Today we’d like to introduce you to Sonia Gupta.
Hi Sonia, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My journey into mixology started more than a decade ago. I started bartending as a side hustle in college, but over time, I became really interested by the way a drink could tell a story, through flavor, presentation, technique, and even nostalgia.
As a first-generation Indian American, I began looking at the flavors I grew up with through the lens of mixology. Ingredients like cardamom, chai, tamarind, rose, kokum, and tulsi aren’t flavors I had seen represented in modern mixology culture, and I wanted to explore what could happen when they were treated with the same creativity and intention as more familiar cocktail ingredients.
That curiosity led to my instagram Sip with Soni, where I began sharing Indian-inspired cocktails, mocktails, coffee drinks, and more experimental concepts. Over the years, it has grown into opportunities to work with brands, host mixology experiences, consult for businesses, compete in cocktail competitions, and create digital recipe books. One of my proudest early moments was winning my first cocktail competition with a saffron, cardamom, and passion fruit gin fizz, a drink that really represented my creativity and heritage.
What has been most exciting is realizing that my work doesn’t have to fit into one category. I can be a mixologist, a creator, a consultant, a storyteller, and an entrepreneur at the same time. That eventually led me to build Sip Social Experience, my events and beverage-curation business, and most recently Indriya, my own line of Indian-inspired syrups designed for cocktails, mocktails, coffee, desserts, and everyday creativity.
Today, I’m still driven by the same thing that started it all, taking flavors that feel deeply familiar to me and presenting them in ways that feel modern, unexpected, and approachable. I want people to experience Indian flavors beyond the contexts they may already know them in, and hopefully see just how versatile and exciting they can be.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. Building a career as a content creator in mixology while also creating something rooted in my culture has required a lot of patience, persistence, and willingness to keep going when the path is unknown.
One of the biggest challenges has been learning how to take flavors that are deeply familiar to me and introduce them to audiences who may not have known how to understand or use them in a cocktail. Ingredients like saffron, cardamom, tamarind, kokum, and tulsi can be incredibly versatile, but they are not always immediately familiar. I’ve often spent a lot of time finding the balance between honoring where these flavors come from and presenting them in a way that feels approachable and intriguing.
Another struggle has been trusting my own vision. When you are doing something that is not mainstream or familiar, it can be difficult to explain it to other people, and sometimes even make you doubt yourself. There have been times when I questioned if people even care to try Indian flavors in beverages. There are also moments when I questioned whether people would understand the connection between Sip with Soni, Sip Social Experience, and Indriya, but I eventually realized that they are all expressions of the same purpose; creating memorable experiences through flavor, culture, and storytelling.
The setbacks have taught me to be more adaptable and patient. Not every idea has worked exactly as planned, and not every opportunity has turned into something long-term. But each experience has helped me refine my voice, strengthen my business instincts, and become more confident in what I bring to the industry.
So no, it has not been a straight or easy road. But the challenges have also been some of the most valuable parts of the journey. They have pushed me to keep evolving, stay connected to my roots, and create something that feels genuinely my own.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
After years of creating Indian-inspired cocktails, mocktails, coffee drinks, syrups, infusions, and other flavor components through Sip with Soni, I kept coming back to the same thought, these flavors deserve a place beyond my own recipes. I wanted to create something people could bring into their own homes, bars, coffee routines, and celebrations without needing to be a mixologist to use it.
Indriya is an Indian-inspired syrup brand rooted in familiar flavors and designed for modern sipping, serving, and creating. The goal is to take ingredients and flavor combinations that feel nostalgic and deeply connected to Indian culture and present them in a way that feels elevated, versatile, and approachable. The syrups are designed to work across cocktails, mocktails, coffee, desserts, and other everyday drinks, so they are not limited to one type of consumer or occasion.
Our first flavor is Saffron Cardamom, which is especially meaningful to me because both ingredients have been such a strong part of my creative identity as a mixologist. They are flavors I have returned to repeatedly in cocktails, competition drinks, coffee, and desserts, so it felt very natural for them to become the starting point for Indriya.
What I think sets the brand apart is that it was developed from a self taught mixologist and creator’s perspective. I am constantly thinking about balance, aroma, texture, versatility, and how an ingredient actually performs in a finished drink. I did not want to create a syrup that only tasted good on its own; I wanted something that could inspire people to create with it.
I am also very intentional about the way Indriya is presented. The brand is rooted in Indian flavor, but visually and creatively I want it to feel modern and editorial. I want someone to see the bottle on a bar cart or coffee station and immediately feel curious about it.
What I am most proud of is that Indriya feels like a natural evolution of my work rather than a separate business idea. It takes everything I have learned through bartending, content creation, hospitality, recipe development, and cultural storytelling and turns it into something tangible that other people can experience for themselves.
Ultimately, I want Indriya to help expand the way people think about Indian flavors. They do not have to exist only in traditional dishes or special occasions. They can belong in your morning coffee, your evening cocktail, a dessert, a mocktail, or whatever you feel inspired to create.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something people may not realize is how much of my work starts with very ordinary memories or moments.
My dad has made chai every day for as long as I can remember, and so many of the flavors I now use professionally, cardamom, saffron, chai spices, rose, tamarind, were an everyday part of my life long before I ever thought of them as ingredients for cocktails or products.
I think people sometimes see the finished drink, the styling, or the more experimental techniques and assume that is where the idea begins. But a lot of the time, it actually starts with something much simpler: a flavor I grew up with, a food memory, something my family made, or an ingredient that reminds me of a particular moment.
That contrast is probably one of my favorite parts of what I do, taking something so familiar and personal and finding a completely new way to experience it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sipindriya.com, linktr.ee/sipwithsoni
- Instagram: @sipwithsoni, @sipindriya
