The Austin Chronic: The Taste of Texas Hemp Cup Wants You to Get Them High
At a boutique hemp farm in deep East Austin, I’m sitting around a conference table with Liz Grow (real name) and Geremy Greens (not real name) hitting a glass bong loaded with some freshly cured Lava Cake (real name), which is a hemp strain high in THCA.
Grow, a cannabis media specialist, is drumming up interest in an annual event she co-founded: the Taste of Texas Hemp Cup, where the Lone Star State’s legal, licensed cultivars compete in categories like Best Hemp Flower, Best Hemp Concentrate, and Most Pungent. Liz is a potent ambassador for such a competition because she’s so passionate about the growing community that she’s bringing together for the Cup’s fourth iteration in October. The same thrill one might get from meeting a cherished musician or athlete, she gets from meeting the breeder of her favorite strain. That fandom manifests at the Hemp Cup, which effectively puts a face to the local cannabis industry.