Thanks to y’all’s support, we are seriously rocking it. You can get find us at twenty Bluestone Lane locations in New York & Philadelphia; Contraband Coffee Bar in San Francisco; Bernie’s cafes in San Francisco; Bindle Coffee in Fort Collins, CO, and SloHi in Denver!
We’ve had so many wins, and seriously: starting a new business is tough. We’ve gotten really comfortable with making mistakes.
Most of them we don’t need to tell you guys about — we know you just want a great experience ordering, receiving and drinking our delicious product. But this one mistake needs to be shared. It’s a bigger one that affects you as a customer. Honestly, we were embarrassed at first.
How We Named Ourselves
We named Golden Chai pretty quickly. It felt right, you know? This was essentially our thought process, super boiled-down:
- “We ❤ turmeric milk.”
- “We want to make it and drink it faster.”
- “Let’s come up with an awesome powdered recipe.” (Check!)
- “It’s such a beautiful color. Golden…”
- “Chai and cha mean “tea” in so many cultures…”
- “GOLDEN CHAI!”
We really loved our name. It rolls off the tongue, and in many ways makes you feel the way it feels when you drink our product: warm, balanced, comforted, centered. But there was one pretty big problem…
The Conversation We’ve Had Too Many Times
Cool, smart person: So, what do you do?
Adam/Andrea/Glenn/Kat: I started a turmeric latte mix company called Golden Chai!
Cool, smart person: Ooh, I love chai!
Adam/Andrea/Glenn/Kat: Yeah, it’s not actually a chai…
Cool, smart person: What? But your name is…
Adam/Andrea/Glenn/Kat: I know, it’s confusing right… sorry. We’re actually a turmeric latte mix…
The Problem
We hadn’t considered that to a lot of people, “chai” means Indian chai. Indian chai specifically has:
- Black tea
- Cardamom
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Peppercorns
- Plenty of sugar to bring out above flavors
Our recipe, on the other hand, has:
- No caffeine (a signature aspect of our product)
- No cardamom
- No cinnamon (we let you add that)
- Yes, ginger.
- Yes, black pepper.
- Very little sugar (a point of pride)
So you see the problem. We’re not an Indian chai at all.
We love chai too! It’s delicious. But what we’re trying to deliver is altogether different: a caffeine-free, energizing, low-in-sugar beverage mix.
The New Name
We're now Copper Cup Turmeric Latte! We officially launch the new brand October 4th - 7th. Stay tuned for the story behind our name!