Our mission is to share the anti-inflammatory benefits of turmeric and ginger with the world and we need your help!
“Liquid Sunshine” is an instant chai tea powder mix inspired by an ancient Indonesian healing elixir called Jamu and an Ayurvedic Indian drink called Golden Milk.
Numerous studies have proven that turmeric, a ribosome in the ginger family, is one of the world’s most powerful natural anti-inflammatories.
Chronic inflammation is a huge problem in America. It is estimated that over 100 million Americans suffer from chronic inflammation. Inflammation is considered to be the leading cause of 7 of the 10 most common causes of death in the US: heart disease, cancer, lower repertory disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and nephritis.
Luckily, inflammation can be reduced through proper diet. Turmeric and ginger are two of the most powerful anti-inflammatory foods. The problem is that most people do not consume these foods on a regular basis. This instant, organic, turmeric, ginger, chai tea mix gives people an easy and accessible way to ingest healing turmeric and ginger on a daily basis.
Many people have turmeric and ginger supplements in their medicine cabinet, but they often forget to take them. We rarely forget to drink coffee, or any other hot beverage, in the morning while supplements are not always the first thing on our minds. It is also hard to tell which brand of supplement to choose from and how much to take. I am a strong believer in obtaining most nutrients through whole foods and not from pills. Adding our chai powder to your tea or coffee in the morning, while looking forward to sipping the delicious warming beverage is a much easier habit to create than ingesting pills.
Hundreds of people are already enjoying Liquid Sunshine every day, but we need your help to bring this product to more people who could benefit from its amazing anti-inflammatory properties. We are asking for funding in orders to rent a larger certified kitchen, invest in advertising, hire employees, and eventually bottle a liquid version.
We have many amazing rewards in exchange for your generous donations. These awards range from packets of tea to a two week rental at a beautiful home in the Bahamas! Every dollar is greatly appreciated.
Together we can help lower inflammation and save lives!
Thank you so much for your support!
What do other people have to say about Jamu Juice……..
Our Products:
- Organic Liquid Sunshine Caffeine Free (all spices, no tea)
- Organic Liquid Sunshine With Caffeine (Jamu spices with Yerba Mate)
- Organic Golden Milk (Liquid Sunshine with powdered organic non fat milk and coconut sugar)
Coming soon:
- Chocolate sunshine (Our Golden Milk with organic coco powder)
- Sunshine in a Bottle (Our Liquid Sunshine tea powder blended with with coconut milk, almond milk, honey, vanilla and vitamin D …essentially a diary free iced chai latte with turmeric…mmmm)
The best part is- you can also cook with it!
Liquid Sunshine Instant Chai tea mix happens to be the perfect organic spice mixture to add to soups, curries, cookies, pies, oatmeal, quinoa, chicken dishes and more. Sign up for my emil list at www.JamuJuice.com to receive amazing gluten free recipes using this tea powder.
You can add Liquid Sunshine powder to hot water, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, milk, almond milk, coconut milk, and hot apple cider!
It is also great in smoothies!
Put a tea spoon of tea powder, honey coconut milk and ice in the blender and you have golden ice-cream!
The Jamu Story…
The Jama Juice story began with my first sip of freshly grated ginger tea in 2010. I had been suffering from a sinus infection for weeks and the best remedy I had found was a soothing mixture of ginger tea with cayenne pepper, lemon and honey. The tea opened up my sinus pathways, soothed my throat and settled my stomach. However, I was still advised by my doctors to take continuous courses of antibiotics. The more antibiotics I took, the worse my sinus infection became.
By the end of the summer, my sinus infection had finally subsided. However the antibiotics had wrecked havoc on my digestive system. I was unable to digest anything. I lost 30 pounds in just a few months. I looked pale and emaciated and had a constant headache and stomachache. I went to several gastroenterologists, but none of them were able to provide insight or offer advice. I began desperately researching my symptoms online, deciding to take my illness into my own hands. It was at that point, that I discovered “candida” and “leaky gut” and realized I had both. With the help of a naturopathic doctor, an acupuncturist, an energy healer and a very specific diet, I finally began to heal my body.
After two years, my stomach was still not back to normal. I had been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and was afraid that I would have to live with the pain and the bloating forever. Even though I was frustrated that I could not eat gluten, soy, alcohol or sugar, I was grateful for the journey that this illness initiated. I grew up an atheist and a science-obsessed skeptic, but this quest for health opened me up to exploring new ideas to how the mind and body worked. I eventually began training in Reiki, yoga, and holistic nutrition.
