Chef Chris Yang launches Joimo kombucha with premium Taiwanese tea
Chris Yang built Joimo around a simple kombucha rule: better tea makes better kombucha, with Alishan oolong, handpicked Taiwanese leaves and fruit-forward flavors.
Chef Chris Yang has turned a restaurant lesson into a kombucha brand built on tea first, not sweetness first. Joimo, the tea and kombucha line Yang launched late last year, centers on the idea that better tea makes better kombucha, and that premise now drives everything from its base tea to its flavor lineup.
The brand leans hard into Taiwanese tea traditions. Joimo says its signature high mountain oolong is single-origin from Alishan, Taiwan, and its tea page says the company sources handpicked teas from small family-owned farms in Taiwan. That sourcing shows up in the finished drink, which Joimo describes as having a delicate oolong base that adds complexity. The current kombucha lineup includes Original, Ruby, Mango Mango and Strawberry, with Strawberry made using Joimo high mountain oolong tea and strawberry.
Yang’s path into kombucha started with experimentation, not a beverage plan. While opening Yang’s Kitchen, he tried making kombucha with a SCOBY he bought on Amazon and found that the tea he had been given was actually premium tea intended for a traditional ceremony. That accidental discovery became the foundation for Joimo, and the brand’s own material says Yang later ran a local subscription service out of his parents’ house after the experiment stuck.
Joimo’s pitch is rooted in chef-style ingredient discipline, but it also reflects a broader crossover between restaurant culture and packaged drinks. Yang’s Kitchen, at 112 West Main Street in Alhambra, California, emphasizes premium ingredients, scratch cooking and tip sharing across all employees, including kitchen staff. Co-founder Rinna Lee brings a different background to the project: Joimo says she grew up in Los Angeles and spent years working in finance.
The timing also fits Yang’s growing profile. The James Beard Foundation announced its 2024 Restaurant and Chef Award nominees on April 2, 2024, and the awards were held June 10, 2024, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Yang was among the nominees for Best Chef: California, a recognition that now sits alongside a beverage brand that treats tea as the starting point, not an afterthought.
For kombucha brewers, Joimo makes the same point from the other side of the counter: if the tea foundation is weak, the kombucha will be too.
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