The edible brand Kiva is paying homage to New York with a brand-new flavor while also further expanding their footprint in the state’s cannabis scene.

For the past 15 years, Kiva has been infusing the cannabis space with their line of edibles. Founded by Scott and Kristi Palmer, the brand offers a variety of chocolate bars, gummies, mints and fruit chews varying cannabis levels.

Since its beginnings in California, Kiva’s award-winning cannabis chocolate bars have been their most popular items, which was one of the first consistently-dosed edibles on the market at the time.

“In the early days of medical cannabis in California, [Scott and Kristi] realized that you could only smoke really. Edibles were, at a time, a big lottery. You would take a brownie packed in cellophane, and you never knew how much was in it,” said Vilay Matuska, Vice President of Marketing at Kiva. “That’s how they decided to make Kiva bars in the kitchen. They figured out a way to consistently dose the same format of a bar, which is the same format that we have today.”

Kiva products have recently joined the New York cannabis market late in 2024, bringing some of their more popular flavors of chocolate bars to New York dispensaries. Having been in business for 15 years now, Kiva has been committed to evolving the cannabis space with great tasting edibles that are also fully sustainable.

“In those 15 years, there has been quite a bit of innovation, which is a tenant of our company, as well as a lot of craftsmanship, attention to detail, precise dosing, which is something that [Scott and Kristi] wanted from the very beginning,” said Matuska.

Ahead of 4/20, Kiva launched a new flavor of cannabis chocolate that is a nod to New York City: the Everything Bagel Seasoning Dark Chocolate Bar. 

“We actually had an everything bagel bar in LA, in partnership with a bagel truck  2 or 3 years ago. We were not in New York at the time, it was not legal in New York, but we were like, ‘This is so New York, one day when we’re in New York, this is the first thing we should launch,’” said Matuska. “We’ve been trying for 18 months to bring it to the New York market. It was a slower ramp-up than we wished, so we’re ecstatic that it’s out and ready before 4/20 this year.”

As the name suggests, the cannabis-infused dark chocolate bar is topped with everything bagel seasoning, creating a savory-sweet combo. Matsuka told amNewYork that the flavor was pretty polarizing in LA but was the perfect love letter to New Yorkers because of the flavor profile.

“I think New York consumers have a refined palette, they like more interesting flavors. Dark chocolate is a little bit more of a thing in New York than in the rest of the country,” said Matuska. “Looking at the preferences of our consumers in New York, we went for dark chocolate and then everything but the bagel seasoning. We understand it’s a bit polarizing, but New Yorkers are a little bit polarizing as well, right? It’s very bold, and this is the type of flavor that we thought could do honor to New York.”

For those who are just starting to get into the edible cannabis space, Matsuka’s main pieces of advice are to shop at a reputable legal dispensary and to go low and slow on your dosage.

“Edibles are great for beginners because you can just take a little bit, you have a precise dose written on it, and then go low and go slow,” said Matuska. “So just take maybe half of what that initial dose is, wait for 2 hours, and then check how you’re feeling. If you’re feeling great, keep at it; if you don’t feel anything, go and take maybe the second half and then wait again 2 hours. This is the base rule for any beginner, go low and go slow on dosage.”

For more information about Kiva, visit kivaconfections.com.