This was originally published on Time Warner Cable News
ALBANY, N.Y. — Oftentimes, you just never know where a great business idea will come from. Just ask Luke Evans and Marc Iskandar.
“We went hiking on a mountain in the Adirondacks and we discovered chaga,” Evans said.
“It (chaga) grows in many cold, northern climates, so just about anywhere it’s cold and there’s birch trees, you can find chaga,” said Iskandar.
Chaga is known as the “King of Medicinal Mushrooms.” It’s been used for centuries in the Eastern Hemisphere for its health benefits. Now, the former UAlbany students are hoping to make it popular here in the west.
“It looks like charcoal, but it’s super gold on the inside,” Evans said. “It has immune system supporting, energy, and cognitive enhancing properties.”
Chaga is so important to them, it’s the main ingredient in their tea,ChugaChaga.
ChugaChaga’s tea is expected to hit store shelves this spring, and when it does, it’s going to be the first of its kind in the nation.
“We are going to be the first national producer of a beverage infused with chaga tea. Our start has been really great and we’re looking to expand rapidly,” Iskandar, ChugaChaga’s CMO, said.
In just two years, the company ran a successful Kickstarter campaign, raising $16,000. It allowed them to begin bottling their line of iced tea as well as tea bags.
Right now, the focus is on tea, but the company said it can be used in more — “things like powders that you can add to smoothies, etc.,” Evans, ChugaChaga’s CEO, said.
As it gets ready to launch the product in stores, ChugaChaga said it hopes to spread a message.
“It’s really to help spread the power of chaga and help people who are in need,” Iskandar said.
All thanks to a fungus.
“And it’s something growing in their backyard,” added Iskandar.
Source: http://www.twcnews.com/nys/capital-region/business-beat/2016/03/23/chugachaga-tea-one-of-a-kind.html
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