In our Q&A Series, Self Bloom Co aims to put a spotlight on the incredible founders we are so thrilled to partner with, that are truly doing incredible things and creating such magic in their businesses. We dive into what inspired them to start their businesses, their business journey so far, their favourite products, what self-care means to them and their own self-care rituals.
Let's lower the shoulders, take a deep breath, and find a moment for us and immerse yourself in this read.
Meet Emma, a naturopath and Founder of Love Tea.
Love Tea skilfully craft, blend and pack each of their products in Melbourne, Australia. They collaborate with growers and small scale cooperatives around the world to fairly source organic ingredients.
They thoughtfully design each of our unique products, to ensure optimum therapeutic benefit, exceptional flavour and minimal impact on the environment.
Love Tea hopes its tea inspires you to make time to appreciate the quiet moments, take care of your health, and to share great tea with people you love.
Tell us a little about Love Tea? When did you launch?
In 2006, I was in my second year at university studying Naturopathy and as I started working with herbal medicine, I fell in love with the idea of making herbs more accessible to people. I wanted to reduce the barriers between plants and people, supporting individuals on their journey to wellness. I started tinkering with different herbs and teas and began by creating a wholesome, authentic chai tea blend.
At this time, I met my partner (now husband) Damien Amos and he joined the journey to bring a range of wholesome tea blends to life. He came from a background of biodynamic farming, and he was passionate about creating a purpose driven business and ensuring each ingredient we used was certified organic and fair trade where possible. Love Tea was launched based on an authentic desire to create the highest quality tea blends, to support individuals on their journey to wellness.
Tell us a little about you?
I am a Mother to three children, a Naturopath and the Founder of Love Tea. I was raised by parents that were somewhat alternative, they were vegetarian, and Mum was a Naturopath and Massage therapist. She would look to natural medicine before conventional medicine and we were raised with a deep understanding and appreciation for natural medicine. My love of learning about herbs and supplements only grew and I couldn’t wait to study Naturopathy. I felt most at home when I was immersed in natural medicine.
What inspired you to create Love Tea?
As a naturopath, I saw many common health conditions present time and time again, from poor sleep and anxiety, to digestive issues and poor immune health. I felt driven to create tea blends that provided access to herbs that had traditionally been used to support these common conditions. I wanted people to be able to access these herbs without having to spend a huge amount of time and money. I wanted to empower them to take better care of their health and to support them on their journey to wellness. We also wanted to create products that were certified organic, fair trade and hand crafted in Australia.
How has the business journey been so far?
The journey has been amazing. We have put in a huge amount of time and effort, and we have worked extremely hard to get to where we are today. I often think back to when Damien and I were literally ordering the smallest quantities of ingredients and blending tea at my parent’s house, delivering each order ourselves. We would literally drive to each store asking if they would like to stock Love Tea. I remember long days outside at markets, challenged by the weather and setting up a stall at 6am on the weekend. I can remember days where I had set up the entire stall, and then it started raining, I packed it all up again and went home. There were many challenges along the way and a great deal of hard work. I remember driving from Melbourne to Sydney for a one-day event, setting up a stall and working from 9-5 without a break, we drove back that night to fly to Sri Lanka on a sourcing trip the next morning. It has been a lot of hard work, but I think it is the challenge that makes the success all the sweeter. Fast forward to now and we have a range of over 50 unique products, we supply over 300 stores, hotels, and restaurants in Australia. We also supply stores through New Zealand, Japan, and Hong Kong and we have a wonderful team of around 14 staff working to share Love Tea with the world. It has come a long way, and we are super excited for the journey from here.
Being a naturopath, what do you consider when creating a new tea?
Each blend comes from an authentic desire to help. A blend will only be created if we feel there is a real need for it, if we feel we can actually make a difference to someone’s journey towards wellness. From there, we begin the research process and refine our ingredients. We then start the trial-and-error process which can take months. Once we reach a point where we are happy with the entire product, we can work towards launching it. There is so much involved in reaching the final product that I think it is really important to be super clear from the beginning, that we can create a product that is of great benefit. I think when you start from a place of holistic, honest and authentic intention, focussed on helping people improve their health, you will naturally have the greatest results.
What's special or unique about the teas from Love Tea?
