Latest news with #CamelliaSinensis
Edinburgh Live
25-06-2025
- Business
- Edinburgh Live
Fraudster duped Edinburgh Balmoral hotel into buying bogus Scottish-grown tea
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A Scottish fraudster who raked in over £500,000 by deceiving luxury hotels into buying 'unique' Scottish-grown tea that had actually been imported has been jailed for three and a half years. Thomas Robinson, 55, was operating under the business name 'The Wee Tea Plantation' when he also defrauded a group of genuine Scottish tea growers, selling them plants under the false pretence that they were a premium, single-origin Scottish variety. He claimed that he cultivated exclusive tea plants at his Perthshire estate but prosecutors proved that, in reality, Robinson bought the tea from wholesalers in Italy before repackaging the plants and then selling them off to retailers for five times the original cost. He was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court after a jury found him guilty of two charges of being concerned in a fraudulent scheme. It comes after an investigation into his activities by Food Standards Scotland. Helen Nisbet, Procurator Fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: 'This was a planned and deliberate fraud. Thomas Robinson misled genuine Scottish tea growers by selling them plants he falsely claimed were a unique, locally grown variety. 'Fraud is not a victimless crime. Individuals, businesses, and genuine Scottish tea growers suffered financial and reputational harm as a consequence of Robinson's deceit. 'But thanks to partnership working between Food Standards Scotland, Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, he has been brought to account for his crimes. We are committed to tackling financial crime of this kind.' Robinson pretended he had used innovative growing techniques, including a biodegradable polymer, to cultivate premium Camellia Sinensis tea plants from an estate in Perthshire. He then fraudulently sold the plants to high-profile clients in the hospitality sector, including Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel and the Dorchester Hotel in London, as well as retailers between January 2014 and February 2019. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sentstraight to your messages. He also told prospective growers, clients and the wider public that he had sold the tea to Kensington Palace and claimed it was a favourite of the late Queen Elizabeth. But the court heard he was importing the plants for three Euros each – around £2.50 - and collecting them from a mailbox in Glasgow. He was then selling them for £12.50 each while insisting to clients and retailers that they were a sound financial investment. The court heard that the total approximate value of his fraudulent activity was approximately £550,000. Robinson also fabricated his academic status by falsely claiming he had qualifications in agronomy and agriculture and had obtained awards for his tea from industry bodies. He will now be subject to confiscation proceedings under Proceeds of Crime legislation to recover monies illegally obtained. Ron McNaughton, Head of the Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit (SFCIU) at Food Standards Scotland, said: 'We welcome today's sentencing as a clear signal that food fraud is a serious crime with serious consequences. 'A three-and-a-half year custodial sentence reflects the scale and impact of Mr Robinson's deception. His actions caused real financial and reputational harm to individuals, businesses and a developing sector of genuine Scottish tea producers. 'This outcome is the result of a complex and painstaking investigation involving a dedicated team at FSS and the cooperation of partner agencies and key witnesses. 'It demonstrates that those who set out to mislead consumers and defraud businesses will be held accountable. 'Food fraud undermines consumer trust and damages the integrity of Scotland's globally respected food and drink sector. We remain committed to detecting and disrupting criminal activity of this nature.'
STV News
25-06-2025
- STV News
Scottish tea swindler: How 'Mr Tea' conned businesses out of £500,000
A fraudster who earned more than £500,000 by deceiving luxury hotels and stores into buying 'unique' Scottish-grown tea that was actually imported has been imprisoned for three and a half years. Thomas Robinson, 55, also defrauded a group of genuine Scottish tea growers by selling them plants under the false pretence they were a premium, single-origin Scottish variety. Tea growing is normally associated with countries with warmer climates, such as India and China. But there are some genuine small producers in Scotland – a nation that loves its tea. Operating under the business name The Wee Tea Plantation, Robinson claimed that he cultivated exclusive tea plants at his Perthshire estate. Getty Images Thomas Robinson, 55, also known as Thomas O'Brien or Tam O'Braan, the self branded 'Mr Tea' has been jailed Robinson, also known as Thomas O'Brien or Tam O'Braan, claimed to have had found a way to grow tea in Scotland in half the usual time. Having set up a visit from a buyer representing luxury foodstore Fortnum and Mason's, he bought tea plants from a nursery in Sussex called Plants4Presents and installed them for show in a former kitchen garden at Dalreoch Farm in Perthshire. He said he had given a presentation on his growing methods to the Royal Horticultural Society, claiming the technique used a 'special biodegradable polymer' to cultivate premium Camellia Sinensis tea plants. Prosecutors said this looked like a black bin liner. STV News The tea menu at the Balmoral's Palm Court, based on descriptions Robinson gave them, boasted: 'Our Scottish-grown teas come from gardens in our farming heartlands in Perthshire and Dumfries and Galloway'. In reality, Robinson was importing the plants for three Euros each – around £2.50 – and collecting them from a mailbox in Glasgow. He was then selling them for £12.50 each while insisting to clients and retailers that they were a sound financial investment. He fraudulently sold the plants to high-profile clients in the hospitality sector, including Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel and the Dorchester Hotel in London, as well as retailers between January 2014 and February 2019. He told prospective growers, clients and the wider public that he had sold the tea to Kensington Palace and claimed it was a favourite of the late Queen Elizabeth. Robinson also fabricated his academic status by falsely claiming he had qualifications in agronomy and agriculture and had obtained awards for his tea from industry bodies. Glen Caladh Islay Henderson was growing tea at a plantation in Tighnabruaich, in Argyll and Bute, seven years ago. Islay Henderson was growing tea at a plantation in Tighnabruaich, in Argyll and Bute, seven years ago. She wanted to grow Scottish tea and Robinson seemed to be the only person with Scottish plants. 