Last month's mini heatwave has seen the UK's first tea plantation grow a bumper crop – and produce the strongest brew ever in Europe.

Bosses at Tregothnan tea garden in Cornwall pride themselves on being the first in hundreds of years to grow a "classic cuppa" on home soil.

And the recent heatwave has coincided with a flush of leaves on the assam bushes to create the strongest black tea ever grown in Europe.

The volume of tea per bush is also a record, equalling the yield from the finest bushes in Assam and Kenya.

Tregothnan, St Michael Penkivel near Truro, has been recording temperatures hotter than India and Kenya.

The rain forecast is perfectly timed to promote even more growth, with 300mm shoots of tea expected this month.

Tregothnan's managing director, Jonathon Jones OBE said: "The microclimate at Tregothnan was first noted in the 19th Century as being suitable for tea and the first commercial tea gardens were established in 1999.

"Thousands of tea bushes are sold from the nursery every year to home gardeners and small quantities of tea can be produced in most gardens in the UK.

"However, the unique combination of a warm body of seawater seven miles inland, perfect soil, slopes, and rainfall, are not equalled anywhere else in Europe."

Tregothnan is the largest tea garden in Europe and is open to visitors by appointment.

Tea was first developed commercially at the site from Camellia sinensis, the "Chinese tea plant", in 2001.

The first 'English tea' was then sold in November 2005 to Fortnum & Mason of Piccadilly.

It has since extended the range and captured the imagination of the tea-drinking public.