It's been a good week for ...
tea
An Edinburgh hotel is serving Scotland's first cups of homegrown tea. The Balmoral Hotel on Princes Street offers white or smoked tea, grown by The Wee Tea Plantation at the Dalreoch estate in Amulree, Perthshire.
To qualify as tea, the blend needs to contain leaves from the camellia sinensis plant, usually more at home in the humid climate of India, China and Taiwan.
The Wee Tea planters are a canny bunch, however, and realised that once plants have matured they can thrive even in the relatively cold conditions of central Scotland. Their specialist smoked white tea has won the gold standard accolade at the Salon du The awards in Paris.
Jeff Bland, The Balmoral's executive chef, said: "Many tea connoisseurs visit The Balmoral, and we are thrilled to be adding these two new local teas to our collection on an exclusive basis."
Feeling parched? Well, a pot of the good stuff in the hotel's Palm Court will set you back a tenner.
You'll have had your tea, then?
It's been a bad week for ... financial transactions
A shop in Ireland has been conned into accepting a €100 note from a children's toy set.
The bill, from an Early Learning Centre "Play Money" game, was reportedly used to purchase a sandwich in a fast-food shop.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the note was being treated as counterfeit currency and as result the owner was out of pocket. Police have advised businesses to check all notes.
Writing on their Facebook page, PSNI Newry and Mourne posted a picture of the note in an evidence bag. The post reads: "Believe it or not this was actually accepted as payment in business premises in Newry."
The post advised those whose jobs involve handling cash to: "Take five seconds to check all notes you are accepting. The first check would be to look at the thing! The second would be to swipe a counterfeit detector pen across it. You can buy these online for pennies."
Presumably the third would be to wonder why on earth someone was buying a sanny with a €100 note.
Such a ploy might come in handy when you fancy a £10 pot of tea.
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