STiR coffee and tea magazine

28 STiR coffee and tea | 2025 Quarter 2 Summer (Jun/jul/Aug) The Elusive Promise of Scottish-Grown Tea By Fionn Pooler W hen picturing a tea-producing country, Scotland is probably quite low on the list. With its northerly latitude and often harsh weather, it is not exactly well-suited to growing a plant that thrives in warm tropical and subtropical climates—and yet there are dozens of tea gardens scattered around the country. These are not commercial tea plantations on the scale of those in more traditional locales, like India or China. The tea growers of Scotland are more modest, using walled gardens and smallholdings to experiment with growing and processing methods. These passionate farmers bravely battle the odds—and the weather—to make Scot- tish-grown tea a reality. Production is low, and sold in small quantities at high-end, bou- tique retailers. The challenges are real, and most people grow tea as a complement to an- other business. The promise of a Scottish tea-growing industry is elusive, but it persists. The Feasibility of Growing Tea Commercially in Scotland Despite increased competition from coffee, tea consumption remains high in the UK, and interest in specialty tea is on the rise. This is especially true among younger drink- ers, with those aged 25-34 drinking the most loose-leaf tea, according to a 2021 survey by Mintel. Attempts to grow tea in Scotland date back to 2007, when Susie Walker-Munro began experimenting on her farm in Angus. This led to a small-scale supply deal with the Edinburgh-based tea seller PekoeTea. Since then, a number of farmers have come together to form grower collectives, such as the Tea Gardens of Scotland, to share knowledge and pool harvests, in order to achieve the amounts required for commercial production. In 2016, Nigel Melican, a tea consultant from Teacraft Technical Services, pro- duced a study on the feasibility of growing tea in Scotland. While acknowledging the difficulties—low natural light levels, a short cropping season, plant material not suited to local conditions, and high labor costs—the report nonetheless concluded that, with some caveats, it is possible to grow tea commercially in the country. "While conditions are marginal com- pared to traditional growing areas, the knowledge and expertise to improve grow- ing conditions and alleviate shortcomings generally exists," Melican wrote. "We can modify soil where necessary, supplement rainfall, extend the season, and supple- ment lighting." The report concluded that, within these limitations, "small-scale experi- ments have shown that tea will grow un- der Scottish marginal conditions, albeit at high cost and at low yields." Nestled on the shores of the Kyles of Bute sea channel in Argyll, lies Glen Caladh farm, where owners Islay and Duncan Henderson bravely battle the odds and weather to make Scottish-grown tea a reality. Photo courtesy Zac & Zac Photography Owner of Glen Caladh farm, Islay Henderson, works with other Scottish tea growers to combine harvests and increase production volumes. Photo courtesy of Glen Caladh Farm

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