Drinks with roots in different cultures
Thanks to the different cultures here, there is a wide variety of health drinks in Singapore.
But Mr Ramesh Krish Kumar, 30, a food scientist, doesn't believe in relying on specific cultures for health drinks.
He said: "Some drinks are purely from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) or purely from ayurveda. Why not take the best parts of both and combine them with science?"
Drinks often associated with TCM include bird's nest, while ayurveda, a traditional medicine with roots in India, is often associated with tonics that use spices such as turmeric and cardamom.
After working in the food science industry for more than half a decade, Mr Ramesh decided to start his line of health drinks.
He said: "I combined the best parts of traditional drinks for the Singapore market."
This is how he co-founded Asmara, a brand that creates multi-cultural health drinks.
The brand was launched in July. There are currently four drinks developed by Asmara.
One of the drinks, Astri 33, contains 33 herbs including Indian ginseng, turmeric, pandan extract, ginger and honey.
Another, the Ashta Berries 8, contains eight kinds of berries from South America and Europe such as the acai berry and maqui berry. It won the Yummiest Vitamin Booster title at the Cleo Body Awards 2018.
These sell for about $5 to $10 a bottle at food fairs and trade shows, and can be ordered from sites such as EAMart and Shopee.
Mr Ramesh, a Temasek Polytechnic (TP) graduate who has a masters in food technology, has also tied up with TP's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Department at the Temasek Launchpad, which officially launched last month.
He said he plans to create more drinks, and hopes the tie-up will help him to expand.
He said: "TP has always been like a second home. The inauguration of the LaunchPad will enable young entrepreneurs like myself to capitalise on the opportunities to nurture, groom and grow our businesses further."
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