OUR HANDMADE CHAI, MADE IN MELBOURNE
Over ten years ago, Vincent Conti and Mario Minichilli opened a café in St Kilda and began developing a chai blend to be served alongside specialty coffee. As they perfected their recipe, customers grew to love their chai and fate brought about a friendship with Koray Gencel. Now, Prana Chai is served in market leading cafes around the world!
Explore Our prana chai Range
THE NATURAL PROCESS
Our process is beautiful in its simplicity. We source fresh, whole spices from many parts of the world such as India, Sri Lanka and Guatemala. We crack open and blend these spices with tea and honey, by hand! Then we put it in a bag and send it on its merry way.
All the ingredients are natural and all the ingredients are good for you, it’s an honest product. We do not use machines, additives or preservatives to ensure the Prana (life force) in our product stays intact.
Meet the team
Hi! I'm originally from Sri Lanka (the land of tea!) but have lived in Australia for the past 20 years! I have been a part of the team for about 7 or 8 years now. It's been so long that it feels like forever! I started at the very beginning when the boys use to run a cafe during the day and my best mate and I worked nights producing the chai as our part-time jobs. Gradually as Prana Chai grew, I too grew with it - now I am Factory Production Manager.
Hi! I am Sunil and people call me Sunzi. I’m originally from India, I have lived in Australia for the past 5 years!
I have been a part of the Prana team for about 3 years now. It's been so long that it feels like forever! My role is to make chai and maintain the production levels.
I like the taste of of chai, with the different flavours. Mostly I never have had chai with these flavours before, even though I grew up drinking chai!
One of my favourites is our Peppermint.
I'm so grateful to be part of the Prana team because not only is it a job, it's a family. I am happy to be a part of Prana Chai, with lots of love! ❤️
Jayde aka the girl-boss of Prana Chai Korea & Prana Chai global community manager.
I am super grateful for the amazing opportunity and the team that I've been sharing the journey with. I miss the Melbourne coffee, yoga scenes, creative community, avocado on toast, Sunday farmers market, enjoying the sunshine at the beach and all my friends back in Melbourne.
I joined the team in 2014 to bring Prana Chai to North America, although my history with the Prana family dates back to 2001 when I crossed paths with a pair of Aussies (eventual brand founders) while traveling in Africa. Fast forward almost 20 years and I'm grateful to represent a unique product alongside old friends and new ones on our growing global team. My wife, daughter and I are based in Portland OR, from where we enjoy local and international travel, the great outdoors, and an excellent selection of roasteries, breweries and food trucks.
Joined the team in 2016. Now share the love of Prana Chai to Japan! Back in 2011, I started working for one of the coffee shops in Melbourne and I met a bowl head barista working behind a machine with me, I was steaming up milk, and he was pulling shots (and he was watching cricket game on his phone. Even though 20ppl waiting for coffee..). This barista was Mario. Simply I felt in love with the chai since Mario showed me how it's made. And I decided to come back to Japan to share this beautiful stuff for Japanese people! There was no culture in Japan having chai in the menu at specialty coffee shops like Melbourne. Now, I am so grateful for opening another door for Japanese cafe users!
"Don't worry Folks! Even you don't really like coffee there is delicious healthy chai waiting for you!" Kotaro
Meet the founders
Vincent
Love to travel
Eat amazing food
Enjoy people’s company
Love competitive sports
Love this company and what it means to others and also the smile People get when they talk about prana chai and how it’s a part of their daily routine. Luv it!!!
Mario
I am 28 years old, super fit and like sky diving, fire breathing and my new found past time of juggling infant cougars while walking a tightrope! No just kidding. I'm a middle-aged bald man that loves travel and spending time with my family. I feel blessed and very lucky to be working at Prana Chai because, well, it's not work. I really love the team and that we consider each other family. The product has many positive effects on people and their businesses so it's a real pleasure to share.
Koray
Camus, Fowles, Marquez, Auster and Pamuk type of guy who loves his family, friends and all types of sports. Especially basketball. That's all you need to know at this stage :-) Happy to tell you more if you visit us at the factory.
Bills (Korea)
Blackwood Pantry (Sydney)
Common Room (California)
Hermann's Cafe (Berlin)
Rosslyn Cafe (London)
Zoobibi (Melbourne)
MEET SOME OF OUR GLOBAL ACCOUNTS
Prana Chai is blended by hand in Melbourne, Australia and served in the best cafes, restaurants, hotels and bars around the world.
Here are just a few who have joined the Prana Family. Will your local be next?
Sharing our knowledge
We appreciate your interest in our history and our products. If you have friends or family who loves high quality, hand made sticky chai please help us reach them by sharing our story.
