Taika is a San Francisco-based functional beverage company making ready-to-drink canned coffees and matcha lattes infused with adaptogens and functional mushrooms - ingredients like L-theanine, ashwagandha, and lion's mane - meant to deliver focused energy without the jitters or crash. Founded in 2019 by former Facebook engineer Michael Sharon and world-class barista Kalle Freese, the brand is plant-based and sweetened with monk fruit for zero added sugar. Its tagline, 'Feel Inspired, Not Wired,' captures the pitch: caffeine with calm, sold direct-to-consumer online and through retail.
Owl's Brew is a women-led, Connecticut-based beverage company that builds ready-to-drink alcoholic cocktails from real teas, botanicals and fruit juice instead of artificial flavors. Founded in 2013 by tea sommelier Jennie Ripps and Maria Littlefield, it started as a tea-based cocktail mixer, pioneered one of the first hard tea seltzers in 2020, and in 2026 pivoted its flagship line to Spiked Pop, a 'clean' hard soda. The brand's promise is simple: drink wise, with ingredients you can actually pronounce.
Jennie Ripps is the founder and CEO of Owl's Brew, the boozy-tea company she co-built with Maria Littlefield to put real fruit, tea and botanicals back into ready-to-drink cocktails. A certified tea sommelier who started in publishing, she hand-blends every flavor base in her own kitchen before it ever reaches production. Owl's Brew has earned 40+ tasting awards and reaches shelves at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Target and Total Wine, plus stadiums from Yankee Stadium to TD Garden. Beyond the bottle, Ripps champions women in the alcohol industry through the Wise Women Collective and brings readers together with the Boozy Book Club.