Scottish gin down to a tea

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WHAT’S claimed to be the first gin distilled with Scottish-grown tea leaves is set to be released by Aberdeenshire-based The Teasmith Spirits Company.

Husband and wife team, Nick and Emma Smalley, who founded the firm and launched its first gin made with Ceylon tea leaves from Sri Lanka in 2016, said they had always wanted to “develop a gin product which features Scottish tea”.

The resulting Teasmith Grower’s Edition, Brioch Single Estate Gin, is made with tea leaves hand-picked from plants at the Brioch tea garden on the banks of River Earn in Crieff.

Emma said: “The Brioch tea has reacted completely differently to the Ceylon tea used in our original recipe and gives an aroma of honey and apples which makes for an exceptionally pleasant gin.”

Made in a batch of only 1000 bottles, the new gin’s other botanicals include juniper, coriander seeds and orange peel.