Tina Chen, the founder of the UK’s first vegan chilled tea latte brand HumaniTea, talks about how she launched her social enterprise that caters to vegans, those who are lactose-intolerant, and tea lovers!

Tell us about the founder behind the brand

I am the sole founder of HumaniTea, and I set up my business in 2018 after getting my masters degree at Imperial College London. Before this, I had a career in IT but I quit my job and moved from LA to London to gain an education and set up my business. The idea was to create a drink that is good for humanity by being sustainable, and I purposely decided to use oat milk as it caters to everyone and is one of the most eco-friendly milks out there.

Do you prioritse self-care as an entrepreneur? 

Of course! As an entrepreneur, you have to find some time for yourself.  Spend that ‘me time’ doing something that relaxes you or helps you achieve mindfulness, like yoga, reading a book, or enjoying a cuppa. 

Self-care is key to allowing you to flourish and grow both personally and professionally. Without physical and mental health, we cannot fully concentrate and put our best for our business, our friends, our family, and ourselves. 

Does your company help the community that you’re located in?

Yes, in fact HumaniTea prides itself on being a social enterprise, meaning that we engage with our local community and do everything we can to help the environment. 

Five percent of our post-tax profit goes towards the funding of wellbeing and sustainability projects in our area of operation. Supporting your local community is key if you are a small business, and we want to give back to those who have supported us through the startup journey. 

What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?

As a Taiwanese-American living in London, I was inspired by the bubble tea concept and British tea drinking culture, so I wanted to develop a healthy, well-balanced tea latte beverage. With my love for a quality cuppa and my desire to make a positive impact on society,  HumaniTea was born!

Creating a healthy beverage meant I had to tackle the problem of obesity-causing sugary soft drinks, so I made plant-based tea lattes in Matcha Green Tea and Classic Earl Grey flavours. It is brewed with actual tea leaves, creamy oat milk, and ethically-sourced, quality ingredients that exclude artificial flavours and emulsifiers, contain low sugar and low calories, and provide boost of antioxidants and natural energy without the coffee caffeine crash. 

Within 3 years, I plan on growing HumaniTea beyond the UK market to the rest of Europe, US, and Asia, and establishing ourselves as the leading oat milk tea latte drinks brand.

What's the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur?

My biggest lesson was discovering that I needed to find a network of people who share my interests and values- meaning other founders that I have connected with, and business advisers that I've worked with previously. Having the support is key and you can share obstacles that you've overcome and gain lessons from each other, and you can learn a lot along the way. So for example, there are a few founders that I am well connected with, so whenever I have questions about how to respond to a wholesaler or how to contact a specific retailer, I can just ask them, and same to other brands reaching out to me. It's great to have such great support in a business environment, and to have other founders that can help you overcome challenges.

What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their business out there?

I believe passion is key for running a successful business. Without passion, then work becomes meaningless and loses value. I mentor some budding entrepreneurs who are just starting out on their startup journey, and I always tell them that passion is so important to the success of a business- if you are passionate about your idea, see if there's a market and go for it! See if your idea is something you can commercialise while being sustainable because in the end, you still need to have some turnover and make sales to continue the company. First comes passion, second step means finding a market, third step is to go out and sell your product and see if people like it!

What's the single most important decision you made that contributed to your business?

The biggest one was moving online. When the lockdown hit, we stopped selling at farmers markets, and we had to set up an online store which was a big move as everything was offline before, and we had to build the website from scratch.

Overall I think it’s a good move especially during covid, and we had to adapt to the environment. We have now set up a blog, and our social media presence is rising so it was the right decision to move online.

What has it been like to be a female entrepreneur starting her own business?

As a minority, (I am Asian) there are not that many Asain female entrepreneurs. I am also not a British national, so starting a business as a foreign entrepreneur had its challenges. So for female entrepreneurs, I would want them to know it's possible as long as you believe in yourself, and along the way you will learn a lot. I have really enjoyed the journey so far, because I have grown a lot as a person in terms of both personal and business skills. I didn’t have much knowledge or experience of sorting out the logistics of a business, or how to grow an online presence through social media, or how to work with retailers and make sales, but now I do! It has been a massive learning curve.

So I say to female entrepreneurs out there to go for it, know that there are people and communities out there who are very supportive. I have joined Virgin startup and my university Imperial College has been so supportive as well, so there are many organisations that you can get involved in, personally I have been involved in quite a few female entrepreneurship and female leadership groups, and there are groups and awards specifically for minority women.

How did you conquer those moments of doubt that so often affect entrepreneurs?

Starting a business is going to have its ups and downs, so I struggled when I was getting my products manufactured. After overworking, I accidentally burned myself with scalding hot water... Soon after, my whole tea supply was lost just before the production date which delayed things by a month! There's going to be times when it is difficult, but you have to stick at it.

I carried on because I wanted to bring something positive to the world and in my case, my drinks are the thing that kept me going. I wanted to keep flourishing as a social enterprise by supporting my community. I conquer my moments of doubt because I want this to work so we can continue providing the drink that's good for humanity!

What are your thoughts on failure?

I think failure is fine. People learn from failure. I think because I am from the US, failure isn't seen as a negative. We can learn from it and you won't be making the same mistakes again! You become more knowledgeable so I don’t think there's anything wrong with failure. Take it as a lesson learnt.

Describe your business in three words 

“Me-Time, Tea-Time, Any-Time!”