Scottish tea mystery: Journalist investigates Tam O'Braan's questionable success story
The Guardian's science correspondent Nicola Davis investigates the strange tale of Tam O'Braan, who grew tea in Scotland and sold it to luxury hotels, but something didn't add up.
Science journalist Nicola Davis from The Guardian has launched an investigation into the unusual story surrounding Tam O'Braan and his attempts to grow tea in Scotland. This is the first episode of a mini-series originally broadcast in October 2025 and now revisited in July 2026.
Davis first met O'Braan while working on a feature about tea plantations in the UK. He was selling award-winning Scottish-grown tea to some of the finest hotels in the country. However, as she delved deeper, she found that something did not quite add up. There were inconsistencies in O'Braan's account that raised suspicions.
Davis was not the only person taking an interest in his story. Others also began to scrutinize his operations. The mini-series aims to uncover what lies behind the Scottish tea-growing project and why it has attracted so much attention. The episode ends with a hint that the full story has yet to be revealed, inviting listeners to follow the subsequent installments.
