Launching the refreshing herbal green tea cooler in multiple flavours Harish Mohan, founder at Sipwise Beverages, claims to allow a natural, healthier choice to consumers in the upcoming tourist season in Goa
BHARATI PAWASKAR
In the upcoming tourist season Goa will witness a cool healthy drink, especially launched for those who are health conscious and wish to adopt a more natural lifestyle. It’s ‘What!f’ - that hopes to give Goans a free hand and a choice. Offering to make better beverage choices over sugary soft drinks, the Sipwise Beverages have launched the first-of-its-kind cooler using the power of age-old natural ingredients - What!f, a brand in herb coolers.
The company comprises two brands: What!f, which, for the first time, offers a cold beverage format with an array of herb and green tea coolers. The other brand - 1947, offers an energy drink made from natural caffeine extracted from tea and having a proprietary fibre called inulin.
“Our products are scientifically designed to shield from stress and adds a cool quotient. It revitalise and reduce chronic stress. Created with an idea to offer natural ingredients with numerous health benefits like green tea and herbs, like Brahmi, Ashwagandha, Gotu Kola as well as Lemon Balm, Chamomile, Rose Hip in chilled form, this drink is packed with an ingredient called inulin, extracted from the root of chicory, to add texture, aftertaste, and gut health benefits too,” claims Harish Mohan, founder, Sipwise Beverages, a start-up.
Harish, who holds an engineering degree from the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, also has a post graduate program in management from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, explains that it is for the first time ever, that a drink in chilled format is available for Indians to enjoy combining green tea, herbs mixed with fruit flavours, vitamins, and minerals in a bottle.
“In fact, Sipwise is one of three companies in the world to use inulin in a beverage format. In Goa, What!f retails for Rs 40 and is available at supermarkets like Delphinos and Newtons among others,” informs Harish.
The founder of Sipwise elaborates that their products are highly differentiated in their offering. Siting example, he points out that most of the green tea available in the market has to be mixed with warm water to consume it. “Our green tea cooler is available in a ready-to-drink, packaged format and can be directly consumed from the bottle itself. There is a bigger population that stays away from green tea despite its numerous benefits because of its bitter aftertaste. But our green tea cooler has all the benefits of green tea without leaving a sour aftertaste in one’s mouth after consuming it. We have also added fruits flavours in it along with acerola extract for consumers to enjoy the drink thoroughly,” claims Harish, a nature lover, who can be found traipsing across the Himalayan hills in his spare time.
What made him launch this product? Harish recalls, “I started Sipwise, after witnessing a gap in the market for beverages that could offer value beyond cola and fruit pulp based drinks. During my stint at Duke University in 2013, I was exposed to a range of health drinks at cheap and affordable prices and this sparked the need to create something similar in the Indian context. I felt
that there was a huge scope to combine the age old benefit of natural ingredients and deliver them through a functional beverage to create a niche in
the market.”
Today, consumers are more open to experiment and are looking for healthier alternatives when it comes to choosing their food and beverage options. “Using functional ingredients, I seek to provide consumers the option of a smarter alternative over existing drinks and provide world class ingredients at an affordable price,” maintains Harish.
In the midst of green tea formulas already available in the market, the newly launched green tea in a cool format makes it different than others. “No other products in the market combine the benefits of green tea in a cool format. Despite of the health benefits, consumers stay away from green tea because they don’t like the bitter aftertaste. I have addressed that problem by adding fruit flavours and acerola extract which by the way is also a great source of vitamin C,” smiles Harish.
While the initial response for cool green tea was great, the consumers are open to experimenting more and more, especially when a product claims to provide them with healthy benefits. “And Sipwise products do offer them that; they bring in a unique flavour of health, refreshment and natural ingredients all packed in one bottle
which helps one de-stress, feel refreshed and also improve metabolism,” claims Harish.
Sipwise is investing in state-of-the art research and development facilities to produce beverages in the field of cognition, mental health, diabetics, hangover cure, sexual health. “The foreseeable future involves in creating a niche with our existing categories and creating and developing a market for our future products,” hopes Harish.
