Profile: KaBé Kombucha, Casablanca, Morocco

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.

Award Winning

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!

Background

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.

Opportunity

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.