A small Port Elliot enterprise has been named South Australia’s Best Tea House for the second successive year.

Wildfire Organic Tea in Hill Street was named the best tea house in the Golden Leaf Awards, billed as Australia’s premier tea awards.

Owner Jane Burke was thrilled when she received the email announcement while, appropriately, sitting in a tea house in India.

Jane says Wildfire Organic Tea is unique in that it is much more than just selling cups of tea.

“This is a working tea house. We wholesale tea, we handcraft and blend teas on the premises.

“We are the only tea house in SA that does that. You can meet the maker and the person who has blended it.”

Alongside the tea house, Jane runs a medical herbalist practice on the premises, which offers formulated tea blends for helping with sleep and detoxing, and other health needs.

Wildfire Organic Tea is sold and served at 35 outlets throughout Australia and online.

Jane says the secret to a good tea is don’t follow rules.

“The beauty of tea is you can blend it, steep it and drink it however you want to.

“For herbal teas it’s important to make sure you add the tea to boiling water, but how you brew it, 3-5 minutes or longer, depends on your tastes and the tea itself. Basically, it’s up to the consumer.”

Jane says the most popular herbal tea in the range is the Protect Me Immunity Tea because it’s refreshingly mint-flavoured with all the health benefits of the organic herbs to boost your immune system.

As a regular drinking tea, the South Coast Tea is popular as it’s organic and is bold enough to be used as a black breakfast tea.

And you won’t find a teabag in sight at Wildfire Organic Tea; every tea is blended and designed to be brewed in a pot.