Wake and bake typically implies getting really high first thing in the morning, but a partnership between two startups suggests a pairing of cannabis with another plant: coffee.

Seth Rogen — actor, producer, ceramics enthusiast — founded Houseplant in 2019 with Michael Mohr and screenwriter Evan Goldberg. The lifestyle brand offers cannabis and home goods, including ashtrays, vases, sake cups, and candles.

Houseplant’s latest venture is a collaboration with flash-frozen coffee startup Cometeer on two roasts: an Ethiopian medium roast called “Been There Done That,” and a Mexican dark roast called “Get Roasted.”

Not a bad move…

… for Cometeer, which hit several snags, including slowed subscription growth, in recent years. The partnership could open up a new market for the startup.

Rogen told The Hustle that the Houseplant team had enjoyed Cometeer as customers, and that when thinking of new ventures, their thoughts turned to coffee.

“Every morning, [my wife and I] make coffee and sit and smoke a joint together,” Rogen said. “It really allows you to be very stoned, yet very alert, which is a fantastic combination.”

A casual glance…

… at Houseplant’s products reveals a curated aesthetic that’s less ‘90s-era bong rips, more functional art.

Rogen said that earlier in his career, he was tasked with selling projects he didn’t believe in.

“I feel like I was misrepresenting my own taste and my own creative aspirations, which is not fun. And so in my movies, I started to just basically never do anything that I didn’t love,” he said. “It’s exactly the same thing with Houseplant — as long as we’re making stuff we love, selling [it] is actually fun and easy.”

This kind of higher-end branding — often targeting cannabis connoisseurs who wouldn’t identify with pop-culture stoner stereotypes — has become more common as legalization has pushed the plant from a taboo to something people can openly consume, even with their morning coffee.

Donut holes? Great. Life Savers Holes? Also great, by all accounts.

So what went wrong? Teenagers, that’s what.

Life Savers…

… were invented in 1912 by chocolatier Clarence Crane, who needed something less melty to boost slumping summer sales.

He began using a pill manufacturing machine to make mints. Because it punched a hole in the middle that made the discs look like life preservers, he called them “Life Savers.”

Today, Life Savers is owned by Mars, which acquired it along with Wrigley in 2008.

OK, so what about the holes?

Holes came out in 1990 when RJR Nabisco owned the brand. The concept felt a no-brainer — selling a byproduct of the candy already being made.

Pixar made the candy’s adorable commercials, and the candy was popular. One nostalgic fan even recalls their unique and pleasant mouthfeel.

Unfortunately…

… there were four instances involving toddlers and teenagers who’d bitten off the tube’s plastic flip-top cap (about the size of a dime) and swallowed or gagged on it. None were injured, but RJR Nabisco recalled Holes in January 1991 to revamp its packaging.

By August 1991, Holes were back with a tangerine flavor.

One article praised Holes as a great choice for “calorie-conscious” consumers, with reporter Carolyn Wyman writing: “I think kids who are so stupid as to mistake a piece of plastic packaging for candy should go back to eating baby food — and not cause a reduction of choices in the candy aisle for the rest of us.”

Wow, Carolyn. Harsh.

But what sucks even more for Carolyn is that after all that work, Holes never regained its original popularity, disappearing from shelves forever and leaving a hole in our hearts.