'He was a very convincing character, he seemed to have all the credentials behind him,' she told STV News. Robinson fabricated his academic status by falsely claiming he had qualifications in agronomy and agriculture and had obtained awards for his tea from industry bodies. 'He told us he was selling us plants selectively bred in Scotland,' Islay said. 'It seemed to be the right thing to buy. It turned out they hadn't been selectively bred in Scotland for eleven years, but they'd been bought in from Italy via someone who was never actually paid for the plants. 'That was a big blow – we felt very lied to and betrayed.' The tea menu at the Balmoral's Palm Court, based on descriptions Robinson gave them, boasted: 'Our Scottish-grown teas come from gardens in our farming heartlands in Perthshire and Dumfries and Galloway'. They had names like Dalreoch White, Silver Needles, Scottish Antlers Tea, and Highland Green. Robinson spun customers 'elaborate lies' that he'd sold tea to played rugby for Blackheath, was a multi-millionaire, a landowner, a polymer scientist, had invented the 'Bag For Life', had served in the British Army in bomb disposal, had worked for the Obama administration in America on a maize project, had studied botany at Edinburgh University, and that his wife was a solicitor. Prosecutors described this as 'the CV of a fantasist'. He also sowed success stories in the press and appeared on a BBC podcast, telling presenter Mark Stephen he'd learned to grow tea plants 'like rhubarb under a sink' by restricting UV light. An expert said this would actually kill them. The court heard Robinson bought over a tonne of tea grown abroad, repacked it, and sold it on. He disguised what he was doing by getting the foreign leaf delivered to a mailbox address in Glasgow registered to a company called 'Thomas James Consultants', and paying through a joint personal bank account, not the Wee Tea Plantation business account. One expert said a kilo of top tea from Africa could be sold for 100 times its cost if passed as grown in also claimed to have produced tea plants at Amulree from cuttings and seed. Between 2015 and 2018, he supplied 22,000 plants to a dozen other growers in Scotland and one in Jersey at £12.50 each. The jury heard that over the same period, he was actually importing tea plants at three euros each from a horticulturalist in Italy. He either passed them off as Scottish-grown or allowed his customers to assume they were. Many died or did not thrive, and yields were a fraction of what Robinson had given his customers to expect. One grower, an antique dealer, who bought thousands of plants for his wife's family farm near Castle Douglas, said Robinson had told him he could expect to be picking his first tea at the end of a year, and could eventually expect a yield of 100 kilos of top tea plus 450 kilos of secondary leaf for blends. After battling for seven years, they finally managed to harvest just 100 grammes of finished tea. Robinson claimed that with the exception of 15,000 plants sold to a grower in Jersey, all the Italian plants had been in Scottish ground for a period, and that made them Scottish. The scam began to unravel early in 2017 after Perth and Kinross Council started to check up on whether Robinson had a food processing licence; then he received a visit from a Scottish Government advisor about plant passports. He told the advisor the only plants he had were for his own use, then, in what the Crown said was an attempted cover-up, he sent out a story to the local press claiming thousands of his plants had been stolen. The Food Crime and Incidents Unit of Food Standards Scotland was called in, and an investigation was launched, headed by a retired police inspector. Prosecutor Joanne Ritchie said Robinson had formed 'a scheme to deceive and make money on the basis of lies'. She said: 'When you look at what he was actually doing, the suggestion that this was genuine Scottish tea or these were Scottish-grown plants is almost laughable. 'He lied to every single witness who encountered him, but more than that, he lied to the population at large, to the people who had been buying this tea on the understanding it was Scottish.' After a three and a half week trial, involving thousands of pages of documentation, jurors took six hours to find Robinson, of Amulree, guilty of defrauding the tea growers of £274,354 and the hotels and tea companies of £278,634 – a total of nearly £553,000. The verdict was unanimous, and with no deletions to any of the charges. Robinson denied the crimes, claiming that paperwork he could have used in his defence had been destroyed in a flood and his electronic records had been lost because his storage had been turned off. He insisted he had done no wrong and was 'proud' of his work, telling the jury: 'I wanted to leave something that would stand in the history of tea.' Robinson shook his head when the verdicts were announced last month. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Daily Record
25-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Fake Scottish tea fraudster who scammed luxury hotels out of £500k jailed for three years
