eteaket tea launches Scottish grown tea from Windy Hollow Farm

By working together two women in Scotland have launched a Scottish grown black tea and are helping to cultivate Scotland’s rich history in the tea industry. Erica Moore from eteaket tea in Edinburgh and Monica Griesbaum from Windy Hollow in Perthshire are proud to be launching Black Gold, a very special black tea grown in the Scottish Highlands.

Although Scots are die-hard tea drinkers, the Highlands of Scotland doesn’t conjure up images of tea fields. Especially with such a notoriously chilly and unpredictable climate. However, Windy Hollow Farm near Auchterarder is successfully growing amazing tea and what’s more, the farm is completely off-grid. The first harvest is now available to buy from eteaket’s Concept Store in central Edinburgh as well as online in our Special Tea shop.

This isn’t your normal breakfast brew.

It’s a very special loose tea to be used in moments of self-indulgence and the quality is such that it can be reinfused.

There’s already a huge level of interest in this tea from tea lovers all over the world. Erica Moore, eteaket’s founder, said “I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to work with Monica from Windy Hollow to bring this wonderful tea to our customers. We’ve had such fun working on this project and have become firm friends in the process. Scotland has such a rich history in the tea world and it’s great we can add to that in a small way.”

Scotland has a long relationship with tea.

A number of influential Scots are to thank for the world of tea as we know it, including James Taylor, a tea planter born in Kincardineshire, Scotland, who in 1867 was given the task of growing the first commercial tea crop in British Ceylon, India. Taylor was a great tea innovator, and went on to pioneer the global popularity of Ceylon tea.

eteaket are seeing a definite growing demand for premium, speciality tea as tea drinkers become more discerning and are open to experiment. In much the same way as coffee, wine and beer, customers are starting to trade up for a quality drink.

Erica met Monica from Windy Hollow coincidentally through a connection Erica had met while on a tea trip to Taiwan, such is the wonderfully intimate and close-knit world of tea. Monica has been growing tea from seed on her farm since 2016, working closely with the Soil Association towards gaining full organic accreditation. This farm, set in the beautiful rolling hills of this rich agricultural region, harvests the tea leaves, selecting only the best, and applies traditional tea making methods, hand-rolling each leaf, to produce a unique, delicate black tea. This tea, along with a number of other organic produce, has been grown with a “love for nature and commitment for a healthy ecosystem”. Monica attributes such quality produce in part to “learning and understanding about healthy soil, plants and wildlife around us“.

Monica says “Yes indeed our love for tea and dedication to tea and great quality tisanes have brought Erica and I together as friends and we very much enjoy working together and being able to offer teas and herbal teas grown and made in Perthshire, Scotland. Our camellia sinensis tea plants grow here on the farm from seed. They grow more slowly without any artificial fertilisers but it means that the taste is pure and drawn from only organic Perthshire soil and Springwater”.

Windy Hollow Farm is a 24acre tea farm with many wildflowers including orchids, Ragged robins and Scottish Harebells as well as many native Scottish trees. It is located in the beautiful rolling hills of Perthshire. Tea seeds come from Nepal, Georgia and Taiwan. Monica has learned to grow and make tea from many tea friends and especially from her well known teacher Mr Kao in Taiwan who has shared his traditional tea making techniques with her during her stay there. Monica says, “I feel so very grateful for this generous sharing of traditional tea knowledge. However, for me it is not about attempting to make the same beautiful teas from Taiwan but instead learning these old techniques and adapting it to make a wonderful Scottish Handrolled Black Tea.”            

It is with great enthusiasm that eteaket – Edinburgh’s leaf tea experts – has welcomed the idea of Scottish grown tea and is proud to sell this Windy Hollow product. Not only can you purchase Windy Hollow Scottish Grown Black Gold Tea from eteaket Concept Store in the heart of Edinburgh city centre, but you can also pick up Windy Hollow Scottish Grown Water Mint and Chamomile Flowers – both delightfully refreshing herbs, full of flavour and bursting with freshness.

Scottish Grown Water Mint

Scottish Grown Chamomile Flower

Watch our video of Erica and Monica at the tea garden, picking and making Black Gold >>watch video>>.

A tin of Black Gold retails at £7.95 (5g). It is available exclusively in Scotland at eteaket’s Concept Store, 111 Rose St, Edinburgh EH2 3DT and now online at www.eteaket.co.uk.