The BBC reports on an unusual fraud. The story revolves around “The Wee Tea Plantation”, supposedly a tea plantation in Perthshire that sold single-estate tea. This might seem unlikely, but there is a fledgling Scottish tea industry. But Thomas Robinson seemed to be extraordinarily successful. At least, the plantation certainly seemed successful, with clients including Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel and the Dorchester in London. There was no shortage of tea to supply – but that’s because Robinson was buying tea from overseas, and selling it at up to 100 times the cost as Scottish tea.
The tea was in demand from high-status-buyers, but how can you convince them you’re the real deal? When a buyer from Fortnum & Mason’s came to inspect the plantation, he bought tea plants to create an illusion of success. The deception by the “polymer scientist” & “former bomb disposal expert” fell apart when he claimed to have won awards that no one else had heard of.
This case highlights the problem of provenancing tea. How do you know your tea is Scottish, or Chinese or anything else? There is a premium to be paid for tea from the right regions, and so there’s also an incentive by unscrupulous people to bulk out, or mislabel tea too.
It’s difficult to identify tea just by looking at it. This is a problem for tea where supply chains are complex, particularly when you sell blends of tea rather than single-origin stock. Stoeckle et al used DNA barcoding, looking for standardised sequences of DNA to identify what was in ‘tea’. Using this technique they showed that genetic tools (DNA barcoding using rbcL and matK genes) could successfully extract DNA from 90% of commercial tea products. They found that around a third of herbal teas generated DNA identifications not found on labels.
But that only identifies the biological material, can you also identify where it grew? Liu et al measured stable isotope ratios looking for variations in elements like carbon/nitrogen that reflect local climate & soil. They then added multi-element analysis detecting trace metals. These trace metals are absorbed from specific geology. Together isotopes & trace elements create a unique “chemical passport” for a growing region. Their success rate was over 87%. In the future any “Scottish tea” could be compared against known samples to confirm authenticity.
More recently, the tools for detecting tea fraud have improved further. Reyrolle et al have combined multi-element signatures, strontium isotope ratios & volatile compounds for the first time – successfully discriminating 10 out of 11 tea regions, tightening the noose on tea fraud.
The next fraud may be easier to spot, helping uphold the reputations of real Scottish tea growers. In the meantime, the jury at Thomas Robinson’s trial has found him guilty of fraud for a total of over £550,000 (750,000 USD). Sentencing is due to take place next month. If he’s looking for a lighter sentence, he may want to consider offering something to the Iron Goddess of Mercy.
Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon.
Image: Canva.
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