It’s The Chacha Life For Me
Flyproject fitness instructor Ishaq Vadillo and vegan chef Matthieu Morisset combine forces to create everyone’s favourite, guilt-free soda alternative—the kombucha
Widely known as ‘kombucha’ or even ‘mushroom tea’ to some, the history of our favourite fermented tea is rather convoluted; some say it dates back to the Qin dynasty of ancient China in 221 BC while others believe it was consumed in other regions as well, namely Russia, eastern Europe and Japan.
No matter its origin, the kombucha we know today is highly revered for its supposed medicinal qualities, and is currently going through a resurgence. Countries like Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong as well as Malaysia (to name a few) have hopped on the kombucha bandwagon since the late 2000s—one of them being Chacha Kombucha.
According to Ishaq Vadillo and Matthieu Morisset, the company was the result of a ‘perfect marriage’—the former was a personal trainer and a senior fitness instructor at Flyproject, whereas the latter was an experienced vegan chef who constantly drank kombucha during his years living in Hong Kong.
“Funny story really—when I came back to Malaysia, I happened to lose my passport and stayed longer than I’d intended,” Morisset says. “During that time, I was brewing my own kombucha at home as it wasn’t very convenient to find the drink, much less one that doesn’t taste of apple cider vinegar.” Inspired by the need to create a more palatable brew, he then reached out to Vadillo, who was an old friend of his in Malaysia.
“I instantly said yes,” Vadillo says. “Seeing as I’m in the fitness scene and Matthieu in F&B, we thought to ourselves that we could make it work. We were certain that we had quality kombucha and luckily enough, happened to be in circles where health was a priority.”
And while Chacha Kombucha has a microbrewery in Damansara Perdana today and has garnered an impressive following on social media, the company started out small. The two would huddle in Morisset’s home kitchen, bottling kombucha by hand as music blasted in the air.
“The first time we started, we had a trial run of 60 bottles a day,” Morisset recalls. “It took us six hours to bottle them by hand and when it gained traction, it grew to over 200 bottles a day in this tiny kitchen.”
The chef grins in a sudden fashion, and exchanges a knowing look with Vadillo as he recounts how they went door to door with their product in tow. “I remember when Ishaq would walk straight into a café and say, ‘hello, this is our product—here you go.’” And that preseverance was what prompted Chacha’s quick growth.
According to the two, the process of making kombucha was simple: mix sugar and tea in a glass jar, cover it with a tightly woven cloth, leave it for a week or two, and then viola— you now have the basic recipe for kombucha. But to make quality kombucha is another thing entirely, and despite being in the commercial kombucha business where convenience is key, the two Chacha founders are adamant about keeping their brew as natural as possible.
“It’s expensive to produce,” reveals Morisset. “This isn’t like soda where you can just plug and play in a factory. It takes 10 to 14 days to make a batch, and while we’re trying to semi-automate things, everything is still done by hand.”
“To make the beverage easier and cheaper to produce is part and parcel of mass marketing,” explains Vadillo. “People make it so that they have a longer shelflife, and that usually comes with chemicals and preservatives. We want to retain our kombucha’s fizzy, sweet-sour flavour without the added junk. And because kombucha is a natural preservative, the beverage itself preserves the components of the natural fruit juice we add as flavouring.”
When they first started the business in December 2018, the beverage wasn’t as lauded as it was today due to the lack of awareness; Morisset tells me that before Chacha Kombucha joined the market, most brands were apparently dormant— up until the business’ latest contender came in swinging.
“The thing is, Malaysians are not just starting to learn about kombucha, they’re learning what Chacha as a brand stands for,” Vadillo says, “which is to eat well, live well, enjoy life and motivate one another. It’s boring to just promote a message that says ‘drink our drink’, and you can only say that so many times before people start running away from you.”