The sound you make when something hits exactly right. Relief, delight, the first sip on a hot afternoon.
Founded by Anuja Bagri, UFF! is a sparkling non-alcoholic spritz built on the flavors of the South Asian table. The philosophy is simple: pull them out of the dusty “ethnic” aisle, put them front and center, and get everyone excited about them.
From the family tables I grew up at, to the girls I grew up with, and the seven countries in between.
I grew up between two worlds. Some of the years that shaped me most were the ones I spent as a kid in Calcutta, where every meal was an event and every drink had a reason.
The drinks especially. Imli ki chutney thinned out with soda, the glass my nana would hand me on a scorching afternoon, then watch me take the first sip to see if I understood what I was tasting. Aam panna made from roasted green mangoes, so smoky and tart it woke up taste buds I didn't know I had, poured tall with torn mint, only ever in summer. Nimbu paani with cumin, sour and sweet and a little savoury all in the same mouthful, the glass my mum pressed into my hands after a bad day. Sharbat the colour of rose or khus or bel, whatever was around, filled always a little too high and never with ice unless you asked twice.
There's a reason those glasses landed the way they did. In our cooking there are six tastes, the rasas: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. A good dish or drink touches several at once, and that's what makes it feel finished instead of just nice. One glass could cool you down and steady you at the same time. Your whole body just said yes, this is exactly right.
After a string of health issues in my consulting years, I cut out alcohol. Around the same time I gave up my lease and spent seven months travelling solo through seven countries, no permanent address, just a carry-on and a list of places I'd been saving up.
Travel runs on alcohol. The wine in Italy, the mezcal in Mexico, the cocktail bar humming in every hotel lobby. I ordered around all of it, drank a lot of sad mocktails, and tried every non-alcoholic spritz I could find. Not one of them was the drink I actually wanted.
So I made UFF!: the drink for the dinner party that runs late, for long sunsets and longer laughs, for the people you love and the nights you don't want to end. Real fruit, whole spices, flavors that deserve the front of the shelf.
It's available now. If you've been waiting for this too, come get a case.
Usage“One sip in, she said it out loud. UFF! That’s the whole sentence.”
See alsohai, oof, and wow (insufficient).
The flavors that raised us deserve to lead.
