Lismore Tea, Isle of Lismore

Mike Hyatt

Mike planted 500 camelia sinensis plants in 2017 on Baleveolan Croft in the island of Lismore. Lismore is an inner Hebridean island, 12 miles long and 1 mile wide, low-lying, and fertile. It has a mild, wet climate typical of the west coast of Scotland and is buffeted by strong winter storms.

Mike runs his own landscape architecture company and is keen to experiment with novel crops to see what will be grown on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. He takes a non-traditional approach to providing an income from the croft he shares with his partner, Clare. On Baleveolan Croft, they have created a vibrant fruit and tea garden using a wide range of fruit bushes to shelter the tea.

Although Mike and Clare have made a small batch of their own tea, they currently prefer to supply fresh leaf to be combined with other growers to make an authentic Scottish blended tea sold by Tea Scotland.