Saicho

The concept is deliberately positioned as a wine alternative rather than a soft drink. Each variety is made from a single-origin tea — cold-brewed in English spring water, then carbonated — to create something with the ceremony and complexity you'd expect from a bottle brought to the table in a high-end restaurant. The 750ml format, champagne-style bottles, and the depth of flavour in the range all point squarely at that occasion.

The core range covers three quite different teas. The Darjeeling is a black tea from West Bengal with a muscatel character, dry tannins, and notes of ginger and wood spice. The Jasmine is a scented green tea from Fujian province in China, lighter and more floral, with lychee and vanilla on the palate. The Hojicha is the most unusual of the three — a roasted Japanese green tea with a smoky, earthy depth that's genuinely unlike anything else in the sparkling tea category. Occasional limited editions, including single-garden offerings, appear alongside the core range.

Saicho's focus has always been on the premium end of the on-trade. The drinks appear on wine lists at Michelin-starred restaurants across the UK and internationally, and the brand is stocked at Harrods. For home buying, they sell directly from their own website and through specialist wine and drinks merchants. Supermarket distribution is not part of the picture. A £1.5 million funding round, backed in part by the West Midlands Combined Authority, has supported international expansion into markets including China and the Middle East.

The brand occupies a specific niche: it's for the table, not the sofa. At £17-18 for a 750ml bottle, it sits firmly in premium territory and is priced to compete with a decent bottle of wine, not with soft drinks.