Thomas Robinson, 55, conned his high-profile clients out of over £500,000. A fake tea fraudster who conned luxury hotels and retailers into buying 'Scottish-grown' tea and made more than £550,000 has been jailed for three-and-a-half years. Thomas Robinson, 55, was locked up at Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday. The crook, of Dunkeld, made more than half a million pound from the scam, where he told clients including Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel that he grew the tea plants at his Perthshire estate. However, in reality, Robinson bought the tea from wholesalers in Italy for €3 before repackaging the plants and reselling them to retailers for five times the original cost. Robinson's web of lies were laid bare during his trial. The court heard how Robinson pretended to customers he had used innovative growing techniques - including a biodegradable polymer - to cultivate premium Camellia Sinensis tea plants. He then fraudulently sold the plants to high-profile clients in the hospitality sector, including Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel and the Dorchester Hotel in London, as well as retailers between January 2014 and February 2019. He also told prospective growers, clients and the wider public that he had sold the tea to Kensington Palace. Robinson even claimed his tea was a favourite of the late Queen Elizabeth. His scheme was unravelled following an investigation by Food Standards Scotland into his activities. It discovered he was actually importing the plants for three Euros each – around £2.50 - and was collecting them from a mailbox in Glasgow. He was then selling them for £12.50 each while insisting to clients and retailers that they were a sound financial investment. Robinson also fabricated his academic status by falsely claiming he had qualifications in agronomy and agriculture and had obtained awards for his tea from industry bodies. The jury found him guilty of two charges of being concerned in a fraudulent scheme. He will now be subject to confiscation proceedings under Proceeds of Crime legislation to recover monies illegally obtained. Ron McNaughton, Head of the Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit (SFCIU) at Food Standards Scotland, said: 'We welcome today's sentencing as a clear signal that food fraud is a serious crime with serious consequences. 'A three-and-a-half year custodial sentence reflects the scale and impact of Mr Robinson's deception. His actions caused real financial and reputational harm to individuals, businesses and a developing sector of genuine Scottish tea producers. 'This outcome is the result of a complex and painstaking investigation involving a dedicated team at FSS and the cooperation of partner agencies and key witnesses. 'It demonstrates that those who set out to mislead consumers and defraud businesses will be held accountable. 'Food fraud undermines consumer trust and damages the integrity of Scotland's globally respected food and drink sector. We remain committed to detecting and disrupting criminal activity of this nature.'
Times
23-06-2025
- Science
- Times
UK scientists grow tea in moon soil, for an out of this world brew
If an intrepid band of British astronauts one day find themselves living on the moon, there is a chance they could start the day with a cup of tea — grown locally. Researchers in Britain have begun an experiment to see whether Camellia sinensis, the plant that produces tea leaves, can survive in simulated lunar and Martian soils. The study, launched under the European Europlanet research programme, is part of the growing field known as space agriculture — a branch of research focused on how humans might one day grow food not just in orbit but on the surfaces of other worlds. 'We joke about the British bringing tea everywhere, but this is the first effort to look at whether you might actually grow it in these kinds of conditions,' Professor Nigel Mason, of the University of Kent, said. Similar trials have shown some promise. In Germany, scientists have discovered that worms can survive and even reproduce in simulated Martian soil, raising hopes they might help to aerate and enrich otherwise barren ground. In Japan, the space agency is experimenting with growing cherry blossom trees in simulated lunar conditions. In Hungary, it's paprika. In Britain, perhaps inevitably, it is black tea. The experiments may have implications closer to home. Understanding how to transform sterile, lifeless soils into viable growing media may offer lessons on how to reclaim desertified land on Earth, where soil quality is rapidly declining due to climate change and over-farming. • Space chiefs set out vision for living in mammoth 'space oases' in 2040 The tea plants come from Dartmoor Estate Tea in Devon, home to one of Britain's small number of tea gardens. Mason's team have started planting these saplings into specially prepared soils that mimic the harsh, nutrient-poor regolith found on the surface of the moon and Mars. Over two 30-day growth cycles this summer, he and his colleagues will compare the performance of the plants in four different environments: fertile Devon soil (as a control), sandy Earth soil (to mimic arid climates), simulated Martian regolith, and lunar regolith from one of the moon's 'highland' regions. The results are expected in September. While hydroponic systems on the International Space Station have been used to grow lettuce and other crops, growing plants in what passes for soil on the moon or Mars will be much tougher. It will be necessary to add organic matter, with the astronaut's own waste being an obvious but limited resource. The Martian surface contains toxic perchlorates, compounds that could be dangerous if they enter the food chain. The researchers plan to test not just whether the tea plants grow, but whether any harmful substances make their way into the leaves. 'We'll be doing a chemical analysis after harvesting to see if anything nasty has made its way into the tea,' Mason said. • Here's how we could colonise Mars 'People do ask whether tea will really be a priority in space,' he added. 'But when you're isolated for months at a time, growing and tending to plants can boost morale and mental health.' And what could be a better boost than if one of those plants makes a decent cuppa?
