A charismatic tea grower from Perthshire who claimed to be pioneering the UK's first commercial tea plantations has been exposed as a fraud after DNA analysis revealed his produce was not grown in Scotland. Tam O'Braan, 55, burst onto the scene in the mid-2010s with his 'Wee Tea' plantation, attracting media coverage from the BBC and others, and supplying luxury hotels including the Dorchester in London. His elaborate deception also ensnared would-be growers across Scotland, whom he sold plants and advice, but whose plantations failed to thrive.
Professor David Burslem, a plant scientist at the University of Aberdeen, became involved when a suspiciously large packet of 'Dalreoch Scottish white tea' was submitted for analysis. 'It's a very large packet – 250g – and tea growing in Scotland was at a very small scale,' he said. Using DNA analysis, Burslem proved the tea was not of Scottish origin, ultimately helping to crack the case.
O'Braan's claims included that he could 'force' tea like rhubarb, and his operation gained such credibility that then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon attended the US launch of his tea at the five-star Lowell Hotel in New York in 2015. However, growers who bought plants from him, such as drinks writer Richard Ross, found their plants failed to thrive. Ross, who bought 500 young plants, became suspicious when O'Braan gave him three kilograms of processed tea, claiming his team had accidentally picked all the leaves from Ross's plants in February – before they had even sprouted.
The fraud unravelled when growers' doubts and scientific evidence converged, revealing that O'Braan's 'Scottish' tea was actually imported. The case highlights the scale of the deception, which took in top hotels, politicians, and media outlets, all believing in the dream of a homegrown Scottish tea industry.
