrance makes a cannabis energy drink in the same 250ml can. That one carries 80mg of caffeine, which works out at 320 milligrams per litre, and UK food information rules require any drink above 150 milligrams per litre to state high caffeine content, not recommended for children or pregnant or breast-feeding women, in the same field of vision as the drink's name.

Now this one. It is made from green tea extract, so it contains caffeine as a matter of course, because tea does. But the same rules carry an exemption written into them: the requirement does not apply to beverages based on coffee or tea, or on coffee or tea extract, where the name includes the word coffee or tea. That exemption applies whether or not the drink is over the threshold.

This drink is called an ice tea and is made from tea extract. So the exemption fits it exactly, and the statement its sibling must carry is not required here.

We are not suggesting anything improper. The exemption exists for the sensible reason that nobody needs a warning label on a cup of tea, and it applies to a great many perfectly ordinary drinks. But it does have a practical consequence worth knowing: on the energy drink you can read the caffeine content off the can because the law makes the maker put it there, and on this one you cannot, because it does not.

And nobody fills that gap voluntarily. We could not find a caffeine figure for this drink from the manufacturer or from any retailer selling it. So the honest answer to how much caffeine is in it is that it contains some, from green tea, and the amount is not published anywhere we can find.

What is actually in it

Not one retail page we looked at publishes an ingredient list, so here is the one the manufacturer gives.

Drinking water, sugar, glucose syrup, citric acid as an acidity regulator, taurine, natural and nature-identical flavours, green tea extract, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, and a cannabis extract.

Three things in that list are worth pausing on.

The first is taurine. That is an energy drink ingredient rather than a tea ingredient, and finding it in something sold as an ice tea tells you this is formulated closer to its energy drink sibling than the name suggests. The quantity is not clearly published, so we are noting its presence rather than putting a number on it.

The second is that both sugar and glucose syrup appear. That is a normal construction in a soft drink, where the two do slightly different jobs, but it does mean this is a sweetened drink rather than an unsweetened tea. If you were expecting something closer to a bottled green tea, adjust for that.

The third is the cannabis extract, which appears in the ingredient list with no quantity attached at all. That matters more than it sounds, and it is the subject of the next section.

The rest is unremarkable: citric acid for tartness, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate as preservatives, and flavourings. The maker describes the taste as green tea with a hint of cannabis aroma, which is a fair description of what a cannabis-flavoured soft drink is aiming at.

About the claim that it is rich in CBD

One UK retailer lists this product with the words with CBD in its title, and descriptive copy in circulation calls it rich in CBD. Both are worth examining, because neither has a number behind it.

Here is what is actually published. The ingredient list names a cannabis extract. It does not say cannabidiol, and it does not give a quantity. The manufacturer publishes no cannabinoid figure for this drink. Our own catalogue record carries no strength either.

Rich in CBD is a strong claim. It suggests not merely that cannabidiol is present but that there is a meaningful amount of it, and a claim of that kind ought to come with a milligram figure. Without one it is not checkable in either direction.

So our position is the same one we take across this maker's range. We are not going to tell you this drink contains no CBD, because nobody has tested it and published a result. We are going to tell you that no figure is stated by anyone, that an unquantified extract is not the same thing as a stated cannabinoid content, and that if a measurable amount is what you want then the same manufacturer sells drinks that print the number on the front. Its CBD coffee states 10mg a sachet and its CBD pyramid tea bags state 150mg a box, for exactly that reason.

Three tea and coffee drinks in one range

Multitrance's beverage range is crowded, and the tea and coffee corner of it has the same problem as the energy drinks did.

Alongside this ice tea there is a Cannabis Ice Coffee and a HaZe Cannabis Green Tea, both in the same 250ml can. All three are cannabis-branded, all three are built on a tea or coffee base, and all three fall inside the same labelling exemption by virtue of their names.

We stock the ice tea. If you have had one of the others and are trying to find it again, checking the exact name matters, because the maker's own naming is close enough that resellers frequently list one and picture another.

Set against the energy drinks in the same range, the practical difference is what the drink is for. The energy drinks are stimulant formulations with a stated caffeine load and taurine. The ice tea is a sweetened soft drink on a green tea base, which also happens to contain taurine, sold on flavour rather than on effect.

What a case of twenty-four is, and how it keeps

The pack quantity here is confirmed rather than assumed, so the arithmetic is simple: twenty-four 250ml cans, which is six litres.

That is a trade case rather than a consumer multipack, and there is no single-can option on this listing because our supplier does not sell the line that way. It suits a shop, a bar or an event. It does not suit somebody who wants to find out what cannabis-flavoured ice tea tastes like.

Cans keep well and this one contains two preservatives, so shelf life is not the constraint it would be on something fresh. Store them cool and out of direct sunlight. Sweetened tea drinks are better cold and this one is designed to be, so give it time in a fridge rather than drinking it at room temperature, where the sugar reads much heavier.

One last practical note. All four of the canned drinks we carry, this one included, are currently out of stock. We would rather say so at the top of a case-quantity purchase than after you have committed to six litres of it.

Who should not buy this

If you are avoiding caffeine, this is not a safe assumption to make about an ice tea. It is made from green tea extract, so it contains caffeine, and the amount is not published anywhere. If that matters to you, choose something where the figure is stated.

If you want CBD, no cannabinoid figure is published for this drink by anybody, whatever a retailer's product title says. The same maker sells drinks that do state a figure.

If you were expecting an unsweetened bottled green tea, this is not that. Sugar and glucose syrup are both in it and it is a soft drink in construction.

If you want one can, a case of twenty-four is the wrong purchase and there is no smaller option here.

And it is out of stock at the moment, along with the rest of the canned drinks.

18+ only, as with everything we sell.