The 圆 in our name is my nickname. The 甜 means sweet—because that's what we want for you: something sweet in your day, something sweet in your life, and your health slowly catching up.
That's how the name came about.
I never set out to start a business. I was under a lot of stress back then, staying up late most nights. I looked worn out, and my hands and feet were cold year-round.
I started with bird's nest and drank it for a few months. I did feel better. But bird's nest was only ever a drink to me. Nothing to chew on, and it never filled me up.
Then I switched to fish maw milk, and this one suited me much better. It has texture, it fills you up, and on busy days I could just have it as a meal.
To me it felt every bit as nourishing as bird's nest. A few months in, I was properly hooked.
I'd bought the ready-made ones before. But honestly, fish maw milk that keeps for months just doesn't sit right with me.
I know sterilisation is a thing. I know you can make something last without preservatives. I get the science. I just can't bring myself to drink it, and the taste is off anyway.
And the bigger problem was I had no say in it. Want it less sweet? Nope. Want to swap an ingredient? Also nope.
So I figured I might as well stew it myself. The more I stewed, the more I thought there must be others like me—tired, wanting to take care of themselves, not sure where to start. So I made extra and shared it.
That's how SweetBites (甜圆鲜炖) began.
---
I'll admit I'm a bit obsessive. The most troublesome part of fish maw is the cleaning, and if you're careless with that one step, the whole batch turns out fishy.
The thing is, I can't stand anything fishy. So every day, the fish maw gets cleaned until it's spotless. If I can't look at it and feel good about it, I'm not stewing it.
Some days the cleaning takes the whole day. Then it takes the whole day. It's not a step you can skip anyway.
Same story with the milk—we stewed with almost every brand on the shelf, and of course the one we finally agreed on was the most expensive.
We'd tested it, so that's what we use. It is what it is.
The day before stewing, we count exactly how much we need, then soak and prep only that. We don't make extra and we don't keep stock.
So the bottle you get was stewed that same day. We're fine making less. We'd rather be slow than send out a single bottle we wouldn't drink ourselves.
There was one customer who had been through a lot of sellers—finish one set, switch to another, again and again. After trying ours, she told me, "Yours is really a case of you get what you pay for. No fishy taste at all, and even my kids like it."
She's still drinking it today. Never switched again. We still think about that.
---
That's also why we prefer to chat a bit first. When someone messages us, we usually ask how they've been feeling lately, whether they're working on anything health-wise.
Fish maw milk and bird's nest aren't right for everyone at every stage, and neither is every flavor. Some people suit something more warming. Some just want something comforting in the morning.
Once we know where you're at, we can tell whether to recommend anything at all, and if so, which one. If it sounds like you don't really need it right now, we'll tell you straight.
Take your time—we're not going anywhere. We'd rather you start because you actually want to. It tastes different that way.
Nourishing yourself was never about one bottle. It's about keeping at it until one day you catch yourself thinking, "eh, something feels different."
We'd like to be around when that day comes.
