BCBusiness
With collagen and protein-infused matcha and hojicha, Suna is rethinking how wellness should taste
In a province already brimming with health-forward brands and self-care rituals, a new player is shaking up the wellness scene—literally. Meet Suna, a Vancouver-based startup crafting protein and collagen-infused teas that promise to nourish your body and your senses.
After quietly building community and refining their product, Suna made its public debut through a Kickstarter campaign earlier this month—and the response was overwhelming. The brand surpassed its crowdfunding goal by more than 1,800%, signalling strong demand for a wellness product that’s both functional and flavour-forward.
Co-founders Michelle Cheung, Andy Song and Marcel Newell come from three starkly different worlds: finance, café culture and startup consulting. Their paths converged thanks to a mutual friend’s casual nudge—“you three should talk”—that led to something much bigger. “We realized we were all asking the same question,” they say. “Why does wellness so often feel like something we have to endure, instead of something we genuinely enjoy?”
The idea for Suna came from a simple but telling trend: people blending protein powder into their tea—often at the expense of taste and texture. The Suna team saw an opportunity to do better.
Their answer? A collection of rich, flavour-forward teas infused with functional ingredients like marine collagen and whey protein, blended not with extracts, but with authentic, stone-milled Japanese teas like matcha and hojicha—recipes formulated by the team behind Vancouver’s Paragon Tea Room.
Most protein products try to mask their taste, but the trio decided to take the opposite approach. They started with real tea—earthy matcha, smoky hojicha, bergamot-kissed earl grey—and then perfected the balance so the functional elements like protein and collagen didn’t overpower the experience. Formulating that balance was no easy feat. Marine collagen can have a fishy aroma; whey protein, a chalky texture. Working with extreme precision, the team eventually arrived upon “our golden ratio where taste and function coexist without compromise.”
Suna’s name nods to this ethos of mindful wellness. Inspired by the Japanese word sunadokei, meaning “hourglass,” it’s a reflection on how we spend our time—and what we choose to nourish ourselves with.
Fittingly, Suna is designed to be versatile and intuitive. It can be whisked into lattés, stirred into oatmeal, baked into recipes or simply enjoyed as a warm or iced tea. It’s not about replacing traditional supplements or chasing fads. “We’re not here to replace. We’re here to reimagine.”
Their target? A new generation of wellness seekers—people who care about ingredients, crave elevated flavour and see nutrition not as a checkbox but as a lifestyle. Think gym-goers, beauty-from-within devotees and tea-drinkers who prefer ceremonial-grade matcha over artificial anything.
It’s no surprise that Suna found its roots in B.C., one of the most progressive wellness markets in North America. “B.C. shaped us,” the founders reflect. “It’s home to consumers who read labels, value intention and care just as much about how something makes them feel as how it tastes. That’s exactly where Suna fits in.”