How changemakers leading Saibrew redefines “Goodness” with “liquid gold”

Maldives is more than just turquoise waters and sandy beaches, the sunny side of life also comes hand in hand with its undesirable sibling; heat! Enter Saibrew. On the surface, the amber bottle encapsulates island sunsets filled with rest, relaxation and the perfect beach. On the inside however, is a concoction guaranteed to boost your gut-health, kick up those low energy bars, detoxify the nasties out of your body and quench thirst like nobody’s business. Seriously! take our word for it. Our first Saibrew was during a heatwave in Male’ City and that first sip was satisfying enough to invoke victorious Avengers music in the back of our minds.

It took founders, Mohamed Thahseen (Thappi) and Mohamed Moomin (Mooch) several trials, specification research and about a year or more to finally launch their labor of love. Thappi is a proud aficionado of food and likes the ins and outs of preparing food, while his cousin is an innovative, business-minded man with vital experience in the field. Thus began the journey that has led Kaleo to this room with a sea of gleaming amber bottles, black caps, and the much revered SCOBY (we’ll get to that in a minute). We sat down with Thappi and the creative juices behind much loved branding and marketing at Saibrew, Munawwar Mohamed (Munko) at their very own manufacturing facility to talk about the beverage taking Maldives by storm.

“You best believe that the biggest saithashi (cup of tea) in Maldives can be found here”

~ Thappi

Kombucha is sweet tea with culture (not the kind that hits up instagram with 500 vacation selfies). This “culture” is known among Kombucha creators as a SCOBY (not to be mistaken for a lovable dog that goes doobie doobie doo). The SCOBY is an entire world of its own made up of bacteria and yeast in a beautifully harmonious, symbiotic relationship. Much like the starters in sourdoughs, the quality, taste and precise fermentation found in each bottle of Saibrew can be traced back to the “mother” SCOBY that was lovingly provided by a German neighbor in Malaysia (but we will get to that in a minute). Let us first go on a journey with two Maldivians in Malaysia and the UK at the height of Covid in 2020.

“I believe those days in particular were when people were really seeking out products that helped boost immunity. Kombucha is something that was pretty well known even before, but I believe there was a rise in interest in Kombucha during that time. I had personally always enjoyed it. While my cousin and Inwere both still in different countries, we both kept noticing that there was a lot of focus on Kombucha die to its health benefits”

~ Saibrew Co-founder Thappi

 

One of the co-founders Mooch and his wife had just finished a rigorous match and was looking for libations to combat the sticky heat in Malaysia when they first discovered Kombucha.  After a lot of reading up on this health marvel, Thappi and Mooch both began talking about doing this as a business more and more. Thus began the journey that has led the readers to this very day where the thirst-quenching gut bestie can be found in over 40 outlets in Maldives.

In a world where most products are produced and assembled in foreign lands, Saibrew sticks its quirky head out and stands out with its innovative passion for specializing in “in-house”. “We both always always always had a passion for manufacturing. We had a serious vision in mind; to bring this to Maldives on a large scale. We are so excited to be able to share this with everyone and got started immediately with planning”. Unfortunately those were the days of covid imposed lockdowns and so the idea remained brewing in the planning stages for a while. Undeterred, both founders carried on brewing their own Kombucha in their respective countries of residence throughout the tumultuous days of corona. Add in a lot of remote calls and updates to and from Malaysia and the UK about the initial 5 liter jars and both burgeoning entrepreneurs were pleased with the progress in the end. The humble beginning of the company didn’t start off with a massive state of the art facility. The cousins began their journey amid the hallowed halls of a small 150 square foot room.

Thappi recalled how Saibrew would not be where it is today without the investment of a successful local business woman and cousin, Aishath Shafeenaz (shafy) who believed in the brand and became an initial investor. The first ever Saibrew products hit the market in January 2022 and team members took to the streets of Male’ with amber bottles slightly dancing in their boxes, slated for deliveries. Thappi recalled the challenges of the initial stages and noted how it is during the launching of a product when you first come face to face with all the aspects you would have realized unless you actually started. “We honed in on details such as the production area being separated and moving bottles for second fermentation to a different location. A friend very generously gave us their room as a storage area and so we operated like that for the first eight months or so.”

“Kombucha undergoes two stages of fermentation. It takes maybe 7 to 10 days for a small jar and 15 to 20 days for a large capacity preparation of Kombucha . So here, at the brewery we keep for about 25 days. We keep measuring the pH consistently while they are in the vessels and then transfer to bottles for secondary fermentation where the fizz happens”.

~ Saibrew Co-founder Thappi

A week more after the second fermentation and a lot of love later and viola! one Saibrew coming up! Chatting with any of those involved at Saibrew and you come to understand that it takes a special love for detail and understanding of precision and intricate accuracy that goes into creating such a brand.

“There is so much that goes into launching a product like this, right down to the bottling. For instance, the process of finalizing the bottling. Knowing that Kombucha has natural carbonation (meaning that carbonation isn’t added, like in most commercially available beverages). The drink naturally attains its carbonation during the second fermentation with the bottle caps on. We knew this would result in a certain amount of pressure inside the bottle so we kept the pressure and bottle categories in mind and did our homework when speaking with suppliers. We also found other information like how amber glass is better for live cultures than clear ones”. The now signature sunset on the bottles of Saibrew also took a laborious seven months to reach what it is now – a breath of fresh air in a balmy Maldivian sunset.