The Independent
18-06-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Why your cup of tea could soon be grown in the UK – and be better for you
It's not every day you find yourself standing in a tea garden in Devon, surrounded by rows of Camellia sinensis – the same plant species used to make tea in India, China and Japan. But there we were, in the heart of Dartmoor, picking fresh tea leaves from plants that are thriving in the UK's cool, damp climate. It's a surprising sight, and one that could become more common. Britain may be known as a 'nation of tea drinkers', but might there be opportunities for it to increasingly be a nation of tea growers? Our research has involved working with growers in Devon and Wales to explore the chemistry of UK-grown tea. We're using a technique called 'metabolomics' to understand what's going on inside the leaves, and how different growing conditions, processing methods and even fermentation (like making kombucha) affect the final cup. Tea competes with coffee to be the UK's favourite drink, but almost all tea leaves are imported. With concerns about climate change, food security and sustainability increasing, there's growing interest in whether more food, including tea, can be grown in the UK. We chose mid-Wales and south-west England for our project because of their mild, wet climates, which are surprisingly well-suited to tea cultivation. Dartmoor, in particular, has a unique microclimate and varied soils that make it an ideal test site. There's also a strong local appetite for sustainable farming and agricultural innovation. Wales already has a tea pioneer in Lucy George, a Nuffield farming scholar who began growing tea near Cardiff in 2014. Her brand, Peterston Tea, is now sold in Welsh shops and around the world. She believes that slower growth in Wales' cooler climate may actually improve flavour, making Welsh-grown tea more than just a curiosity. What we found One of our studies used metabolomics and machine learning to explore the chemical diversity of UK-grown tea. Metabolomics involves analysing the small molecules – known as 'metabolites' – in a sample. These include sugars, amino acids and polyphenols, as well as more complex 'bioactives' like catechins and flavonoids. These types of compounds influence flavour, aroma and potential health benefits. We used method called 'direct injection mass spectrometry' to create a chemical fingerprint of each sample. Then we used machine learning to spot patterns and differences. We also looked at how the chemistry of the leaves changes depending on the time of day they're picked and how they're processed. Our findings show that tea grown in the UK has a rich and diverse chemical profile. Different varieties, picking times and processing techniques all influence the concentration of beneficial compounds like catechins and flavonoids. The other study was a human trial, which found that drinking green tea from Dartmoor with rhubarb root for 21 days significantly reduced LDL (bad) cholesterol and total cholesterol, and without disrupting the gut microbiome. This suggests that UK-grown tea could be developed into a functional food, supporting health. This product is now being sold by a tea company in Carmarthenshire, west Wales. This is exciting because it means we can tailor how we grow and process tea to enhance both its flavour and its health benefits. And it opens the door to a potential new UK-grown tea industry. It could play a part in supporting the rural economy, reduce reliance on imports and offer a more sustainable future for UK agriculture. On a global level, this kind of research helps us understand how plants respond to different environments, which is crucial for food security in a changing climate. What's next? We're now investigating how different tea varieties and processing techniques – like steaming, oxidation and novel drying methods – influence the tea's chemical make-up. These techniques could help preserve more of the beneficial compounds and make it easier to develop new tea-based products like powders or supplements. Another human study is looking at how kombucha affects well-being, memory, inflammation and stress. We're also continuing to test how different varieties of tea respond to the UK's conditions, and how we can refine growing and processing techniques to produce high-quality, health-promoting tea on home soil. As climate change reshapes what we can grow and where, tea may just become one of the UK's most unexpected and exciting new crops. Amanda Lloyd is a Researcher in Food, Diet and Health at Aberystwyth University. Nigel Holt is a Professor of Psychology at Aberystwyth University.
