About us
Our unique range of organic herbal remedies and award winning teas are based on the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda – ‘the art of living wisely.’ We set up Pukka Herbs to make the wonders of this wisdom easily accessible to everyone.
Pukka is a Hindi word meaning ‘authentic’, ‘genuine’ or more colloquially ‘top quality’. It comes from the Sanskrit ‘pakwa’ and this sentiment of offering the best quality organic Ayurvedic herbs and service is what we at Pukka Herbs are all about.
How it all started...
Pukka Herbs was founded in 2001 by us (pictured to the right) - Sebastian Pole, an Ayurvedic practitioner, and Tim Westwell, formerly in business development for the IT industry. We started with a few thousand pounds and a mutual passion for promoting well-being and providing 100% organic Ayurvedic herbal remedies and teas.
Sebastian trained as a herbalist both in Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine. With a degree in Hindi, he also gained clinical training experience in India, both in clinics and hospitals, working with indigenous Ayurvedic doctors. On his return to the UK, he set up a practice in Bath which he still maintains today. A committed conservationist, he started looking at ways to bring herbs to Britain to make teas and remedies of the quality he required as a practitioner.
Sebastian visited the Indian growers and started to create teas to supply to other practitioners. Although his ambition was to start an organic herb business, he was aware that he knew nothing about the retail side. Coincidentally it was at this point he saw an ad in a local paper 'Business organics - do you want to grow business in a healthy way?' He was the only person to respond.
The ad had been placed by Tim who for many years had worked in business development but began to feel frustrated on a personal development level.A spinal condition led him to consider his lifestyle and he gravitated towards yoga and vegetarianism.He quit his job in IT and started looking for an alternative way to do business that integrated his values in life and to try and give some positive contributions back to society.
It was a match made in heaven and we proceeded to set up Pukka Herbs HQ from Tim’s spare bedroom!
The farmers, the herbs and what we're all about...
We have come a long way since Tim's spare room thanks to the support our customers have given us. Today we continue to work hard to bring you the best organic Ayurvedic herbal products whilst ensuring that we run an ethical business that respects the relationship between humans and the environment.
We are aware that as a responsible company and members of the whole global community we must be accountable for our actions.
Our herbs are ecologically grown and are from sustainable managed projects that are organically certified by the Soil Association
We source our herbs directly from the farming co-operatives we have helped to set up in India and Sri Lanka ensuring the farmers are paid a fair wage (we currently pay 50-200% above market rates for raw materials). We work directly with over 500 families growing Ayurvedic herbs organically for us and plant over 1,000,000 plants and trees per year.
Our herbs can be traced back to the fields from where they were grown
Manufacturing in the UK is under tight restrictions in accordance with UK medicines standards
All our teas and remedies are carefully formulated by Sebastian who has drawn on his expertise in growing herbs, organic cultivation and professional training in herbal medicine and are blended according to Good Manufacturing Procedures and authentically tested to European quality standards.
We are Carbon Neutral and invest in renewable and sustainable energy projects as well as reforestation programmes. All aspects of the business carbon emissions from Field to Shelf are off-set by donations to Climate Care. Climate Care makes donations to energy saving projects. We maintain a policy to limit flying in materials and use shipping as much as possible.
We manage an internal recycling scheme to prevent wastage
We are committed to using recycled paper and vegetable inks when possible
We are ethically responsible and contributes to charities, such as Plantlife International, involved in protecting wild medicinal species
We are purely vegetarian
Creating a high quality sustainable supply chain-by Sebastian pole
'As an Ayurvedic practitioner I have always been obsessed with the quality of the herbs that I use in my clinic. It makes sense, if it looks, tastes and smells right and has been grown in the optimum conditions then it has the best chance of working. We have put in huge efforts to have the herbs that we use grown in the best possible environment for that species. We have spent lots of time ensuring that the correct soil, water and growing conditions are used for each species that we grow. We have also been aware of the effect that wild-harvesting herbs is having on local plant populations. The WWF stated in 2004 that 20% of all herbal medicine species are potentially threatened. We want to play a part in reversing this. In order to do this we have strived to take harvesting into a ‘field’ setting. This has given us wonderful control on water purity, soil fertility and optimum harvesting times. It has certainly been inspirational for us and empowering for the farmers.
I visit the farmers every year and it has been wonderful to see their fields flourish and their confidence grow along with their crops. The farmers have a genuine love of growing plants that they know are helping to heal people and a passion for organic farming knowing that it is helping to protect their land. They are broadening their horizons through the organic perspective and have developed an understanding of organic farming being so much more than just ‘not using pesticides’. They study building soil fertility and are masters of the compost heap, vermicompost, intercropping and insect encouragement. I have literally seen dry and barren fields transformed into lush and verdant jungles!'
Creating a direct link with the farmer co-operatives
The farmers we work with are often organised into co-operatives. They usually own small plots of land (1-5 acres). There are usually between 10-20 families in a co-operative group. All of the farms we work with have never seen chemicals and many of the farms are in natural forest settings, known as ‘forest gardens’. If you can’t tell your Neem tree from your Amla tree then you may just think that you are walking in the woods! Our input has been to add herbal crops to their food rotation plans which have added diversity and added income.
We work with farmers living across the varied climates required by the different medicinal plants from the Ayurvedic pharmacopoeia; the humid tropics of Sri Lanka and South India, the dry plains of Madhya Pradesh and Gujerat and we are working with cultivation projects in the Himalayas to grow some of the rarer species - Jatamansi and Kutki.
Our certified Production process
The herbs are harvested at the optimum time, when their essential oils and flavour are at their peak. The freshly harvested herbs are then taken to processing units where the herbs are sorted, cleaned and dried. These units in India and Sri Lanka are organically certified and comply with European standards of hygiene. After drying, the herbs are analysed for bacterial content, heavy metals and moisture.
We do all of our manufacturing here in the UK at a registered facility with a Manufacturer’s Licence.
Only if each batch of herbs meets our rigorous standards of high quality do we release them for you to use.
