Founder Feature: Ollie & Sophie Spring of OOSO Sparkling Tea

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1:30Both young millennials, Gen Z, they're the people who are driving this trend of sober curiosity and not drinking. You know, one example of that is I think it's 45 % of Gen Z have never tried alcohol. So that's another key reason that we wanted to choose sparkling tea. And when we're kind of listening to our consumer, understanding what is going to interest them, figuring out that they've never had a non-alph whiskey or a non-alph tequila. It's figuring out the right flavors for that consumer. Yeah, those are all acquired taste. If you've never tried them before, you don't want them. You just want something elevated.

2:05And so that was really the taste profile we were going after. Hey, everybody. This is Caitlin Brooker, editor at Startup CPG. We are back with another founder feature. Today, we're talking with Ali and Sophie Spring, co-founders of Uso Sparkling Tea, a non-alcoholic beverage designed to give people confidence when they choose to drink less. After meeting on Hinge and surviving a pandemic together in their tiny New York apartment, these somewhat newlyweds turned their frustration with sugary or overly bitter NA options into an award-winning brand sweetened with organic honey featuring clean, functional ingredients.

2:42From racking up multiple awards in just over a year to removing all caffeine from their lineup to be more inclusive for their consumers, they're building something that fits seamlessly into a curated Gen Z or millennial lifestyle and beyond. As someone 14 months sober from alcohol, I'm always here for beverages that make cutting back easier and dare I say, stylish. Enjoy.

3:09Hey everybody, welcome back to the Startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin and today I'm here with Ollie and Sophie Spring, co-founders of Uso Sparkling Tea. Welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having us. So glad to be here. I'm very excited to have you here. Sober October is upon us. I feel like it's very fitting that we have an award-winning non-alcoholic beverage brand to talk to. So how's it feel being in the midst of Sober October as an award-winning NA beverage brand? It is chaos, but all good. We launched in June of 2024, so this is our second Sober October, actually. So we feel like we have a little bit of ground under us this year versus last year.

3:51So we're really excited about a really strong start heading into the holidays. But we really feel how much the community has gotten behind us. There's a lot of people who are cutting back on their consumption of alcohol. So this year feels very different and very exciting. And we think we're in a really great place to show up for everybody that's looking to cut back. Totally. I am amongst that crowd. I think I am not that I'm counting or anything. I definitely am counting. I think I'm 15 months sober from alcohol or maybe 14. Thanks. It feels good. I like never thought that this would be a decision that I would make for myself.

4:29It's just something that everybody does in a social setting. And I never saw this being me. But here I am. I'm here for it. And it makes it so much easier when there are good beverages that I can sip on instead of like orange juice or water. Yeah. And that's like the whole inception story of our brand really is that, you know, I've never been a huge drinker and sofas has dabbled a little bit more than I have. But when we didn't want to drink at a bar or a restaurant or at home, we were looking for something that was still bold and unique and delicious and complex. And I mean, we can get we can get into that if and when you ask.

5:04But I just kind of really sympathize and empathize with that because, you know, that's what people are looking for out there. And that's what we're trying to deliver. So tell me, what is Uso? That's a perfect tie. Amazing. So Uso is a sparkling tea, and it's really created to be an elevated beverage to replace a moment where you'd normally be consuming alcohol. So what we found, and Ali was kind of being a little cheeky earlier that I dabbled a little bit more. I had dabbled a lot more in drinking. My career has been in wine and spirits. So I was kind of immersed in the world. And I found it really difficult to choose not to drink when I was in a social setting.

5:44And I found that to be a real block and not great for health. So I was trying to figure out ways where I would feel comfortable to cut back in a situation where people would normally expect me to be drinking. And so what Ollie and I found was that brand really held a big weight here. And we wanted to create something that would give people the confidence and excitement to not be drinking alcohol during social occasions. So that's kind of like the start of the brand. I love to hear that because I worked in the cannabis industry for five years prior to this. And you would think that everyone's getting high, but really everyone is drinking and drinking a lot.

