Winning Britain’s Best Loaf results in an impressive leap in sales for the triumphant product, but for 2025 champion Kuma-San Bakehouse this has proven to be overwhelming.
Japanese-born baker Miyo Aeotsu – who captured the trophy for the second time in three years with her latest creation, the Lemon & Earl Grey Brioche Loaf – revealed she has been flooded with orders that far outstrip capacity at her micro-bakery.
Aeotsu founded the business in 2011 at her home in Darley Dale village near Matlock, Derbyshire. She only runs production on Saturdays and selling just a dozen of the award-winning loaves per week, priced around £12 each.
“Many have asked if they can purchase it outside of Derbyshire, or if I’m able to post loaves to them directly,” she told British Baker. “While I’d love to share my loaf with everyone who’s interested, it’s simply not feasible for me to meet the current demand on my own.”
The baker – who previously won Britain’s Best Loaf 2023 with another tea-infused sweet loaf, the Brioche Japonais – noted that her victory has once again attracted considerable media attention, both in the UK and internationally. Stories were published by national newspapers including the BBC, The Telegraph, The Guardian, and the Daily Mail as well as the likes of Time Out magazine. Aeotsu has even filmed a news segment and a short documentary for two different Japanese television companies, with another shoot happening this month.
“With all this attention and growing recognition, I believe the loaf presents a fantastic opportunity for wider distribution,” she said, adding that she was currently seeking “someone in the artisan food space” to help scale up her prized brioche line.
The loaf is actually an adaptation of Kuma-San’s highly popular Lemon & Earl Grey Hot Cross Buns (rsp: £1.90 each), a fitting format for the springtime flavour combination. Aeotsu said it had taken roughly 50 attempts to perfect the recipe’s delivery in the larger format. “My main issue was preventing the loaf becoming hard because of the acidity of lemon,” she recalled. “We eventually overcame this by incorporating the lemon (including yuzu) in butter.”
The product also contains limoncello-soaked candied lemon peel and lemon curd, while a balancing sweetness comes from white chocolate – an ingredient also employed in their Brioche Japonais to counter the bitterness of matcha. Kuma-San Bakehouse still produces the 2023 winning loaf, but only on special occasions such as Easter, Christmas, New Year, and Valentine’s Day week. Japanese Milk Bread (Shokupan), sweet buns, baguettes, sourdough loaves, focaccia, and viennoiseries are among the other products on its range.
Aeotsu’s use of Earl Grey tea also received interest from high-end retailer Fortnum & Mason, which was one of the first British companies to buy Indian tea at an inaugural auction in 1836. A comment shared by the firm’s marketing department told Aeotsu: “Your thoughtful approach to baking – and the way you fuse Japanese and Western traditions – is both inspiring and beautifully aligned with our own love of flavour, craftsmanship, and storytelling through food.”
Fortnum has recently launched its first-ever product discovery scheme, dubbed the Fortnum & Makers Open Call, offering artisan food and drink suppliers the chance to have their products stocked on shelves at its flagship London store. Kuma-San Bakehouse has submitted its new brioche loaf for consideration, and at time of publication is waiting to see if it will progress to a presentation in front of buyers in London.
Aeotsu disclosed that she’d struggled to bake for several months last year due to tendonitis in both hands, and she’d also been forced to fly back to Japan to help look after her mother, who had suffered a stroke. However, after spending the early part of 2025 focussed on Britain’s Best Loaf (which proved time well spent), she has now renewed her plans to launch a recipe book and teaching course.
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