Twenty years ago Kiran Tawadey, a management consultant with two small children, was looking to start her own food business. “At the time I was very concerned about the way much of our food was produced in the UK”, she says. “My son had quite bad eczema, and when I took him to the doctor, he suggested it was due to the food colouring Tartrazine in orange juice.

I was shocked, having grown up in India, where everyone squeezes their own oranges and food is much more natural.” By chance she met Rajah Banerjee of the Makaibari estate in Darjeeling, where over half the land is undisturbed rainforest.

Makaibari was the first tea producer to be certified as biodynamic, following the holistic way of farming according to the rhythms of nature proposed by the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s. It is also certified by the Fairtrade Foundation, which has helped to support social projects for the estate workers, particularly women.

At the time they met, however, Banerjee was selling his teas in the traditional manner to the highest bidder at auction. Tawadey had other ideas. Determined that such singular, pure teas should have a more appreciative audience, she introduced them first to Germany, where, she says, “there was a strong tea shop culture”.

Then she began packaging them for customers in the UK, and in 1995 her own Hampstead Tea label was born. When it won its first award, “everything took off, sales catapulted”, she says. “I was on a mission to change lives and perceptions. We redesigned the craft packs which were a nightmare to produce and started selling to health food stores and independent shops, diversifying and growing slowly.”

Now they sell over 30 biodynamic, organic and Fairtrade teas to around 14 countries. The majority still come from Makaibari, including the award winning White Tea, “a unique leaf tea, hand picked, very artisan”, and Earl Grey, which is made with organic Bergamot, made from the peel of the citrus fruit – “not a synthetic or ‘nature identical’ flavouring, which you find in a lot of Earl Grey and whose strong scent often covers up a poor base tea”, she says. “We let the Bergamot oil bond with the tea rather than overpower it.”

Judges' verdict: “Gourmet’s Earl Grey, with extraordinary cleanness and balance.”

www.hampsteadtea.com 0207 431 9393. From natural food shops, Waitrose, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges. Online via the likes of Abel and Cole, www.abelandcole.co.uk and Daylesford Organic, www.daylesfordorganic.com

Highly Commended

White Leaf Tea Hampstead Tea, London

Commended

White tea with peppermint teabags, Everyday teabags, Papua New Guinea

Three Ginger Tea (ginger, galangal and golden turmeric), Detox tea (aniseed, fennel and cardamon) Pukka herbs

Tea bags Finlay Beverages, Asda

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