Our Story

In 2010, Roberto Haraldson had been struggling with his father’s anxiety due to early onset Alzheimer’s.  He saw firsthand the challenges the illness caused and the impact to the entire family.  His father refused to see a physician, and was even more opposed to the strong medications he was prescribed.  Roberto began searching for a more natural solution, when he came across testimonials of patients suffering similar symptoms. They were advocating for a natural compound extracted from the hemp plant called CBD.

 

He developed an idea of creating a beverage infused with CBD, that could be found on the shelves of any general market, like a soda.  His vision was an alternative choice of drink, available to anyone, with relaxing qualities and no intoxicant.  That the drink could be purchased by someone like his father at his local market without the stigma of going to a dispensary or pharmacy.

 

In 2016 he created the brand “Tree Below Zero” as a nod to his father’s Scandinavian heritage.

Since no other product like this existed at the time, the company had no guidelines to follow.  At the time hemp was still classified as a schedule 1 drug in the US, but the company was able to legally source the ingredient from hemp grown as part of the 2014 US Farm Bill Pilot Program.

 

It became necessary to pioneer the emulsification process for the hemp oil extract, so that the extracted oil compound would completely mix with the water in a drink. Overcoming the bitter qualities of the ingredient became another challenge, and as the first to market, there was no guide to the quantity of CBD that should be in a serving.  In 2017, despite these and other barriers, Tree Below Zero became the first product of its kind, at the end of the hemp prohibition.

 

The drink was publicly launched to great response at the Natural Products Expo in early 2018, becoming the very first CBD beverage to be at the show. Shortly afterwards Tree Below Zero scored another first, by being the first brand of its kind to be on shelves, chain-wide at a U.S grocery store. In 2019 the brand became the first CBD drink to be featured on Amazon Prime.

 

Throughout the pandemic and the years to follow, challenges remain and arise.  The company continues to make its unique mark on the beverage marketplace, offering all customers an alternative choice to benefit their healthy lifestyle.