Tighnabruaich tea earns praise on international stage

A pioneering tea garden on the Cowal Peninsula has been singled out for praise after Tea Scotland won a major international award recognising the country’s growing reputation for artisan tea.
Tea Scotland, the organisation representing tea growers across the country, has won the 2025 Pioneer Award at the internationally recognised Leafies Tea Awards, held in London in partnership with Fortnum & Mason. The award celebrates the inspirational work of Scottish growers producing high-quality teas in challenging conditions.
Among those receiving special mention in the judges’ citation was Glen Caladh Tea, near Tighnabruaich, run by Islay Henderson.
The Leafies judges praised Glen Caladh for its strong focus on quality and environmental sustainability, highlighting the role that tea can play in biodiversity and carbon sequestration when grown responsibly.
Islay said: I am delighted to receive a special mention for Glen Caladh Tea with respect to our efforts towards environmental sustainability.
Tea is a crop with huge potential for biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and we grow organic tea outside with this in mind. It’s a dream for me to bring an ethical tea product to the table with the Glen Caladh single estate tea we make here in Argyll.
Tea Scotland received the Pioneer Award for its collective efforts to establish tea as a viable crop across Scotland over the past decade, from Orkney to Dumfries and Galloway.
Jennifer Wood, Director of the UK Tea Academy and organisers of the Leafies Awards, added: Tea Scotland is a pioneering group of tea growers who manage to produce exceptional teas in a tough climate under testing conditions. This award brings well-deserved recognition to their optimism, dedication and achievement.
Tea Scotland Chair Mike Hyatt said the award reflected years of hard work by growers across the country: It is important to recognise the hard work that tea growers in Scotland have put in over the last 10 years to establish tea as a viable crop in our demanding climate.
For Glen Caladh Tea, the recognition is also closely tied to the support of the local community in Cowal.
Islay continued: The local community here around us in Tighnabruaich, Colintraive and Glendaruel are fantastic.
There is so much interest in our tea plantation, we are blown away by the local support.
She added that strong local businesses and partnerships have helped Glen Caladh thrive: Cowal Cruises, Argyll Coffee, Argyll Botany Company, Carry Farm, Auchgoyle Retreats, to name just a few, are all within miles of us here on the beautiful Cowal Peninsula. We feel lucky that we landed here eight years ago and have never looked back.