Tea boy makes the break

NEWS LIFE:Master blender Jörg Muller is a growing phenomenon in Irish coffee shops

JÖRG MULLER may only be 30 years old, but he is somewhat accustomed to making life-altering decisions. Growing up near Stuttgart in Germany, his path seemed mapped out for him while still at school.

At this stage, he was a highly successful gymnast, qualifying for German youth teams. International competition beckoned, as did the Olympic Games. It seemed like a natural progression, with such a talent. Then, at the age of 15, he stopped - anticipating the pitfalls, as well as the advantages, of highly commercialised sport at this level.

Now based in Galway, his latest career decision has not been quite so traumatic, but different, nonetheless. Having qualified as a medical herbalist, he has moved into the world of suits and marketing speak and balance sheets as managing director of his own company.

And if that sounds like one of the back flips he may have accomplished so effortlessly during his gym days, he doesn't see it like that. Yes, he is now an entrepreneur, and just last month won a Galway award for same. Yes, the company he runs with partner Karin Wieland has secured several other prestigious plaudits in the food business.

Yes, those chamber of commerce gatherings may take on a whole new dimension - but so far, he hasn't traded in the moped for a BMW.

He is also determined to maintain links with his former career, which developed almost accidentally when completing a year with one of the Camphill communities for people with mixed abilities in Co Wexford.

"I was obliged to do compulsory military service in Germany after school, but you could volunteer for a community or social project as an alternative to military training - which I did. During that year in Ireland, I was asked to develop a herb garden, and then I began blending teas from those herbs for about 90 people in the community.

"I had some knowledge of herbs through my mother, who is Czech, and who always used them - to the extent that neither I nor my sister have ever had an antibiotic. So after I returned to Germany, I thought of studying herbal medicine. The problem in Germany is that the sector is virtually controlled by the pharmaceutical companies."

He spent that year at home harvesting wild herbs for an up-market restaurant. "I was out eight hours a day, watching plants grow." He then applied successfully for a four-year degree course in herbal medicine at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, England. He subsidised his study by blending teas for a local coffee house. "They found that they were selling more herbal teas than coffee in the end!"

On qualifying, he came to Galway to work in the herbal medicine clinic run by Dr Dilis Clare, GP. "I was still doing a bit of tea blending myself with herbs, and Dr Clare was very encouraging when I decided to try to make the most of a gap in the market here."

He completed a course in public relations and marketing at the Western Management Centre. "It was really around that time, two years ago, that herbal teas really began to take off here in Ireland, I think, and people began to recognise their healing qualities," he says.

As a herbalist, however, he could spot the genuine article from the more processed approach. "A whole leaf tea retains its anti-oxidants. If it isn't actually whole leaf, it loses them."

Solaris Botanicals, as the company was titled, began selling blends in simple brown packaging, with labelling indicating the qualities of particular combinations - such as "digestive" tea and "energy" tea. A children's tea named "Mogli" proved to be very popular.

The company was selected by Enterprise Ireland and Musgrave as one of a group of nine new businesses to receive special training and support in retail, finance, marketing and quality control. The "First Sale" programme, which was initiated by Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin last February, is supported by Bord Bia and is designed to enable "early stage" food firms to understand the requirements of large retailers.

It has allowed Solaris Botanicals to branch out from health food shops and delicatessens into larger retail outlets. A "speciality" range of teas now comes in smart boxes, ranging from organic earl grey to organic lapsang souchong. For Valentine's Day, he is preparing flowering tea bulbs. When steeped in hot water, the flower buds blossom slowly - thus a glass tea pot is imperative. The bulbs are prepared in China, where white jasmine-scented tea leaves are hand sewn into flower buds with cotton thread. He sources much of his raw material for the specialty teas in China and India, while he is supplied with herbs by farms in Galway and Co Cork.

The organic certification means even the soil quality for the material has to be checked independently. "Organic certification is very important in tea, because pesticides are used most intensively of all on tea farms, and some of these pesticides are even soluble in water."

The company is now selling in Ireland, Britain and France, has won six Great Taste awards, and employs four people in Ballybane, Galway. "We didn't take out any major bank overdrafts as we grew very slowly, and even our packaging, which is recyclable, was developed on a shoestring budget," he says.

Aware of the risk of being swallowed up by the world of business, Muller says he is still practising herbal medicine one day a week to "keep me grounded". As with many businesses in the west, he is looking forward to the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway next May - Tourism Ireland and the Good Food Network have been making the most of the other 10 stopover ports to market Irish food and drink.

However, he may have a problem with the English skipper of the Irish-Chinese entry, Green Dragon. Writing his blog en route to Capetown from Alicante last October, Ian Walker recalled how he does "like a nice cup of tea every now and then.

"Tom kindly made the tea going off watch last night, and I was treated to green tea with cranberry juice plus milk!

"I can't tell you the disappointment this brings . . ." Walker wrote. "Herbal tea bags may be okay for girls and hippies, but have no place on this boat."

Muller smiles at the comments. He may well have a steaming mug of jasmine dragon pearl for Walker when he docks in Galway in May.