Cornish tea from Tregothnan estate to be served on First Great Western trainsJonathon Jones at the Tregothanan tea gardens.Tea grown in Cornwall is to be served to passengers on First Great Western (
FGW▸ ) trains.
The operator's new partnership with Tregothnan will lead to one million bags of the tea blended by the estate near Truro being brewed on trains over the next year, making it one of the plantation^s largest customers.
This has it helped recruit six new employees in propagating, horticulture, guest services, website and social media, processing, blending and packing at Tregothnan, contributing to its expected growth of 60 per cent this year.
Tregothnan, home to the Boscawen family, began supplying England^s first and only tea, which partly comprises locally-grown leaves, in 2005.
Jo Elliott, from FGW, said: "We are thrilled to be working with yet another local supplier to bring quality, home-grown produce to our passengers. We aim to source all the produce on our trains from local suppliers and producers, and by choosing a Cornish supplier from within our network, First Great Western is a step closer to achieving that goal."
Jonathan Jones, director of Tregothnan, said: "This is a truly historic partnership for Tregothnan. It is great to see a company like First Great Western investing in the region ans supporting local suppliers. One million tea bags will see us hire new staff and roll out more goods than ever - a gain for the whole of the county."
The tea will be available from FGW^s Express Caf^, Night Riviera Sleeper Caf^ and the Pullman from late October.
The teas will be available to try as part of a presentation at the Cornish Food Festival at 11.30am tomorrow (Saturday), where First Great Western is the official sponsor.