Los Angeles-based kombucha maker Better Booch is taking a side-step outside of the comfort zone it’s occupied for over 10 years with the release of a gut-healthy, sparkling tea beverage called Cha.
According to Better Booch’s social media feed, the new prebiotic tea, officially launched last week, arriving after a year and half of research and development. The new product is expected to sit in the functional refrigerated set, alongside kombucha. Cha is available in 12 oz. cans and retails on the company website for $36 per 12-pack. The initial launch features four varieties – Tropical Green Tea, Hibiscus Ginger Lime, Tangerine White Tea and Yerba Mate Berry – each with its own adaptogenic ingredient profile.
All four flavors have 2 grams of sugar and sport prebiotic benefits of agave inulin and polyphenol antioxidants. Each variety also has a different functional ingredient that caters to a different need state: Tropical Green Tea uses cordyceps to promote “clarity + peace,” Hibiscus Ginger uses maca powder for “mood-elevating” stress relief, Tangerine has schisandra berry for “vitality” and Yerba Mate is formulated with elderberry for “immunity + energy.”
On the company’s website, co-founders Trey and Ashleigh Lockerbie described Cha as a lighter-bodied beverage than Better Booch that was initially intended to be sweetened with erythritol. Plans changed when a report circulated in February over the possible health concerns with the sweetener, and Cha was reformulated to be sweetened with agave and organic stevia instead.
Only about a week into its launch, the founders said in the blog that Cha has already “tripled its first week sales goals in the first 24 hours.”
Cha is an obvious reference to the company’s roots in kombucha production but also a nod to sencha and matcha tea. In a LinkedIn post from co-founder and CEO Trey Lockerbie called it a “scratch your own itch” product line meant to be enjoyed alongside its kombucha.
The new product comes about a year and a half removed from Better Booch’s most recent raise. The company locked in $2.5 million in a seed round funding in January 2022 as it brought on private equity investor Michael J. Silverstein as a board member and hired Scott Presnall, formerly at fellow kombucha maker GT’s Living Foods, as its EVP of sales and a new VP of sales, John Weaver. According to company representatives, Better Booch has raised about $9.5 million to-date.
Better Booch currently offers 10 flavors of its kombucha and was part of a wave of brands offering an aluminum can format of the gut-friendly beverage. Competitors like Brew Dr. and Health-Ade have seen the opportunity in cans and expanded their respective glass bottled kombuchas into aluminum cans as well.
Cha positions Better Booch into the functional beverage set where brands like Poppi and Ollipop have shown success among consumers looking for gut-healthy soft drinks that might not be interested in the flavor of a kombucha.
It’s not uncharted territory for brands in the category: Health-Ade released a prebiotic, kombucha-based soda called Booch Pop in 2020, going onto reposition it further away from kombucha with a brand refresh a year later. Both Humm and Brew Dr. also launched probiotic soft drinks in 2021 to expand their target market beyond kombucha.