Photo: Elizabeth Weinberg
Free coffee is one of the most common perks at companies around the world, but you won t find it at Venice, California-based MudWtr (pronounced MudWater ). The direct-to-consumer beverage brand makes a coffee alternative derived from a powdered blend of masala chai, chaga mushrooms, and other ingredients.
For co-founder and CEO Shane Heath, MudWtr s core product represents a rejection of the always-on Silicon Valley work culture that, in his mind, leads to burnout for countless tech workers. Heath would know. As an art director and designer at a number of tech startups in the Bay Area, he drank three to four cups of coffee per day. Anxiety and jitters ensued.