Power Leaves Plans an 83-Fold Jump in Decocainized Coca Extract

A Colombian producer of decocainized coca extract has signed a manufacturing deal intended to take its output from a pilot-scale trickle to something a global beverage company could actually buy. Power Leaves Holdings (CSE: NASA) has partnered with Colombian contract manufacturer Tropical Crop SAS to handle blending, packaging and regulatory sign-off for its coca-derived flavor products.

The arrangement was reported by the deep dive, which states that Power Leaves retains control of leaf sourcing, extraction and decocainization at its Cohetando campus and ships concentrated extract onward to Tropical. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The word doing the heavy lifting here is decocainized. These are coca leaf extracts with the alkaloid removed — the same basic category of ingredient that has been moving through the American soft drink supply chain for over a century. The leaf is not the drug, and the commercial question on the table is a food ingredient question, not a narcotics one.

What Power Leaves is handing to Tropical Crop

The split is straightforward. Power Leaves keeps the part that is hard to replicate — procurement of the leaf and the extraction and decocainization steps — and outsources the part that is expensive to build from scratch.

• Tropical Crop SAS operates three facilities.
• It holds FDA food-manufacturing registration, INVIMA compliance and HACCP certification.
• It takes on automated blending, packaging and regulatory sign-off.
• Power Leaves avoids building its own packaging lines and quality systems.

That certification stack is the real asset. Large food and beverage buyers run quality audits before they will take delivery of anything, and a facility that already clears those hurdles removes years of groundwork.

From 24,000 liters to 2 million

The company’s stated capacity targets are aggressive. Power Leaves is aiming for 360,000 liters annualized by the end of 2026, rising to 2 million liters by the end of 2027, against 24,000 liters today — roughly an 83-fold increase across the full runway.

These are company targets rather than delivered volumes, and the deep dive reports them as such. Nothing in the announcement establishes that the demand exists to absorb them.

Two products, one leaf, one price point

Power Leaves sells two extracts drawn from the same raw material. Coca X is a flavor extract aimed at soft drinks, energy drinks and ready-to-drink coffee and tea. Coca E is an aromatic concentrate intended for spirits and hard seltzers.

Both carry a target price of $100 per liter, based on supply agreements signed so far. The company says several large counterparties have completed diligence, among them a US flavor house that evaluated the product over two years, and it expects initial commercial orders from major pipeline customers within weeks. A comparable co-packing model is being pursued in the United States.

CEO Pat McCutcheon is quoted by the deep dive describing the deal as “the partnership that turns our pipeline into purchase orders.” Power Leaves last traded at $0.08 on the CSE.

Why this matters

Our read is that the significant part of this announcement is not the capacity number. It is that a Colombian company is building a legal, audited, food-grade supply chain for coca leaf extract and treating it as an ordinary ingredient business — with HACCP paperwork, contract packers and flavor-house diligence, rather than special pleading.

For decades the argument for the leaf has been made almost entirely in the language of culture and harm reduction. Those arguments are good ones. But an ingredient that passes a multinational beverage company’s quality audit makes a different kind of case, one that is much harder for prohibitionists to wave away. We made a related point in our coverage of coca leaf extract as a supplement ingredient.

Honesty requires two caveats. First, this is a pipeline, not revenue: no purchase orders have been announced, and a stock trading at eight cents is not a company with margin for slippage. Second, the source does not spell out what US regulatory clearance a finished coca-derived flavor would require, or whether any US buyer has committed. Until orders land, this is a credible plan rather than a proven market — but a credible plan for lawful coca is still further than this industry has usually gotten.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Power Leaves Holdings announce?

Power Leaves Holdings (CSE: NASA) announced a partnership with Colombian contract manufacturer Tropical Crop SAS to scale production of its decocainized coca extracts. Power Leaves keeps leaf procurement, extraction and decocainization at its Cohetando campus, while Tropical handles automated blending, packaging and regulatory sign-off. Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.

How much coca extract does Power Leaves plan to produce?

Power Leaves is targeting annualized capacity of 360,000 liters by the end of 2026 and 2 million liters by the end of 2027, up from 24,000 liters currently. That amounts to roughly an 83-fold increase. These are stated company targets rather than volumes already delivered.

What are Coca X and Coca E?

Coca X and Coca E are the two products Power Leaves makes from the same coca leaf. Coca X is a flavor extract aimed at soft drinks, energy drinks and ready-to-drink coffee and tea, while Coca E is an aromatic concentrate intended for spirits and hard seltzers. Both carry a target price of $100 per liter based on supply agreements signed to date.

Does decocainized coca extract contain cocaine?

Decocainization is the process of removing the cocaine alkaloid from the coca leaf, and Power Leaves describes its Coca X and Coca E products as decocainized extracts. The coca leaf and cocaine are not the same thing: the leaf is the raw plant material, and the drug is a concentrated alkaloid isolated from it. Specific residual alkaloid figures for the Power Leaves products have not been stated.

Why does the Tropical Crop partnership matter for Power Leaves?

Tropical Crop SAS runs three facilities and already holds FDA food-manufacturing registration, INVIMA compliance and HACCP certification. Those credentials shorten the quality-audit process that large food and beverage buyers require, and they let Power Leaves avoid building its own packaging lines and quality systems. The partnership is aimed at converting a pipeline of prospective customers into actual purchase orders.

Has Power Leaves received commercial orders yet?

Power Leaves has said several large counterparties have completed diligence, including a US flavor house that evaluated the product over two years, and that it expects initial commercial orders from major pipeline customers in the coming weeks. No purchase orders have been announced as confirmed. The company is also pursuing a similar co-packing model in the United States.

Is Power Leaves coca extract available to buy in the US?

Power Leaves has stated it is pursuing a co-packing arrangement in the United States similar to its Colombian deal with Tropical Crop SAS, but no US availability has been confirmed. What US regulatory clearances a finished coca-derived flavor ingredient would require has not been spelled out in the announcement. The company's stated buyers are food and beverage manufacturers rather than consumers.