Tea growing and tea making in Scotland

  • Seasonal tea picking
  • Scottish Tea Factory courses
  • Scottish grown tea
  • TGS Tours
  • Self-catering cottage for 4
  • Golf and tennis breaks
  • Many local attractions
  • Crieff 1 mile
camellia sinensis Tea seed and leaf Crieff grown tea

Scottish Tea grown from seed in Scotland

Discover why 'Tea Gardens of Scotland' are winning International intrigue. Learn the story of how this small tea garden originated, and see tea plants growing in our garden. We studied and learned about sustainable production methods and you can sample our experimental teas alongside interesting tea selections from artisan tea farmers from the most revered tea regions in the world during tea tours at one of the gardens.

We are trying to create our own unique Scottish tea, using our own leaf to find the best flavours - trials are on a micro scale while the bushes mature, which takes up to six years in our climate. We are developing a deliciously distinctive loose leaf tea with the characteristic taste and flavour imparted by the environment. The rich alluvial soil is exciting and challenging to work with, our amazing highland water and micro climate adding to the mix - we are enjoying experimenting with our first leaves.

The learning curve was steep - and a number of tea consultants from around the world have helped enormously with advice about what techniques work best in their countries. Beverley Wainwright a renowned professional in the tea industry helped Broich Tea with years of making experimental microbatches to find the best method for processing our leaf. As the plants mature and the flavours develop we are now crafting wonderful teas based on these skills.

Broich tea garden is not open to the public, however we offer holiday accommodation and offer bespoke accommodation and tea tastings. We are tea plucking and tea making during our growing season between June and September. During other months there is little to see in our garden but our accommodation is available year round and tea lovers can sample our teas.

This project began in 2016 - with cold hardy seeds Camellia sinensis, Kolkhida variety from Georgia (ex Soviet Russia) which were sourced from Tea Gardens of Scotland. The tea plants have been in the ground since 2017 and the garden is evolving - a huge amount of learning and experimenting is going on.

All our tea is planted in the ground and we employ sustainable growing and production methods.

Our tea is hand harvested and processed at St Martins Tea or Kinettles Tea garden, in a food safe environment to the highest standards. For maximum freshness we package the tea right after it is processed. The tea we make has a totally traceable history of how much was picked in each batch, when it was harvested and how our high quality natural product was processed.

We started experimenting with Single Estate teas - White, Black and Green. We often offer taster samples of Broich Loose Leaf Teas for sale

- limited availability for those who wish to taste the unique characteristics of our tea.

plucked loose leaf tea Greenhouse pluckING loose leaf tea tea leaves Scottish plucked loose leaf tea Black tea served in glass tea pot

Small Scale Tea garden (plantation) - The story behind it!

tea family

Ronnie is one of the founder members of The Tea Gardens of Scotland Group and owner/grower at Broich Tea, Crieff, Perthshire. A chef by training, she has always celebrated the link between terroir and taste with regard to food pairing, Broich tea pairs beautifully with some of the local Scottish cheeses.

Ronnie's family connection with tea dates back to the 1920s. Her grandfather worked as a Manager for Grindlays Bank in Rangoon and Calcutta before a new posting took him to Ceylon, where he met his wife, the daughter of a tea planter from the Nuwara Eliya region.

They moved back to India, before purchasing their home the outskirts of Crieff in the 1950's complete with a steading and market garden.

In 1995 the old ruined steading was converted into a family home and holiday cottage. Ronnie's interest in growing tea was first triggered by a trip to Nepal with Susie from Kinettles tea garden in 2010.

The terroir at Broich is not like the other properties in the TGS partnership. It lies in lowland Strathearn, alongside the River Earn, only 80 metres above sea level on rich alluvial soil / silt. Ronnie planted 1,200 camelia sinensis seedlings in the ground in 2017 and the bushes are thriving.

Beverley Wainwright is a renowned professional in the tea industry, travelling the world consulting and teaching her tea making skills in countries such as Sri Lanka, Burma and USA. She opened the Scottish Tea factory in Perthshire in 2018 and in the early years helped Tea Gardens of Scotland ladies with years of tea learning and experimental microbatches to find the best method for their leaf. She runs UK Tea Academy courses and tea plucking and tea making courses at Scottish Tea factory in Comrie, Perthshire just 4 miles away.