It’s not a wine bar and it’s not a cocktail lounge. But what’s happening in the back of this Oakland space still goes straight to your head.

It’s a tasting guided not by a sommelier, but by a certified ganjier, the cannabis world’s version of one.

“How do you go through and help them understand what the right product is for their needs? That’s ultimately what we’re here to do,” said Jocelyn Sheltraw, one of just 350 certified ganjiers in the world and co-founder of Budist — a kind of Yelp for cannabis.

According to Sheltraw, today’s consumers aren’t just looking to get high. They want to understand how it’ll hit and why.

It’s not just the ganjiers who are refining the experience. A decade ago, Jamie Evans, a trained sommelier, traded grapes for grass. Now she’s a “cannabis mixologist.”

Her drink du jour is a strawberry hibiscus infused with about two milligrams of cannabis per drink, about a fifth of a dose. 

“I really feel that gives people that really nice kind of high, especially when you’re in a social setting,” she said. “There’s a golden rule that says, ‘Start low, go slow.'”

It may be a budding industry, but it’s growing fast. The global legal cannabis market is projected to reach $57 billion by 2028. 

Max Simon is the CEO of Ganjier, the world’s first and only official certification program for cannabis guides. The training to become a certified Ganjier can take up to a year and cost nearly $3,000.

“It’s very rigorous,” Simon said. “It covers about 40 hours of online training, a two-day in-person assessment, and then a three-part exam that you have to pass with pretty meticulous criteria to become certified.”

For Sheltraw, it’s about more than just taste and aroma. It’s about changing the conversation without getting too much into the weeds.

“This is very new,” she said. “And it’s going to take a village.”

• Cannabis
• Oakland