Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491371
56 STiR tea & coffee industry international T By Jane Pettigrew Scotland's Wee Tea Farm he news that tea is being grown commercially in Scotland tends to provoke disbelief and open-mouthed amazement. But the Wee Tea Farm in Perth & Kinross in central Scotland has 4,000 tea bushes in the ground and, despite the short time since they were established here in 2012, and in contrast with the six or seven years that cold-climate tea farmers would normally wait before harvesting, the tea is already being plucked and processed. And that is due to a revolutionary method of cultivation being implemented by Tam O'Braan, managing director of the project. The inauguration of the Wee Tea Farm In 2011, O'Braan (an agricultural chemist who originally worked to produce degradable polymers for agricultural use, and rigid plastic tree guards for rainforest countries), had bought a piece of land in the tiny village of Amulree in the county of Perth & Kinross, as a laboratory plot, and had embarked on a program of cold weather research. Part of the project was to research the possibility of increasing the level of antioxidants in tea plants. That work is progressing and articles about it will appear in 2015 in The Lancet, the world's leading general medical journal. In 2012, O'Braan joined with Jamie Russell and Derek Walker owners of The Wee Tea Company in Fife, which was originally set up to blend and retail high quality teas. They decided to grow tea with O'Braan at the Dalreoch farm and add the Scottish- grown white, green and black teas to their range of specialist products. The farm is located on a steep hillside where water from a natural spring rolls down over the grassy slopes to bring a constant supply of water to the tea. Despite the region's harsh win- ters, the three felt confident that, with the clean air in this remote spot, its misty cool climate, and the use of cutting edge agricultural technology, Scottish tea growing had a good future here. Despite cold temperatures and a general belief that the loca- tion could not possibly be suitable for tea production, the Wee Tea Farm's tea plants are thriving in central Scotland. Tea picking Scottish style 2014 The young plants post-harvest inside the tubes that restrict photosynthesis Typical low misty cloud at Dalreoch Photo credit: Jane Pettigrew