Britain’s only tea plantation was brewing up new business after securing a deal to export – to JAPAN.
The Tregothnan Estate, near Truro, Cornwall, will ship its special leaves – and Cornish cream teas – 6,000 miles away.
Tregothnan, which already ships its tea to China and India, makes about a tonne of leaves a year at its 25-acre plantation.
Garden manager Jonathan Jones said the plantation is well located because the Cornish climate is similar – to India’s.
He said: ”The temperature, rainfall, humidity and soil PH is very similar to Darjeeling, which was why the estate’s tea is so successful.”
The estate blends traditional imported teas with its own leaves to produce a ”quintessential” English tea.
Their plants take six years to mature, but the tea is ready for drinking 36 hours after the leaves are hand-picked from the bushes.
After picking, the leaves and buds are withered on racks to allow them to soften. They are then rolled, oxidised and dried.