Tea experts in Chester have created their own plantation in a bid to grow the city’s own tea leaves.
Some 98 plants from the Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall are on land owned by a member of staff at Bollands Tea and Coffee Merchants.
Two plants are on display at the Eastgate Row shop from which leaves have already been clipped to make a cup of tea.
All 100 plants arrived in January this year from the Cornish tea estate.
Penny Warren, manager at the store, which opened just over two years ago said: “It would be brilliant if we could grow our own tea in Chester.
“It’s all very experimental at this stage and we’ll have to wait until this time next year to see if we’ve succeeded.
“The plants need the right blend of warmth, water, shade, sun and lots of monitoring so it’s pretty intensive.
“The tea we’ve made from the leaves has a nice, mild flavour.”
Bollands are keen to introduce customers to new flavours and its shelves are crammed with more than 200 types of tea and more than 60 coffee flavours.
The store has been busy creating blends of tea and coffee specifically for Chester.
Recently staff unveiled Chester Roast Espresso, described as a strong, aromatic, Italian blend with a kick using Devonshire roast beans.
And Bollands now supplies the city’s Tourist Information with Chester Breakfast Tea, a mix of leaves from the Tregothnan Estate, Assam, Darjeeling and Ceylon to give a full-bodied flavour.
Penny said: “Both are proving very popular and we’re really pleased to be creating products specifically for Chester.
“Everyone has heard of Yorkshire Tea so I think it’s about time they heard about Chester Tea.
Bollands holds regular tea and coffee taster sessions and customers are also able to sample new flavours next door in the shop’s tearooms.
Teas and coffees with exotic-sounding names are in plentiful supply.
In the tea section shoppers will find Iron Goddess Mercy and Milk Oolong and Monkey Picked Oolong - all from Indonesia.
Penny said: “Monkey Picked Oolong gets its name from Indonesian monks who train monkeys to pick the leaves using touch and smell techniques. It’s really clever.”
Staff are already working on new products for the Christmas market, including crackers containing tea and coffee instead of the unusual Yuletide gifts.
Penny said: “Together with our online sales the shop has gone from strength to strength over the past two years and we’re always looking for new products to bring our customers.”