6:25it was disrupting my sleep i was having major anxiety obviously drinking a little bit too much staying up late the whole deal and it's not a great path to be on especially like in a work setting i don't know like yeah i might have cool co-workers but do i necessarily want to be getting drunk with you maybe not exactly and i mean that's a huge part of the brand and what we've tried to create is where do we get as soph was alluding to where do we give people the confidence to make that decision to be themselves and, you know, still want to be out with friends, have something delicious. And I think that kind of like our three, what we call our headline goals while we're building you.

7:04So basically that guides a lot of the decisions that we're making are we want, you know, a liquid that's as close to objectively delicious as possible. Something that's, you know, tasty that, you know, hopefully no one can deny that they want to drink. Yeah. And we wanted, tea was a really big thing for us. We wanted it to be tea based. We felt tea had that ritual approach that's similar to alcohol. It had health components to it. It was truly delicious. And it's also the second most consumed beverage in the whole world. So we knew people really loved tea and they wanted to consume more of it.

7:36Yeah. And then that second kind of pillar, second tenet, was to create a net positive health benefit. As I've said, tea has an inherent health benefit, but we wanted to take it a step further. So if drinking is a net negative, not drinking would be a net zero, we wanted to add things to that. So we have, you know, the tea, the vitamins and adaptogens, things that are really hopefully going to make you feel better the next day. And as we kind of looked at the data and understood that the reasons people weren't drinking, the top two being mental and physical health, we knew that people were really looking for something that was that net positive.

8:11And then lastly, we chatted about it a few times now, but the brand and the design, you know, have a big job to do and making sure people are comfortable with what they're holding, what they're ordering, what they're seen with, and especially, you know, our target demograph, young millennial, Gen Z, people who really have like those ultra curated lifestyles that we want to fit into. Yeah. So our mission for the company is really to inspire people to feel confident when they choose to drink less. I'm all for it. I am so for it. And I feel like I never see sparkling teas. So tell me how you landed on choosing tea and sparkling tea specifically for your beverage.

8:49Yeah. So we were playing around a lot. It was COVID time. We were stuck in our tiny apartments in New York City. And we had decided that we wanted to improve our physical health and our mental health by drinking less alcohol. It was a conscious decision we made. And so we started trying some NAs that were out there. It was 2021 at the time. And everything was either really sugary or it was very bitter or really acidic. And it didn't really fit the need that we were looking for. And when Ollie and I do drink, we often drink a natural wine and we wanted something that had that complexity, that funkiness.

9:25And so we were drinking a lot of kombucha and then we started to kind of make our own tea beverages at home. And it just sparked this like real excitement around tea and how the complexity, the flavor and the ritualness really kind of was the perfect fit for what we needed when we were coming back. And then from more of like a strategic point of view, there's no denying that, you know, like yourself and like other consumers in the non-alcoholic or adult non-alcoholic space, it's a behavioral shift. They're changing, you know, what they're usually choosing and what they're usually doing. So we want all the hurdles, pardon me, that we can kind of control and the levers that we can pull.

10:03We wanted to be able to make sure those are as kind of welcoming as possible. And, you know, many people are familiar with tea and with our kind of what we call our headline flavors, green tea, mint, and lime, hibiscus ginger and currant things that are like welcoming and you know not too scary for people and then as people are kind of drinking and kind of finding new flavors new scents kind of on the nose you know we wanted to surprise them and make sure that they realize like oh this is more than just tea this is something that's a bold and kind of complex beverage love it love it love it sophie you mentioned that a lot of beverages especially back in 2020 like i can't even think of a non-alcoholic beverage, maybe besides like O'Doul's or Athletic back then, like nothing else is coming to mind.

