"Himalko" means Of the Himalayas in Nepali — and that's really the whole story in three words.
in Nepal
A cup that tasted like home
Long before there was a company, there was just tea — the everyday kind, brewed the way it's always been brewed in the hills of eastern Nepal. Grown at altitude, hand-rolled, nothing industrial about it. But it was never just about what was in the cup. In Nepal, tea is how the day starts and how people stay connected to each other — a morning ritual, a reason neighbors stop by, a five-minute pause that coworkers take together instead of alone. It wasn't something anyone thought to describe, because it was just what mornings were supposed to feel like.
MJ arrives in the United States
Co-founder Manoj "MJ" Yadav moved to the U.S. in 2018. Somewhere between settling in and building a new life here, he went looking for the tea he'd grown up on. Grocery store shelves had plenty of tea — Indian, Chinese, British blends by the dozen — but nothing from Nepal, and nothing that tasted like the cup he actually wanted.
Himalko is founded
MJ wasn't alone in noticing the gap. Together with co-founders Ajeet and Pragyan, he decided that if the tea didn't exist here, they'd bring it here themselves — sourced directly from the gardens they knew, not filtered through a wholesaler's blend of "Himalayan-style" tea grown somewhere else entirely.
Launch in the United States
Himalko opens for business out of Eagan, Minnesota. The plan was never to be the biggest tea company in America — just an honest one, selling exactly what it says it sells: single-origin tea from Ilam, direct from the families who grow it.
Still small, on purpose
Co-founders MJ, Ajeet, and Pragyan still run Himalko out of Eagan. MJ now also serves as Co-Chair of the Minnesota Tea Society, working alongside other tea people in the state to grow interest in loose-leaf and specialty tea more broadly — not just Himalko's own. He's also a fitness enthusiast who drinks the tea daily himself, which is one more reason quality was never up for negotiation.
More Than a Drink
Chiya Time
In Nepal, tea isn't something you grab and drink alone at a desk. Most mornings start with dudh chiya — milk tea brewed at home before anything else happens, shared with whoever's in the room. Neighbors stop by for a cup. Coworkers step outside for one together instead of scrolling their phones apart. Up in the Himalayan regions, people reach for su cha, a butter tea instead. It happens again in the afternoon, and again when guests arrive, because in Nepal, showing up empty-handed with no tea offered would be strange.
It's less a beverage and more an excuse to sit down with someone for five minutes — which, on a busy day, turns out to matter more than the tea itself. Tea is what makes people pause, talk, and stay connected. It's social first, a drink second.
The families growing our leaf in Ilam understand this better than anyone. They're not just growing a crop — they're growing the thing that holds mornings, neighborhoods, and friendships together, one cup at a time.