I think our approach and our intention is quite unique to us, (as mentioned above.) Our greatest intention is to help people improve their health and we take a great deal of care with everything we do to ensure the products we produce, are designed and crafted with a great deal of care. We choose to use certified organic ingredients, as we believe that chemicals used on conventional crops have negative impacts on our health and the health of the planet. We choose to source fair trade ingredients wherever possible and pay fair trade premiums to support the growers and their communities. We are dedicated to donating 1% of revenues to a range of environmental organisations as part of our commitment to 1% for the Planet. We believe it is our environmental responsibility to reduce our negative impact on the environment. We hand craft our products right here in Australia with a small team of individuals, who care about the products they craft and who believe in making a difference in the world.
Do you have a favourite tea and why?
I honestly feel a deep connection to the new Ayurvedic tea range. I love that this trio of teas is inclusive and that there is at least one tea for everyone. I love the idea of diving deeper into our dominant dosha, to discover more about our unique state of health and then looking at how we can work to improve our health and create more balance in our lives.
Tell us about the 3 new Ayurvedic teas and why you have released them?
These three blends were a long time coming, we worked hard to ensure we had carefully considered the individual traits unique to each dosha, and then deeply considered ingredients that could work synergistically to offer the greatest benefit to each dosha.
This range includes three unique blends and has something for everyone. Based on Ayurvedic traditions, this trio of teas has been designed based on three basic principles called doshas, which are derived from five elements. These three different energies manifest in different combinations known as Vata, Pitta and Kapha.
We developed a questionnaire which you can access via our website, which takes around two minutes and allows you to narrow down the dosha you resonate most closely with, Vata, Pitta or Kapha. This tea range is welcoming and inclusive, as there is a blend for everyone. Each blend has been designed to help balance, harmonise and support your dominant dosha.
Any hopes, dreams or plans for the business in the future?
Always. There is still so much we would love to do, to continue helping people on their wellness journey and to have a positive impact on their health. As a naturopath I am passionate about natural medicine and I am always looking for new ways to bring people closer to plants, and to help them reach their health potential.
What does self care mean to you?
Self-care is about listening to what feeds you, what nourishes your body and soul and what doesn’t. Every individual has been on a unique journey and has different needs, so self-care needs to be tailored to the individual. However, there are three elements I feel are universal, that everyone can benefit from. These are plants, meditation, and yoga. Plants being herbal medicine, and plant-based foods. Meditation can be a class, 5 minutes on your lunch break or an evening ritual, or a walking meditation, whatever feels right for you at that time. Yoga could be a daily ritual or an occasional class, but this grounding practice offers great health benefits and is a beautiful self-care ritual.
Do you have any self-care rituals? Tell us about them.
I practice yoga regularly. I do this in class once or twice a week and at home throughout the week. I don’t have a set practice, I tend to follow the lead of what my body needs most at that time. My family eat a plant based diet and we don’t eat meat, so I have great opportunity to ensure we enjoy a wide range of wholesome vegetables and fruits. I believe there is a great deal of self care in the creation of wholesome meals for ourselves and others. I think self care can also be worked into the smaller things in life too, like I use essential oils to create blends I wear instead of buying perfumes. I choose beach walks instead of gyms, so as this way I am able to spend more time in nature, get more fresh air and be out in the elements to ground and balance me. I don’t watch T.V as I don’t feel it is good for me. Instead, I will watch a film, read a book, journal or do yoga. I believe our “spare time” is precious and can easily be lost to great distraction that devices often bring, so I avoid using them at home. I find I am at my best when I am in the sun, physically active and have adequate rest, so I try to ensure I prioritise these things each day. I enjoy our Sleep tea each night before bed. I find it helps me sleep more deeply but it is also a beautiful way to finish the day, to switch off and relax.
Is there something self-care related you are keen to explore next?
My kids are now 12, 7 and 4. I feel as though it has been quite challenging to balance three kids, work and finding time for self-care. The latter is usually the one that falls away when I am super busy and don’t have time for everything. Now that the kids are more independent and less reliant on me, I hope to open up this space for more self-care and put more time into looking after myself. To me, this could look like more consistent yoga and meditation practice, more time exercising in nature and reading more books, carving out more time for self-care.
Check out our range of Love Tea loose leaf and pyramid tea bag styles HERE