10:48But you mentioned sugary beverages, overly bitter beverages. I love me some bitters, but sugar kills me. So tell me about your ingredient selection and why you landed on the sweeteners and the ingredients that you chose to ultimately use. Yes. So ingredients were hugely important for us. We wanted to make sure that everything we were putting into Uso was premium and it was good for you. So we did not want to use any synthetic sugars. We felt that synthetic sugars, some people are really excited about, other people are wary about. It's a little bit of an area that we didn't want to get into. We felt we wanted something that was a whole food ingredients.

11:32So we sweeten Uso with organic honey. And there's that lovely connection between tea and honey. It's kind of how you think of it. Honey has functional benefits. And so we wanted to include that as part of the story. And it has a lovely taste profile. So that's kind of how we ended up with honey. We also knew we wanted all organic teas. We wanted to make sure that tea was really the main flavor that you sipped when you first tried Uso. And then you, as Ollie mentioned, you discovered these more complex flavors. We do have a little bit of a bitter note in our hibiscus ginger currant. I really love bitter.

12:06Ollie is not a huge little guy. But we wanted to have that note to really make it feel like an adult beverage, but have it be non-offensive and just kind of complement the flavors. And then one thing I'll add is like, before we launched the business, while we were working on it, while we were formulating, I went, spent time in bottle shops and was bothering the store associate asking a bunch of questions or watching people shop. And, you know, one thing I frequently saw and heard was done was the consumers are turning the can. They're kind of bottle spinning or can spinning because these people are both, you know, curious, educated, want to know what was in their beverage, what they're consuming.

12:43And so making sure it was a clean label, a clean nutritional panel, those were all important things that we kind of had to hit to know that we were winning on that kind of middle tenet that I was talking about, about that net positive health. I think it also helps, as I mentioned earlier, I come from the wine and spirits industry. So I had some people who tasted our product when they were just kitchen samples. We actually had a friend of mine, Lacey Hawkins, who helped us really kind of like elevate the beverage. She is a award winning mixologist. She's worked at some of the best bars in New York.

13:16She really helped us kind of elevate Uso to make sure that it was an adult beverage and added those notes that you think of when you think of wine. You have a mid-note, you have an end note, you have a nose, making sure all of those pieces were included in Uso. I have two things that I want to touch on. Ollie, first, you're mentioning spinning the bottle or spinning the can. And that to me, as soon as you said that, I'm like, you know what? I don't know if when I was drinking alcohol, if I ever looked for an ingredient label or if I ever even saw one, to be honest with you. Visit one. It does not exist.

13:52That says a lot, I think. It's like maybe if you pick up this can or bottle, you're just like, what does it matter if there's something else in here? We're putting a lot of trust in the brand you're trying to drink or what you're choosing when, you know, we wanted to like build that relationship and make sure people know. And obviously we had to as a non-alcoholic beverage, but we want to make sure and kind of be very clear with what we're kind of sharing with our consumer. Wow. The light bulb is like going off over my head right now. I don't know if I ever really put any thought into that until you just said it.

14:26That is a crazy thing because I am such an avid ingredient label reader. I will never buy a product without reading the ingredient label. But even when I was eating natural products and buying kombuchas and all this stuff and still drinking, I wasn't looking at alcohol. I'm sure you're not the only person. Interesting. I would love to hear from more people if that's been their experience. Yeah, I think that kind of hammers home the fact that people who are looking to drink less, those top two reasons are physical and mental health. So then they are realizing, hey, I don't even know what's in this.

15:00Or on the flip side, they're saying, hey, I want to know what's in this. So it definitely makes sense. Very cool. And Sophie, you're mentioning a couple times now, but you do come from the wine and spirits industry. So I'd love to hear more about both of your backgrounds. Maybe Sophie, you can start and just tell us a little bit more about what you were doing before USA. Sure. So I started my career working for a wine and spirits distributor sales side. So I kind of have a base in commercial and that's really where my mind goes immediately. I think of kind of like how these products work in a commercial environment.

