This week the blog does something a little different – one maker, in depth. Tiree Tea is a small island tea company in the Isle of Tiree, blending teas named after the things around them – the croft, the machair, the ferry, and one famous lamb. If you have ever wanted your cuppa to come with a sense of place, this is the shop for you.
The names do a lot of the storytelling. Crofter takes its name from the little grey Fergie tractor that has lived on the Tiree Tea croft since she was born in 1947, and she is still working. Tilley nods to the Tilley lamps that once powered island homes, and to Tilley the Turbine, which powers community projects today. Ferry Berry is a spiced blend built to warm you up like an early morning announcement that the cafeteria is open. Their listings promise hints of “baler-twine and marauding livestock”, which tells you the humour comes included.
The practical side is equally well thought through. The teabags are plastic-free and 100% biodegradable, the packaging is home-compostable, and even the mailing bags are biodegradable and reusable. Orders go out within three business days, weather permitting – honest small print from an island where the weather gets a vote. There is a gift wrap option at the checkout, and they will pop in a wee gift note if you leave a message when you order.
Three picks from the range below, from £4.50 to £19.
Crofter Breakfast Tea Tin – £19
Tiree Tea, Isle of Tiree
The flagship blend, named for that 1947 grey Fergie. Crofter is a traditional breakfast tea built from Indian Assam, Kenyan and Sri Lankan black teas – equally suited to breakfast, a flask on the go or, in true Tiree style, a couple of biscuits after an already large meal. Their words, and we believe them. The tin stands 178mm tall with an embossed Tiree Tea lid and comes stuffed with 50 biodegradable teabags. Leaving the pot to stew on the stove for a couple of hours is traditional, and entirely optional.
Machair Floral Herbal Infusion – £4.50
Tiree Tea, Isle of Tiree
Machair is the fertile, flowery ground that stretches down to the shore in the islands, carpeted in sweet wildflowers through the summer. In Tiree it supports the Great Yellow Bumblebee, one of the rarest bumblebees in Britain. The infusion takes after it – sweet and fragrant with subtle citrus notes, blended from green rooibos, lemon verbena, nettle, lemon thyme and a scatter of mallow flowers, cornflowers and sunflower petals. Twenty teabags, three minutes in the pot, and hints of “pretty petals and mis-pronunciation”. It is MAH-kher, roughly, and the tea is forgiving either way.
Limited Edition Wonky Tea, Mint and Nettle Infusion – £7.95
Tiree Tea, Isle of Tiree
Wonky the lamb was born with a crick in her neck and a zest for life that refused to give in. After conquering social media one wobble at a time, she now grazes happily on the Tiree Tea croft – and she has her own tea. This is a limited edition print run of the Tilley mint and nettle infusion, 70% peppermint and spearmint to 30% nettle, an energising and zingy blend with hints of “unwinding and unwonking”. The right gift for anyone who has had a slightly wonky sort of week.
One croft, a lot of tea
The range runs well beyond these three. There are breakfast teas named in Gaelic for Lewis, Harris, the Uists and Barra, an Earl Grey called Gneiss, a decaf called Decroft, plus mugs, tea towels and coasters to match. If you cannot pick, the Tiree Tea Taster Box at £16 lets you mix and match four blends, and it fits through a letterbox.
Everything is blended, packed and posted from the croft, so when you buy a tin your money lands directly in an island business. Browse the full range at Tiree Tea, see what else comes from the island in the Isle of Tiree collection, or have a look at last week’s gifts from the Isle of Lewis if you are after a wider browse.
