- Monday 18th May 2026
Behind the Brand
There is a lot of pressure when you're building a food or drinks brand to move quickly. Get the product finished, get it out there, find customers and then work out how to make more of it. I understand why. I've certainly had plenty of moments when I've wanted Soruhl to move faster too.
But making Soruhl has taught me that some things really don't benefit from being rushed.
Soruhl Elixir started with a drink I knew from my Jamaican heritage, but turning that inspiration into something I wanted to put my name on took time. There were plenty of versions along the way, and what surprised me was how much difference very small changes could make.
Finding the right balance
Hibiscus has a naturally tart character, so getting the balance right between that tartness, the ginger, orange, spices and sweetness took a lot of tasting. A little more ginger can change the whole finish of the drink. Too much spice and you start losing some of the freshness. Even changing how long an ingredient is infused can give you a different result.
There were occasions when I was convinced I'd improved the recipe, only to taste it and realise the previous version was better.
That's the slightly frustrating part of developing a small-batch hibiscus drink. Progress isn't always forwards.
It also taught me not to judge a drink by the first sip alone. Something can taste fantastic initially and become too sweet or too intense halfway through the glass. I wanted Soruhl to have enough flavour to be interesting, but also enough balance that you'd want to pour yourself another.
Friends and family were regularly recruited for tastings. Sometimes I'd tell them what I'd changed and sometimes I wouldn't. The blind tastings were usually the most useful because people couldn't tell me what they thought I wanted to hear. They simply chose the glass they preferred.
Knowing when enough is enough
I'm naturally someone who will keep changing things if I think they can be improved, and that can become a problem when you're developing a product. There is always another version you could make.
At some point I had to stop asking whether I could change something and start asking whether I actually needed to.
That sounds obvious now. It didn't feel obvious at the time.
Soruhl is still made in relatively small batches in Stockholm, and being close to production means I continue to notice things I probably wouldn't see from a distance. You get to know the ingredients and how they behave. You notice the aroma of the ginger, the colour of the hibiscus and the small variations that happen when you're working with natural ingredients.
I don't romanticise small-batch production. As Soruhl grows, the way we make it will have to grow too. I want better equipment, greater capacity and a production process that allows us to make more without compromising the drink.
What I don't want to lose is the habit that came from making Soruhl this way in the first place: paying attention.
Sometimes patience isn't about doing things slowly for the sake of it. It's simply about giving something enough time to get it right.