Susie Walker-Munro is one of a handful of tea growers in Scotland. She says the acidic soil creates ideal conditions for the perfect artisan brew. Costing about £40 per packet for her most expensive product, it's not going to replace the supermarket brands any time soon.
Droughts, intensive downpours and diseases have created challenges for tea growers across the world as they deal with the impact of a warming planet. But some experts believe Scotland's relatively settled climate could give the tea industry here a helping hand. As the picking season draws to a close, Susie plucks the last few leaves before proudly pouring me a small glass of her Kinnettles Gold, which is grown in a walled garden on the family farm near Forfar.
She believes Scotland's latitude – sitting 57 degrees north - will always be a bar to having a year-round crop like those countries close to the equator. But she says wetter weather could help boost production. "Our yields are never, never going to be high," she says.
"Maybe with climate change they might come up a bit, it depends if we get enough rain. Scotland could be absolutely ideal." Susie isn't convinced tea will ever be a major crop for Scotland. But others say it could be one of a numbers of options in the future, as farmers are forced to diversify and adapt to a changing climate.
Rethinking the way we farm the land might be one way to extend the range of crops produced. Countries like the Netherlands are already embracing glass houses, which could become more commonplace in Scotland. Susie says they would be a good way of growing more tea.
They would also allow Scotland to produce more Mediterranean vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, and even melons, according to Pete Ritchie from campaign organisation Nourish Scotland. He says an abundance of renewable energy from wind farms later in the century will make heating them relatively cheap and will cut down on air miles. "We're going to be able to produce those plants with a lower carbon footprint and provide secure all-round jobs for people on brownfield sites in the cities and also on the islands and remote parts of Scotland," he says.
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