A strange brew: the case of the man behind an audacious Scottish tea fraud

Samples of Scottish-grown teas, including the suspicious Dalreoch white tea, that were analysed as part of the investigation. Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose/The Guardian

With its large silver pouch, artistic label and delicate leaves, Dalreoch Scottish white tea might be expected to grace elegant cups with saucers, perhaps with a scone served on the side. Instead, it is nestled with an array of numbered polythene packets in a room just off a laboratory at the University of Aberdeen.

This is not an ordinary afternoon tea but evidence in a crime that science helped solve.