As an example of the disc’s potential, Mazing explains how tea made from monk fruit from a local herbal shop would take at least 30 minutes to brew but their disc can produce a cup of the same tea in just 40 seconds. The Lify Wellness team has designed a whole ecosystem wherein the raw materials inside the disc—like flowers and fruit—are cut into very precise granular sizes and mixed by a custom production line in Hong Kong. A special chamber inside the company’s proprietary machine steeps the inserted disc’s contents under high pressure, allowing minuscule brew time.

To cater to the needs of everyone, Lify has healthy cold drinks with its herbal tea tonics. These sugar-free sparkling drinks have already made appearances over the last year at Hong Kong’s top-rated spas and five-star hotels like The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong and The Upper House. It even proved popular at events like the Tatler Gen.T Summit 2023. Mazing and Connie have crafted smart solutions to be absolutely and scientifically sure the potable you pick is specifically right for you.

Mazing says, “We started by targeting health concerns that people had, like gut health, mental health and skin radiance; we wanted to offer individual solutions. We have an app that recommends what to drink based on a simple health questionnaire. We worked with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctors and herbal scientists from the West to design the questionnaire and also the formulations.”

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Lify’s app is growing more advanced than just a survey. Its new AI facial tools will be able to scan the movement of blood in your face and suggest an appropriate beverage from the catalogue of drinks based on factors like blood pressure. These cutting-edge tools show the evolution of Lify’s identity as a company and brand, especially as it looks to partner up with established players to expand to markets in Europe like the UK.

Mazing says, “We’re not a traditional tea company talking about our heritage roots. We are a new-generation, wellness platform enabler that’s interested in working with old or traditional reputable brands to offer this new dimension of East meets West herbal formulations that are proven to work. We have the technology to show quantifiable results and are working with local universities that have a very long-standing history of TCM with clinics and operators. These are all new ways of interpreting knowledge so that drinks can be purpose-driven, functional and delicious, all at the same time.”

If having made their mark in convenient healthy drinking wasn’t enough, Connie’s research team at Elevatefoods Technology, the R&D venture started by the Lees at HKUST is leading the Lees’ charge into the next frontier: Convenient healthy eating via 3D printed food. Connie serves as founder and CEO while Mazing is the Head of Strategy

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Connie says, “As a team, we’re trying to answer the question of how we can create tailor-made nutritious food quicker, easier and better. This has always been a challenge for food tech scientists and entrepreneurs—trying to create something more individualised for daily living. When we looked at the existing ways of cooking and preparing food, we saw a lot of people with different personal preferences or medical needs.”

The next-generation food-printing device the Elevatefoods team has built can deliver ready-to-eat baked food within a few minutes from scratch. Items include cookies or fortified bread with vitamins and supplements. It can precisely calculate different compounds needed for a person’s fibre, fat, or sugar levels.

Not only can it produce baked goods in very complex shapes, but its level of heat control can allow different levels of crispiness and texture within a single item. This doesn’t make for just a more pleasant eating experience. By heating at optimal temperatures, the printer can preserve the maximum amount of nutritional value in what it bakes. The team hopes to find more partners to provide healthy snacks in care homes for the elderly and customised edibles for corporates, F&B and retail.

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Connie is aware of the concerns people have regarding 3D-printed food and wants to alleviate them. She says, “There are a lot of research papers about how people perceive this kind of tech; that it’s alien food in some way and they are frightened to eat it. So we want to partner with gastronomic experts like chefs to create meals that are otherwise impossible to create and show the benefits.”

Commenting on their ethos, she adds, “Some of our partners asked us to reprint whole cakes just like the ones they already make in their factories but that’s not what we're trying to do. We’re trying to look into how we can create healthier and better diets.”

Meet more entrepreneurs revolutionising Food & Beverage on the Gen.T List.

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