In 2012, I bought a one-way ticket to Indonesia. I did not want my illness to stop me from following a life-long dream of traveling around the world by myself. On the islands of Sumatra and Bali, I saw local women carrying around baskets and pushing carts full of yellow liquid in reused plastic bottles. I learned that the yellow drink is called Jamu and is used as a type of natural medicine. My Indonesian friends told me that many people drink it daily to maintain good health or to heal themselves in times of sickness. I decided to give it a try, thinking it may help my stomach. The creamy elixir tasted so bitter that I had to chase it with honey-water, but it did ease some of the inflammation in my gut. I discovered that each “Jamu Lady” seemed to have a different recipe and each drink tasted a little bit different. The one thing all Jamu had in common was its vibrant yellow hue. The intense color was derived from the super healing root, turmeric or “kunyit,” as they call it in Indonesia.
After having had such a negative experience with western medicine, I became fascinated with various forms of traditional (Eastern) medicine. I was intent on learning what ingredients went into this magical yellow elixir called Jamu. Fortunately, several different women offered to show me how to make it. In addition to turmeric, Jamu typically contained: ginger, galagala (similar to ginger), honey, raw egg or coconut milk, and sometimes other herbs (the English translations of which I could not find). The most common way to make it was to mix the ginger and turmeric with a raw egg and honey in a blender. When I retuned to the states, I found a source of fresh turmeric. I started experimenting with many different variations of turmeric-ginger recipes. I found that it tasted best with chai tea, coconut milk, almond milk and honey. I drank my version of Jamu every day and by that spring, all of my stomach problems had disappeared.
The following year I spent the winter in Rhode Island. People kept asking me, “why are you so tan?!” and, “what warm place did you just come back from?!” I hadn’t been anywhere warm in months so I told them that it must be from all the turmeric I was consuming. I thought to myself, “wow if everyone knew the turmeric could not only make you feel better but also replace the need for make up and tanning beds, it would be the most popular food in America!” I began to do extensive research on turmeric and learned about its many other health benefits. It turned out it wasn’t as big a secret as I thought. In fact, there was article after article on turmeric in various nutrition blogs, scientific journals, and even the Huffington post! Several of my professors at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition also raved about this powerful spice. My grandma and father both suffered from arthritis so I eventually convinced them to try drinking my turmeric-ginger tea too. At this point, I already envisioned myself at a farmers market with a big sign saying, “Liquid Sunshine,” handing cups of yellow liquid to curious people with smiling faces.
I took a part-time job working at the Alternative Food Co-Op in Wakefield, Rhode Island, which ended up being the birthplace of Jamu Juice. One day at work, I made my turmeric-ginger chai tea for my coworkers. They all raved about it and told me that I should start selling it there. I bought some jelly jars, gathered the ingredients and starting making Jamu at the Co-Op on a weekly basis. The 8 oz. jars of murky yellow liquid flew off the shelf at a price of $4.99 each. People kept asking me for the recipe and I willingly shared it with them. However, very few people actually attempted to make it because it was such a time-consuming and complex operation. It involved mixing many hard-to-find ingredients and multiple processes such as washing, skinning, grating and juicing fresh turmeric. I thought that there must be some way to make the tea so people could easily make it at home.
My first step towards simplicity was ordering empty tea bags online and filling them with loose-leaf chai tea, then adding turmeric and ginger powder. Sadly, the resulting tea was weak and disappointing. I remembered loving powdered “Oregon” chai tea when I was a kid, so I looked up what was in their chai tea powder. I found that it was mostly sugar, maltodextrin and powdered milk with a little bit of instant black tea and natural flavor. I decided that I had to make a powdered version that tasted just as good, but also contained turmeric, ginger and other healthy ingredients. I found out what spices were in my favorite chai tea and bought them in their organic powdered forms. I played with the ratios until I got the perfect combination of spices that could easily be added to hot milk or water. I found a source of organic bulk spies and started looking into the best way to package my new instant turmeric cha tea blend. This new version not only simplified my process, but also allowed me to give people the powdered mix so they could make it in a blender or on the stove at their own home.
That summer, I sold freshly juiced turmeric-ginger lemonade and my chai tea powder at the farmers market on Block Island, Rhode Island and in Jamestown, Rhode Island. I got amazing feedback from my customers who came back week after week claiming that my turmeric beverages made them feel great, cured hangovers, eased arthritis pain and helped with stomach aches. One woman told me that her friend who had been battling cancer for 2 years looked better than she had in months and when she asked what she had been doing, her friend told her that she had been buying turmeric juice from a girl at the farmers market in Jamestown. Hearing that story made me even more excited about starting a turmeric tea business and for sharing this amazing tea mix with the public.
