Vicky S2 June 2025 | 10:01
Man found guilty of selling fake fancy tea for over R14 million
The name of his company is Wee Tea Plantation.
How much would you pay for a cup of tea? Pic: Pixabay: Katrina
CapeTalk's Clarence Ford speaks to Barbara Friedman, Primedia's Digital Content Editor.
Listen below:
A fraudster has conned luxury hotels and retailers out of over £580,000 (about R14-million) by selling them fake Scottish tea.
Thomas Robinson, 52, passed off 'bog standard old tea' imported from a wholesaler as a unique variety grown at his Perthshire Estate.
His company is called the Wee Tea Plantation.
"He then basically told these high-profile clients in the hospitality sector that this was his bespoke homegrown speciality tea and charged an absolute premium amount... it was all a fabrication."
- Barbara Friedman
Friedman says she loves this because it's an 'emperor's new clothes story'.
"You know when someone picks up a cuppa tea that costs them an absolute fortune and they go, 'Ah, this is just delectable!' And, actually, it's just normal old tea!"
- Barbara Friedman
Robinson has been found guilty of two counts of fraud by a jury, and he's due to be sentenced on 25 June.
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.