‘As a pioneer region for tea growing, it’s great to have been recognised’

TEA is the most consumed liquid product in the world, after water, and Jersey has one of the biggest tea estates in Europe, situated on slopes near Bouley Bay. Not a lot of people know that (as Michael Caine might say).

In total, the Jersey Fine Tea Company owns three tea estates in Jersey: near Bouley Bay, Gorey and Hamptonne. New tea gardens are being established in other locations in the Island. All told the “area under tea” comes to more than 35 vergées. There are marginally larger estates in the Azores and Cornwall, but Jersey comes a close third.

The owner and manager is Matt Bartlett, who planted the tea gardens in St Lawrence, and prepared the fields specifically for tea production. He took on further tea gardens to focus on building Jersey Fine Tea as a brand, and to establish it as a sustainably managed tea farm. His family are very much local, and are not related to any well-known people in the Jersey Royal export trade who happen to have the same surname…