15:33I then went back and got my master's at Syracuse Stew House and then switched over to the marketing side. And I now work for a wine and spirit supplier on the brand management side. So more dealing with kind of more like GM work, ensuring that all of our items are cohesive, etc. So I kind of have that background of marketing and sales. And then all it comes from the flip side of the coin. Yeah. So, I mean, one of the reasons that we wanted to start this is we had such complementary skills. And my career started in finance. I was in investment banking for a few years. And then Soph had her master's and I was like, oh, I need to be just as educated.

16:10So I went back and got an MBA from NYU Stern, which is kind of just over here in the city. We're Brooklyn based. So it was thankfully a short commute. And then I had a little bit of experience well in my MBA with consulting, but decided to be doing this full time and kind of take that leap and no better time than now. Wow. And how did you two meet, if you don't mind me asking? We met in the really beautiful way of dating after. I like to say it was the golden age of Hinge in 2019 when we matched, and the rest is history. And you lived through a pandemic together, too. I think that says a lot. And you just celebrated a year of marriage together.

16:52Yeah, the pandemic was a crazy time that accelerated our love. And then one year in, we're going stronger than ever. Who says Spark Me Tea is sponsored by Hinge? You know, you are not the first couple that I've spoken to. Figa Foods, also, they met on Hinge. They recently got married. Hinge is really, they're doing it right. This is a shout out. If Hinge wants to do a series on like CPG fan brands. Find your good on Hinge. We should definitely tag them when this goes live. Something I did notice when I was looking at your website, something I'm sure probably sound like a broken record to some people, but whenever I buy a product or I'm interested in looking at a product to buy, first thing I do is look at ingredients.

17:39Of course, I'm looking at the branding, I'm looking at the packaging, but ingredients are going to tell me whether or not I want to buy a product. And then I want to go and I want to learn about you. So I'll look at your story. I'll read your about us. that is going to tell me if it's like if the vibes are there you know and I read you're about us your story on your website and you wrote about each other and I thought that that was so cute and so cool I have never seen that done on a brand website before so kudos to you and like tell me the thought process behind that we're not exactly sure I don't know remember where we had the idea I think we were thinking about writing our own bios and that felt really weird I think that's I think that's probably what it was we're both so he swapped and i think that's also a big thing about the brand i mean we're not we're both not like really out there like i want to be the face of this brand and i think that's like part of having to come out of our shell and post you know a few photos once in a while of ourselves on the on the drink us on instagram but i think the real kind of impetus of why we did that was we started writing about ourselves and we were like ah let's just write about each other it's authentic and i mean who better to write about you than the person that knows the next most about you.

18:51Yeah, I've also said this before, but I do feel the best part about Usu is that we get to work together and spend more time with each other. And that just kind of felt authentic to like share a little bit about each other. That's such a big part of the business. So the website was so much fun. Ollie learned how to code and built the whole thing himself. Been pretty incredible how much we've had to learn through this process because we bootstrapped this thing for the whole first year. So the website is very near and dear to our heart. what's it been like being business partners and life partners and how do you find the balance if there is even a balance to find for you the balance is tricky that's for sure we tend to have dinner and talk about us so we tend to go to walks and talk about us so but I think both of us are so passionate about it that it doesn't always feel like work when we're doing it together which is the really nice part.

19:45And I think that the trust that we have in each other is so rare for a co-founder. And what really helps is our skills are very different. So we kind of let each other run in our own lanes and think of each other as experts in those things. I love that. And I think it says a lot too, because I see behind you there, you've been in business for how long? We've been in business since June of 24th. Yeah, so a year and a quarter, yeah. Okay, and I see at least two trophies hanging out behind you. You want to tell us a little bit more? Two glass transparent ones that are hard to see. And then there's two more.

20:24One, the most recent, notable one, startup CPGs, which is great. But yeah, I mean, a kind of little funny anecdote about us being a couple living together, but also founders. The kind of larger cup looking one there was from the New Beverage Showdown at BedNet Live. And we pitched in the semifinals. We went home that night knowing that we had made the finals. And we're in our living room, you know, practicing. And we knew, you know, let's get reps. Let's get reps. And I mean, obviously, another thing about us being a couple is learning how to set boundaries. And sometimes I push more and, you know, and I'm more of the opinion, like, let's keep going.

