Since 2016, Bravo has gained much experience to create the best CBD products available. Bravo’s first high-CBD hemp crop was in cultivated in 2016. The Federal Farm Bill had just passed, allowing states to opt-in to legal, state-registered, Cannabis production. Vermont was in! We infused our high-CBD hemp into coconut oil on the kitchen stove-top. The resulting CBD coconut salve was packaged as a much appreciated Christmas gift that year. It worked! Friends with sleep issues, anxiety, and chronic pain were finding relief from our product! We expanded our hemp crop in 2017 and used that harvest to officially launch Bravo Botanicals LLC the following spring.
From the very start, Bravo has used only organic and regenerative agriculture to cultivate its hemp. “We like to say that we go beyond organic,” says owner, Ben James. “Our field was used for grazing dairy cows for over 100 years. The soil is super rich. We leave the soil structure intact to allow the natural system to flourish. Instead of tilling rows, we loosen the soil for each plant. Instead of weeding, we mow the grass in between.”
Some other holistic agricultural strategies that Bravo employs include the use of soil blocks for starting seedlings without plastic containers, cover crops and companion plantings to create soil and field biodiversity, “…and, of course, a yearly application of Guilford Gold, from the organic dairy down the road,” says Ben with a grin.
As a small start-up that was expanding in a new industry, Bravo Botanicals had to learn quickly and mostly independently. Bravo was fortunate to connect with Kria Botanicals of Burlington, VT early in their establishment as a premier CBD extraction company. “Our partners at Kria perform a super-critical CO2 extraction. This method was rare in the industry. We liked the CO2 process because our plant material didn’t have to soak in ethanol for the extraction. The Carbon dioxide is totally benign and leaves no trace afterward. The CO2 is recaptured at the end of the process to be used again.”
As the CO2 extracted CBD became a mainstay in the industry, Bravo was looking for a simpler way to extract CBD. Preferably this would be a method that didn’t require canisters of gas or vats of ethanol. In 2022, Bravo acquired an industrial cold press that uses just force from a high-torque screw. This press was designed to press oil from seeds and nuts but could extract oil from hemp, too. The first product, CBDA Raw Drops, were a hit! Says Ben, “The raw drops worked wonderfully but they were a bit bitter. So we put the cold press oil in capsules and Bravo’s CBD/CBDA CannaCaps were born! Look for Cold Press products coming out this year!”
Six years later, Bravo continues to share their love of CBD, thanks to a solid reputation for excellent products, good shelf space in New England natural food stores, and a dedicated, nationwide network of online customers. Thank you for checking out Bravo’s CBD products. We expect that you will be pleased!
