POSSIBILITY STUDY · 17
Three generations of blends. No brand to carry them.
A possibility study. We built this concept end to end as a working prototype, inspired by the real operational bottleneck of a craft chai brand. The same system can be commissioned, customized, and shipped to your business in 7 weeks.
Sound like your business? Wholesale-to-D2C brands. Family supply businesses going direct. Any product worth a tin. The pattern is the same.
We have already imagined this. Let's explore yours →
SECTION 01 · THE FOUNDER
The sample room.
The leap.
Devika is the third generation in a tea family that has supplied wholesalers in Mumbai since 1958. The blends are the family’s. The palate is hers. The tin is new.
For sixty years the business sold loose-leaf chai by the kilo to other tea shops, who put their own names on the packaging and marked it up four times over. Devika watched this happen through her teens and decided to flip it.
We built her a direct brand. Tins. A range. A site that reads like a strong cup. Same blends. Twice the margin. The middleman is gone.
SECTION 02 · OPEN THE TIN
Three generations.
One blend at a time.
SCROLL · LIFT THE LID
SECTION 03 · THE RANGE
Six blends.
One family behind each.
The range is small on purpose. Each blend earns its tin.
- 01Rs. 480
Bombay Cutting
Strong · Smoky · Milky
Assam CTC, green cardamom, fresh ginger. The cup that built the city.
- 02Rs. 540
Sample Room Masala
Full · Spiced · Warm
Family recipe, untouched since 1962. Cardamom forward, clove finish.
- 03Rs. 720
Kashmiri Kahwa
Light · Saffron · Floral
Whole-leaf green, saffron threads, slivered almond. No milk.
- 04Rs. 460
Ginger Cutting
Sharp · Fresh · Cold-weather
Dried ginger and crushed pepper. Monsoon office tea.
- 05Rs. 520
Madras Filter
Strong · Roasted · No frills
Nilgiri black, roasted chicory. South-Indian filter style.
- 06Rs. 420
Evening Mint
Soft · Mint · Caffeine-free
Tulsi, mint, lemongrass. The blend Devika makes for her grandmother.
SECTION 04 · THE QUIZ
Three taps.
Your blend.
First-time tea drinkers do not know cardamom from cinnamon from cumin. The quiz speaks the language of taste, not of spice cabinets. Three taps. A blend. Optional subscription. That is the funnel.
QUESTION 02 OF 03
Milk or no?
SECTION 06 · THE OUTCOMES
The middleman is
gone.
Margin per kilo
Direct beats wholesale by definition. Same blend, four times the take.
Subscription conversion
Quiz funnel routes first-time buyers into a recurring tin shipment.
From order to brewed
Blends shipped in glass-lined tins. No staleness premium charged.
Resellers in the supply chain
The wholesalers her family supplied for 60 years are not on the website.
SECTION 07 · THE BUILD
Brand. Tin.
Store. Done.
We took Kadak Chai from a wholesale supply chain into a direct-to-consumer brand in seven weeks. Tin design, illustrated typography, a quiz-led store, and a subscription loop. The blends did not change. Everything around them did.
- Brand identity: tin packaging, Mumbai swagger, restraint
- Quiz funnel: three-tap blend recommender
- Direct subscription stack with skip and pause built in
- Photography direction: dark, warm, ritual-first
- Origin story copy from the sample-room outwards
- Year
- 2025
- Sector
- Tea · D2C
- Region
- Mumbai · India
- Engagement
- Brand and store, 7 weeks
NEXT STUDY · 018
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