Beverage Startups
SOTI Natural – green tea reinvented
DrinkPreneur Live 2015 just 6 days away! Let us introduce you to SOTI, one of entrant of DrinkPreneur Live 2015.
Starting a business is a risky decision. Can you tell us more how did you come up with an idea to start beverage business? Did you have any experience about beverage industry before this project? Can you share this story with us?
Sure, SOTI Natural was created by me and my wife Monica. Monica used to work as a model in Japan while she was still in high school and she heard from top models about the green tea leaves Gyokuro that have special health properties: improve hair, nails and skin condition, help detoxing your body, help boosting concentration and relaxation. We experienced it ourselves drinking this specially brewed Gyokuro green tea and we felt great but the brewing process that kept all the health benefits lasted almost an hour, so we thought: there must be a better way! We researched with American and Japanese doctors how to preserve once brewed Gyokuro green tea in a bottle. We created a healthy and tasty beverage with a higher level of antioxidants than any home-brewed green tea and finally after 2 years of research and overcoming many trials some judged “that is impossible” we made it happen. Now everyone can enjoy health benefits and the taste of pure natural green tea SOTI Natural and it is called “ SOTI Natural. Green tea. Brewed better. Bottle of pure antioxidants”
What is special about SOTI? Why green tea?
Gyokuro green tea is our speciali-tea. What is so special? 
Three things: first of all the tea leaves that we use, then mineral water that we use and third the most important – the brewing process that we have discovered which keeps all the antioxidants in each SOTI Natural bottle and at the same it is unsweetened, tasty and pure natural soft drink.
SOTI Natural – so real so healthy so much tea in a tea!
What do you think, why such drinks like cold bottled tea are so popular these days?
Well what we found out that everyday 15 people switch from black tea to green tea because of the health benefits. But then we checked that home-brewed green tea has no antioxidants and at the end no health benefits. That is why we took 2 years out of our life to create SOTI Natural – pure natural green tea in convenient bottle that is unsweetened and has 340 mg of healthy antioxidants.
People work more and more, involve in numerous activities, have many commitments and SOTI is a solution for them when they have no time to drink something tasty and healthy it is available always and everywhere.
What kind of difficulties have you had since the very beginning of SOTI project?
In the first few months we had such huge interest that we could not keep up with the demand. We had to stop the production for a whole week and expand the capacity so now we are ready for orders of any size. At the time it was difficult to say “please wait” to some of the stores which were interested. Apparently people really need those health benefits and a convenient form of tasty and healthy green tea. This gives us great motivation to keep on going.
This year DrinkPreneur Live attracted many well known retailers. In your opinion, what are the most important benefits SOTI team will gain during the event?
Few more people benefiting from the health properties of brewed Gyokuro green tea – that is for sure! We don’t expect that all those well known retailers will fall in love with SOTI Natural but we secretly hope they will.
Have you already checked other entrants? What do you think about their beverage projects?
We checked other entrants and we really want to taste their products. We are looking forward to September 23rd. SOTI Natural will be for sure a great healthy Japanese drink to cleanse the day after the Drinpreneur evening event .
We are wishing you luck during competition and success for SOTI. Do you have some advice for other startups?
You are never ready. If you thirst for success – don’t hesitate – you will know the taste of having your own company after ‘third sip’ and then you either hate it or love it. It is similar with SOTI – first sip you are switching your taste buds to healthy unsweetened drink, second sip makes you more interested and with the third sip it often becomes your favorite soft drink at all times.
For more information about SOTI visit their website.
