Lopa van der Mersch gave birth to her first child during the most stressful year of her life. It was during that difficult season that she found herself drinking multiple cups of coffee each day -- desperate for the energy she needed to make it through the day. All that coffee was also leaving her jittery and fried, a side effect her strained state just couldn't take.
It was out of that place that Lopa created Rasa, a line of brewable coffee alternatives packed with adaptogens and herbs designed to energize while nourishing, instead of depleting.
In the years since, Rasa's Golden Chai with turmeric and shatavari and best-selling Cacao with powerful stress-fighters like reishi and rhodiola have become a way of life for Lopa and her devoted customer base -- so many of them young moms!
How rasa was born:
"necessity is the mother of invention"
Here is Lopa's story and more on the trending coffee alternative for those whose stressed out bods just need more support...
I had my first baby during the most stressful year of my life. (Trust me, it was one for the record books!) In a 6-month period, I had emergency back surgery while pregnant; moved across the country a few days later (we had to buy a van and drive because I couldn’t sit up long enough after the surgery to be on an airplane); had a death in the family; a traumatic emergency Cesarean birth; and then a massive falling out with my family of origin.
I was also in the process of leaving an abusive spiritual community (that legit qualifies as a bonafide cult) and was healing from the complex PTSD from that experience, which included major marital challenges, as well.
It was...a lot.
On top of all these stressors I had this little angel waking me up all hours of the night. Most new moms drink coffee to get through, but my nervous system was so fried that when I tried drinking coffee, it only made things worse.
Learn how to enter to win a full month’s worth of Rasa brewable coffee alt below…
I got curious about how many other people -- especially new moms -- were using coffee in a way that was not serving their highest good and created the line of drinks that I needed myself to energize and replenish my fried system in a whole other way.
the “bone-deep exhaustion” of early motherhood
+ What to expect from drinking Rasa
Rasa features 15 adaptogens across a line of nine blends, all of which help regulate a healthy stress response—meaning, you feel less stressed.
You cannot go wrong with adding adaptogens to your life on a daily basis when you are in early parenthood. Adaptogens do some of their best work during times of upheaval and change, and what is more 'upheavel-y' than caring for a tiny human?
A cup or two of Rasa leaves me feeling less like a hot mess and more at ease with what life throws my way -- think balanced, steady energy that sustains you over time.
The Bold and Calm blends are the best to address energy and stress since they have a supercharged dose that’s really going to trigger your body’s stress-response system into greater strength and resilience. There are over 7000 mg of adaptogens in each of those cups.
Our Original and Cacao blends are wonderful for the early months postpartum—that’s a good time to go with something a bit more gentle. I have clear memories of lying in bed, covered in all those lovely postpartum bodily fluids, sipping Original Rasa with oat milk and viscerally feeling it plumping up my depleted cells.
When you’re ready to feel love again, our Spicy Rose Cacao blend really helped me get my libido back in the game after having children. Now my husband brews it for me as a come-on.
Our star product is Cacao -- a universal favorite. Our newest blend, Golden Chai has already become a best-seller and I think that’s because of its (#humblebrag coming) supremely bioavailable turmeric extract—7x more available than most of what’s on the market. It also features boswellia, aka frankincense, to support physical recovery after movement and exercise. It tastes incredible thanks to vanilla and chai spices.
Learn how to enter to WIN a full week’s worth below…
Our Super Happy Sunshine 'Joy Tonic' contains an amazing herb that's yet to have its moment in the sun, but our core customers know. Sceletium, also known as kanna or “Nature’s MDMA" impacts both serotonin and dopamine levels, and my experience is that a cup or two (which contains 15 mg sceletium per cup) gives me a “damn, it’s a good day” feeling -- a sunny mood and resilience, no matter how hectic my day.
Sceletium is a succulent that’s sacred to the San tribe of South Africa, used by warriors to shed the weight of battle and open their hearts in connection with each other. Our sceletium is sourced via an ethical partnership with the San tribe, where they get a significant percentage of revenue. This feels especially important in a world where we tend to turn what’s sacred into commodities for others, with little regard for tradition or paying homage to the people that have stewarded its medicine, oftentimes for millennia.
Our sourcing is incredibly sustainable, ethical, and herbalist-formulated so you know you’re getting a truly functional product -- not just some trendy ingredients in minute amounts.
facts on Stress, afternoon jitters + coffee
Many people do not realize that the coffee they drink in the morning is usually responsible for that “wired yet tired” feeling we get in the afternoon.
Coffee messes with your cortisol cycle which naturally peaks in the morning. When you drink coffee every day, your body’s like, “Oh cool, I don’t need to make this in the morning anymore, this dark brown stuff does it for me” and adjusts its production accordingly. But our bodies often adjust by spiking cortisol in the afternoon instead. This is actually when you want melatonin production to start, not cortisol.
When I had my baby, I remember even one of my staunchest wellness friends looking at me slyly and whispering out of the corner of her mouth, “This is the time you just guzzle coffee.”
I did and, though I'd never tolerated coffee well, the result wasn’t just garden variety jitters and low-level anxiety. We’re talking bouts of rage and waking up into panic attacks in the middle of the night. A hard no for me.
Since launching Rasa, I've found that I'm not alone. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, they say that coffee “borrows energy from tomorrow to fuel today.” Coffee is extractive energy, and can leave you with a laundry list of side effects in its wake like jitters, anxiety, restlessness and trouble sleeping.
The regenerative energy provided by Rasa -- thanks to adaptogens and functional mushrooms -- helps refill your energy immediately and over time. These functional herbs have long been used to support our stress levels and having them blended into these delicious brews has absolutely changed my life.
Meet rasa's best-sellers:
Calm + Golden CHai
rasa Calm 7800mg Adaptogens, 0mg Caffeine | With 7800mg of calming adaptogens, a clinically-studied effective dose of ashwagandha and reishi, plus blue lotus and blue vervain, Calm gives you the same level of “ahhhh” as a glass of wine after work, without the, well, wine. I also drink it after getting the kids to bed—it’s a great start to my own wind-down routine with hints of date and vanilla.
rasa Golden Chai 1400mg Adaptogens, 0mg Caffeine | Our Recovery Tonic for post-exercise is as delicious as it is functional, and features the world’s most bioavailable turmeric extract—7x more bioavailable than the standard turmeric you see in many products. Vanilla, frankincense, plus chai spices make for a delicious and effective recovery beverage that’s my go-to after martial arts practice.
How To Brew: Brewing all the Rasa blends is simple. You just need boiling water, time, and a way to strain the herbs. We recommend a french press because it’s such a delightful ritual, but Rasa also brews fabulously in a Moka pot (my go-to for the hottest, fastest Rasa), an espresso machine -- or you can also just use a mason jar with a fine mesh strainer.
Enter to Win Rasa
at home for 1 month:
WHAT YOU'LL WIN:
3 lucky winners will receive Rasa’s Ritual Sample Pack -- including a free french press! -- to try Rasa's adaptogenic coffee alternatives at home for a month. The Pack includes 4 servings each of 8 coffee alternative blends to find the one that best match your energy needs. It also comes with a 4-serving sample of Créme de la Creamer, a beautifying plant-based adaptogenic creamer!
HOW TO ENTER:
Want to win? Head to to the comments section below and tell us why you need Rasa’s stress-busting superfood drinks in your life! We'll select 3 of the best comments to send Rasa’s Ritual Sample Pack and french press with Créme de la Creamer. Note: After two weeks, we will check in with our winners to ask for a genuine review of their experience to share here!
The post This Coffee Alternative Was Born Out Of The Exhaustion Of Early Motherhood appeared first on The Chalkboard.
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