Profile: Puro Verde Kombucha, São Paulo, Brazil

The day before CONAKOM, I visited Raphael Hennies, founder of Puro Verde Kombucha, at his factory in one of São Paulo’s last industrial areas. Raphael founded the company in 2013, after experimenting with cold-pressed juices. He now manages multiple product lines under the WeBev umbrella. In addition to kombucha, which accounts for 70% of sales, they also produce a shelf-stable carbonated tea, High hard kombucha (6.2% ABV), and a range of Amaz energy drinks.

He started the company at home, then opened a small factory in 2015, moved to larger premises in 2018, and last year moved into the current location, which he shares with the Tarantino Cervejaria beer brewery. Tarantino is the city’s largest independent brewery. The brewery hosts up to 40,000 people annually in an event space where Puro Verde beverages are sold alongside the beer.

Raphael’s goal is to become the leading producer of kombucha and associated healthy beverages in south-east Brazil.

Production

Puro Verde is fermented from green and black tea, with the addition of an in-house concentrate that ferments over six months to optimize acidity. They check chemistry and quality in their own lab and ferment in 1,000-, 2,000-, and 4,000-liter tanks. Most of their sales are in glass bottles, with only a small percentage in cans.

Their fermentation area is separated from the beer brewery. Negative air pressure ensures there is no risk of cross-contamination.

Distribution

Retail represents 60 percent of their business. Bars, restaurants, and bakeries represent 35 percent, with online sales of around five percent. They distribute directly to retail stores. They have a second distribution hub, 700 km to the south, in the health-conscious state of Santa Catarina.

Flavors

While green and black tea form most of the base, they also brew with Guayusa from the Amazon. Two percent of sales go back to preserving the rainforest.

Where possible, they buy flavoring herbs and fruits directly from the farmers.

• Butiá: green and black tea, butiá, a native Brazilian fruit, offering a bittersweet, slightly tart, and extremely refreshing profile. The butiá fruit comes from a palm tree considered sacred by some indigenous tribes. They bought the whole crop from one farmer and are storing the fruit in cold storage to meet their needs for the year.
• Hibiscus and Pineapple: green and black tea, and passion fruit pulp.
• Immunity: green and black tea, passion fruit pulp, ginger, and turmeric.
• Passion Fruit: green and black tea with apple, passion fruit, and molasses.
• Mate and Ginger: mate, green and black teas, ginger.
• Blueberry: Their best seller!  Green and black tea, blueberry juice.
• Grape: green and black tea wit, grape pulp.

Better together

Raphael is a major supporter of Brazil’s kombucha industry. He has hosted factory visits for other small kombucha companies not only to understand production, but also to share his commercial strategy, logistics, and what makes a kombucha business profitable. This is especially challenging in the current economic climate in Brazil, where inflation in his supply chain has increased costs by 20 percent. Meanwhile, because kombucha is already a premium-priced beverage, he can’t pass these costs on to consumers.

Since 2018, we have hosted many events at our factory to help small companies understand the process and the market.  I’m glad we could help so many businesses along the way. It’s not just about production; it has to be a profitable business. Most people in the kombucha market dream about their passion for the drink. So, at these meetings, we talk about the business side, the commercial strategy, the logistics, things that really make us profitable. We need to help each other. There is space for everybody.

CONAKOM

Raphael is scheduled to present on October 15 at the CONAKOM event with a talk titled ‘From 0 to 50,000 liters of kombucha’.

Podcast

Listen to the podcast interview, in which Raphael hosted a factory tour and shared insights into his business.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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