Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

A Galway herbal tea business owner is Ireland’s Ambassador for Global Wellness Day this month which boasts a full day of free events in Shantalla. Karin Müller and her husband Joerg are both trained Medical Herbalists, starting Solaris Botanicals in 2007, which specialises in blending and distributing whole leaf, spring flush, certified organic teas.

“We travelled all over the world to find the best organic tea plantations and connect with a wide range of traditions surrounding tea and ‘moments of pause’. We started the business from a converted attic in a rental house when we first arrived in Galway, where Joerg used to hand-deliver the teas via the red Knocknacarra bus,” she recalls.

Solaris has since grown into a thriving internationally distributing tea and herbal infusion business, with countries as far afield as Switzerland and Dubai serving their teas.

Solaris has over 20 Great Taste Awards over the last 10 years, winning ‘Best Spa and Wellness Product’ in the Seven Stars Luxury Hospitality & Lifestyle Awards in 2023.

Karin is the creative director, focusing on marketing, new product development and driving the company’s community and sustainability initiatives related to mental wellness and women ‘s health. She launched the Solaris Tea Bloom range to support women through their cycles in life and through pregnancy.

“Our most recent travels to Vietnam, Singapore and Bali have reaffirmed our long held belief – the importance of community, sustainability and daily ‘moments of pause’ and re-connection,” she reflects.

“We feel so blessed to call Galway our home and that we are able to access clean water and air. It is my firm belief that we all need to do our bit to combat the growing plastic pollution in our air and water by raising awareness, via government policy and in our own personal lives.”

Karin was born in Germany and raised from the age of six on her parents’ organic farm in Cliffoney, near Mulloughmore.

“This is where I first developed my passion for all things herbs, roaming the meadows and backfields by foot or with my Connemara pony, plant identifier in my back pocket. It led me to study herbal medicine in Preston, England, where I met my husband, Joerg.

“We’ve been living in Galway for over 20 years now and are fortunate to own a lovely cottage in Rosscahill, where we’ve established a native orchard and hedges, with herbs, roses and other scented herbs adorning our back garden.”

Pictured: Ireland’s ambassador for Global Wellness Day, Karin Müller.