Bringing Heritage, Innovation, and Taste to the Plant-Based Milk Market
Táche Uses Pistachios to Make a Delicious and More Sustainable Product
For Roxana Saidi, a first-generation Iranian American, pistachios have always been meaningful. Pistachios hold rich cultural significance in the Middle East, where they have been grown for thousands of years, and the crunchy green nut is also grown in California, where Saidi was born. What started as a passion project led Saidi to pioneer a new category in the increasingly popular plant-based milk space: Táche, the first U.S. pistachio milk brand launched in 2020.
In 2015, Saidi began making her own pistachio milk at home as an alternative to almond milk, which was depleting California of precious water resources. Upon discovering that pistachio milk requires 75% less water, Saidi set out to source the most flavorful pistachios in the world with a desire to create a more sustainable and delicious nondairy milk alternative.
In developing Táche, Saidi put taste front and center — a little nutty, a little sweet, and wonderfully healthy. Unlike some other milk alternatives, Táche’s velvety milk doesn’t contain added oils, and it foams well when steamed. Plus, pistachios are the only nut that provide a complete protein.
As part of my research on purpose-driven business, I recently talked with Saidi about the development of Táche and how it is the culmination of her Persian heritage and a love for her drought-stricken home state.
How did you come up with the idea? What do pistachios mean to Iranian Americans?
Roxana Saidi: In the mid-2010s, I was living in my home state of California and we were experiencing the worst drought on record. Coincidentally, this was also during the rise of almond milk, a plant-based milk we realized necessitates an incredible amount of water to produce. Ironically it was during a family trip to Paris when the entrepreneurial lightbulb moment struck and, at that moment, I knew I was about to embark on a wildly new journey.
As Iranian Americans, my family has always enjoyed and cherished pistachios, which are much more prevalent in other parts of the world and the U.S. is just starting to catch up. Growing up, pistachios were as common in my home as potato chips were in my friends’ homes. In need of an espresso after one of our long Parisian lunches, it dawned on me that a milk could and should be made from my family’s favorite nut and would avoid abundant water needs, like almond milk. Upon returning home, I immediately started testing recipes for pistachio milk in my kitchen.
A few years later, oat milk began its takeover of the alt milk space, similarly offering a lower water-use option compared to the leading nut milks on the market. However, oat milk contains added rapeseed or canola oil, which can wreak havoc on your body. It was clear there was an empty space in the category just waiting for pistachio milk. I knew I wanted a dairy-free milk option that didn’t require sacrificing taste, the planet, or my health, and that’s exactly what we’re doing at Táche.
Can you tell me about the landscape of plant-based milks? How does pistachio milk compare to others, like almond milk or oat milk, on environmental impact and health characteristics?
Saidi: The plant-based milk category has exploded in the past decade with the two largest sources being almond and oat. But each of these options come with their pitfalls either environmentally or in terms of health. It’s now well-known that almonds require a tremendous amount of water to produce, which is especially precarious given they are grown in already arid locales like California. Pistachios grow with a fraction of the water needed for almonds.
Similarly, unlike most oat milk options, we add absolutely no vegetable or canola oil in Táche. This is critical because just one serving size of oat milk with rapeseed (i.e. canola oil) is the equivalent of ingesting about the same amount of oil used in frying a medium order of fries. Rapeseed/canola oil is highly processed, contains toxic trans-fats, and has been linked to many health issues ranging from inflammation to cardiovascular disease. Additionally, many of the oat milk options also have roughly the same blood sugar impact as drinking a can of Coke.
On the flip side, Táche doesn’t add any seed oils and has significantly less calories, carbs, and sugar, so it’s much healthier. Due to the inherent oil content that occurs in pistachios naturally, Táche doesn’t sacrifice any of the creamy texture our customers crave.
Can you tell me about the history of the pistachio nut and subsequently milk? Why was it never in the U.S. prior to Táche?
Saidi: Pistachios have been consumed for thousands of years and have built a global reputation as a premium nut. And yet they have been highly underutilized in the U.S. compared to other nuts. This is simply because of a very challenging supply chain, and most brands have struggled to build a supply chain of high-quality pistachios at attainable pricing. As the only pistachio milk in North America that doesn’t use other filler nuts or rice, we’ve created the supply chain and are in the process of growing it. The goal at Táche is to make pistachios much more accessible nut across categories.
How has your background advanced you to where you are today?
Saidi: My background is in founding companies that are doing something different. Years before brands were taking social media seriously as a top-of-funnel tool, I founded a first-of-its-kind social media agency focused on investing in social media as a marketing tool. We led the strategy and execution of campaigns that most brands weren’t even considering yet.
Not only has this deepened my expertise in social media marketing and PR, it’s given me a distinct opportunity to know when I have a groundbreaking company in my hands. Now, we know social media is not only ubiquitous as a marketing tool but integral for a brand’s foundation. Similarly, I know pistachio milk is the wave of the future in plant-based milks as it uniquely solves issues other plant-based milks do not.
I saw you just launched two new flavors. How do you see Táche growing in the next five years?
Saidi: If you walk around your local grocery stores, you’ll notice you won’t find too many pistachio products outside of pistachios themselves. You may find ice cream and now pistachio milk, but not much else.
Táche is not a pistachio milk company; we’re a pistachio company and we’re looking forward to making that clear as we grow the line. This year we released our most requested flavors, Vanilla and Unsweetened Vanilla, totaling four products for Táche. Our mission is for Táche to become synonymous with healthy, innovative pistachio products across the supermarket, from the refrigerated perimeter to the pantry aisle.
A version of this article was originally published at https://www.forbes.com. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