As summer came to an end, I began a process of applying for my permit from the Department of Health to become a wholesale and retail supplier of turmeric-ginger chai tea, which I called, “Liquid Sunshine.” I envisioned selling the tea to customers online, as well as to stores and cafés in Rhode Island, and eventually all over the U.S. One of the most challenging and time-consuming processes for this business was creating the website with the proper applications, photos and information. Luckily, my brother is an up-and-coming web developer and was fit and willing to take on the task. I am now selling my tea at the Alternative Food Co-Op in Wakefield and It’s My Health in Cumberland, RI and have over 50 online customers who order my tea on a regular basis. I am hoping to sell the tea in Whole Food Stores, A Market in Newport, RI and Cool Beans Café in Narragansett, RI after the holidays. When I can afford to do more advertising, this product will be able to reach even more people who could greatly benefit from drinking this tea on a daily basis. Before I am able to supply more stores and ship more tea to customers, I need to be able to produce the tea in greater amounts. I am asking for help so I can scale the business. This will include renting my own certified kitchen space and hiring a third party company to produce and distribute the tea.
Starting a business at age 25 has been a challenging but rewarding process. In some ways, I may seem like the least likely person to start a business because, like many of us, I have a tendency to have high goals and aspirations and I often get frustrated with myself if I don’t reach them in the time frame I had anticipated. I realized this mindset was not productive, so I made a conscious decision to change my thoughts. As a result, working for myself theses past few months has been an incredibly gratifying experience. I have learned to understand that my feelings of stress and obligation are, in their truest form, my own desire for success projected out and reflecting back at me. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, I have allowed my desire to share “Liquid Sunshine” with the world to motivate me to work hard every day. I have invested every penny I have ever saved into this company because I believe it will be successful. This tea has the power to help millions of people feel better on a daily basis. I have confidence that Liquid Sunshine will soon be available to everyone who can benefit from its magical properties.
Risks and challenges
Starting this business has not been easy but I have learned a lot during the process. Despite the fact that I do not need any special equipment to make and package the tea, at a small scale, nor am I cooking or processing anything, the Department of Health still requires that all food products be produced in a certified kitchen. The Alternative Food Co Op in Wakefield, RI has allowed me to use a tinny section of their small kitchen during the evening hours to make my tea, provided I continue to make the liquid version of the chai tea for them on a bi-weekly basis. The wholesale/retail food-processing permit from the Department of Health took 3+ months to process and cost $500. Now that I have more customers buying online and more stores selling my tea, I need a bigger space to blend and package the spices. I have to store all of my ingredients and equipment at the production facility, but the Alternative Food Co Op barely has enough space for their own materials. Right now I am only able to operate in small batches. This campaign will provide the funding to bridge the gap from order by order production to having an inventory and enabling me to focus on other aspects of the business.
In the short term, I am planning to rent my own adequate kitchen space. When it becomes economically prudent, I may subcontract out the blending, packaging, and distribution to a co-packing company rather than invest in expensive machinery and a larger more permeant facility. There is a culinary business incubator called Hope and Main that recently opened in Pawtucket, RI. A few weeks ago I met with the director about using one of their kitchens to make my tea. It seems to be a perfect fit in expanding our business. It will cost about $700 to apply and use their kitchen and then $25 per hour after that. I will have to reapply through the Department of Health which will cost another $500. I will also need to hire employees to speed up the process.
One of the biggest challenges I face is proper marketing. In college I majored in anthropology, psychology, and philosophy and studied nutrition postgrad, so the field of advertising and marketing is very new to me. I would like hire someone who specializes in small business marketing to help me form an effective strategy. A huge cost of most businesses is building a website, but I am very lucky to have a brother who built my website for me. I would love to be able to pay him to improve the website and begin online marketing.
My goal is to have millions people all over america, and eventually around the world, enjoying the health benefits of this tea. The more stores and cafes that carry it, the more accessible the tea will be to the people who need it. While the powdered tea is popular and perfect for the winter, my customers at the Alternative Food Co Op rave about the cold liquid version, which we also make and sell there. The liquid version is a truly unique product as there are no dairy free iced chai teas on the market- especially none with turmeric! If this campaign raises more than $10,000, I will be able to work with a bottling facility to make this creamy, healthy, chai tea available to big name distributors such as UNFI.
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