From student contest to Michelin tables: Saicho's sparkling tea success
From student contest to Michelin tables: Saicho's sparkling tea success
A sparkling tea business started in a university competition has now found its way into some of Europe's top restaurants. Natalie Chiu and her husband launched Saicho after winning £5,000 in 2018. Their drinks are now served in Michelin-starred kitchens across Germany and beyond. Natalie Chiu grew up in Hong Kong before moving to the UK to study food science. She later earned a PhD in flavour chemistry, inspired partly by her father's work in the perfume industry. Her own alcohol intolerance led her and her husband to create an alternative: sparkling tea.
The couple won £5,000 in a university entrepreneurship contest in 2018. They used the prize to develop Saicho, launching commercially the following year. In their first 12 months, the business made around £45,000 in sales.
Since then, the team has expanded from two people to 24. Last year, Chiu left her full-time job to focus entirely on the company. By March 2026, Saicho's products were being poured in elite restaurants, including Berlin's three-Michelin-starred Tim Raue, two-starred Essence, and one-starred NENI. Together, these venues hold a total of 12 Michelin stars. What began as a small-scale idea now supplies some of Europe's most prestigious dining spots. The company's growth reflects rising demand for high-quality non-alcoholic drinks. Saicho's journey from a student project to Michelin tables took less than a decade.
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