21:04Let's keep going. And so it helps me also set my own boundaries. But that night, for example, we really benefited from being in the same place, being a couple, you know, living together to get those reps. And I mean, to answer your question, we got a few there and hopefully a couple more on the way. We'll see. I was watching BevNet Live when you got that trophy, when you won that award. There was some fierce competition there. You are one of my favorite beverage brands, but you were up there with several other of my favorite beverage brands. And I was like, this is like picking your favorite child.

21:39This is so unfair. Like, how could you pin these people against each other? But then again, this is, I feel like it's such a friendly community that people really aren't, it's not head to head competitions. Like it really is all in good fun. How do you feel about that being in the beverage space with so much competition? I think on the end of the day, like Bebnet, for example, although we were all beverage brands we were all kind of different in that scenario but even when and we made a lot of great friends from that competition but even when you look at like the not the adult non-alcoholic beverage community alone and we've had you know made great friends you know have great connections and you know we love to kind of help where we can but as a young brand so far we probably asked more questions than we've answered the people are always so generous and it's such a strong community.

22:27It's so true. It's absolutely incredible how many people are willing to help and how many people have helped us. It's just kind of like hard to count at this point. So many people have been willing to help for just the sake of helping, which has been pretty incredible. And we've been able to meet some really wonderful people who have been mentors to us, who have, you know, built our community here. And so even when we were at Fancy Foods with Start at CPG. We still chat with a lot of people that were in that section. So we've been able to make some great connections through this world of CPG. I hear that so often.

23:04I think that's such a testament to this community and to the industry as a whole. I have never experienced the type of camaraderie that I've seen in this sector of CPG. Like here in 2025, never seen it before and never experienced it. I think it's very special. Yeah, it's super special. I think we're all experiencing this really difficult time from an economy standpoint. We're battling a lot of things that founders haven't battled before. It's one of the hardest times to raise capital. So I think we all bond over that. I don't feel competition with anybody in this startup space. I feel competition with the mainstays that we're going up against, the big guys, the big fish.

23:45I think we're all kind of challengers in that world and we're here to support each other. It's a good challenge. It's definitely a good thing to have. And I think it might turn the industry on its head. I mean, it is already, right? Like people are asking more questions. They want more transparency. They want more of a personal touch and a personal story attached to their food and beverage and even personal care products that they're purchasing. Or at least I definitely do. Absolutely. Yeah, GemZ especially, I think, really cares about those things. We'll be right back. You know, it is so hard to raise money these days or really even know what VCs actually invest in early stage brands.

24:24But good news, we are bringing all those early stage investors together. I am so pleased to announce Startup CPG's founders and funders, powered by our friends at DOS. It's happening December 11th in New York City, and it will be totally unforgettable. We'll have the top 50 early stage VCs, meaning the ones really writing checks for pre-seed and seed stage brands, and we're pulling them together with the top 100 brands of the year. There are going to be amazing panels, one-on-one matchmaking, and tons of networking opportunities. If you know anything about us, you know what a ridiculous opportunity this is going to be, so I really recommend getting your application in early.

25:01The website to submit is in the show notes. It's fandf.startupcpg.com. Good luck.

25:12Gen Z is a target market for you. And I believe you said millennials as well. Can you talk to me a little bit more about why they're your target market? Yeah, I mean, both young millennials, Gen Z, they're the people who are driving this trend of sober curiosity and not drinking. You know, one example of that is I think it's 45 percent of Gen Z have never tried alcohol. So that's another key reason that we wanted to choose sparkling tea. And when we're kind of listening to our consumer, understanding what is going to interest them, figuring out that they've never had a non-alph whiskey or a non-alph tequila, it's figuring out the right flavors for that consumer.