I met Khadija Benslimane at the recent KBI European Salon and World Kombucha Awards event in Barcelona. She founded KaBé Kombucha in Casablanca, Morocco, just 18 months ago. This is the first and so far the only commercial kombucha brand in a country of almost 40 million — an outstanding example of a Blue Ocean Strategy.

KaBé Kombucha was honored as the *only* recipient of a medal in the Original, Black Tea category for their Earl Grey. Their Gold Medal stood alone. There was no Silver or Bronze awarded. An impressive accomplishment for a new brand!

The brand name is formed from Khadija Benslimane’s initials – KB – and the two letters in KomBucha.

Khadija didn’t wake up one day  and decide to start a kombucha company. She grew up in the family textile business, where she became familiar with the production side and factory operations. After the family business closed, she moved to the corporate food sector. Over time, she felt an increasing disconnect between her work and values. She longed for something more aligned with what she truly believed in: health, nature, and meaning.

So she left Morocco and trained in Paris as a naturopath, leading fasting retreats, helping people take care of their guts, and learn about the microbiome. She first tasted kombucha in Paris: Karma Kombucha, the major brand in France. After that, an idea kept bubbling up: to move back to Morocco and create a fun, healthy, living drink people could enjoy daily, rooted in tradition and crafted with love.

In founding KaBé, she has come full circle: returning to her native Morocco and founding a health company that brings together her industrial family background and her passion for health.

Back home in Morocco, she noticed that a pasteurized, imported kombucha was selling well at Green Village stores. She saw an opportunity to develop her own brand. After two years studying the craft, doing web training, experimenting in her kitchen, and testing to keep alcohol levels below 0.5%, she contacted KBI for documentation that helped the Moroccan authorities write the regulations based on US standards and grant her authorization.

In August 2024, she moved from the kitchen, set up a production unit, and began selling to a few restaurants.

As a predominantly Muslim country where people avoid alcohol, and sugary sodas are causing a diabetes epidemic, kombucha made in Morocco was well received by locals and tourists alike.

We are in a time in Morocco when people are proud to be Moroccan and support Moroccan producers. People like to believe that we can have products of equal quality to those in Europe. Whereas before, if it was from abroad, it was better than Moroccan; we had that 20 years ago. But now, it’s switching, and people are eager to discover Moroccan brands. They are excited to discover something fermented, alive, not alcoholic, and something they should try because it’s funky, it’s complex, there is this acidity and this sugar balance that can be good.

Even though 2025 is her first full year of production, the brand has scaled quickly, selling 40,000 bottles in restaurants, cafes, pharmacies, and large supermarkets, including Carrefour and Super U in Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangier, and Agadir. Breaking into these accounts was not easy:

I worked really, really hard just to have an appointment, and they didn’t even know what kombucha was. I had to explain it to them and tell them that there were only two international brands sold in organic markets. When they heard we were the first Moroccan brand and that kombucha was a trend, they said, “Okay, we are going to give it a shot,” and they were really surprised by the sales.

Media exposure has helped promote her brand. One video went viral, with 700,00 views, leading to inquiries from hotels and cafes asking to stock it.

A wide-ranging 40-minute interview in the ‘One on One with Wiam’ series (in French) she discussed the challenges and rewards of being a woman entrepreneur, establishing a new brand, and becoming a pioneer in the category.

Khadija is a member of the ANFAS collective of women founders, artists, and change makers who, like KBI, believe in collaboration and shared growth. They are based in Morocco with chapters in Paris. Her ANFAS Instagram interview detailed some of the challenges faced by commercial kombucha producers.

Entrepreneurship demands a lot of energy. Nothing ever goes as planned, especially in food production. We’ve had it all: miscalculations, leaks, unexpected spills. I still remember mopping up 50 liters of ice-cold kombucha off the floor, soaked, freezing, and trembling after the scare. We’ve had tea shortages, dosing errors, machines that stop working right in the middle of fermentation. To be honest, I’m always a little tense on production days, at least until every last bottle is filled, capped, and safely tucked away in the cold room.

In addition to the Award-Winning Earl Grey Original, KaBé is available in

• Exotic: Green Tea, Mango, Safflowers, and Cornflower petals.
• Red Fruit: Black tea, Blackcurrants, Rosehips, Apple, Elderberries, Strawberry leaves.
• Ginger: Green tea, Ginger, Lemongrass.

Khadija shares the story of KaBé Kombucha in this exclusive interview recorded in Barcelona.

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