Fears that the award winning Pembrokeshire Tea Company has closed down are a storm in a teacup.

Concerns had been brewing that the blending company had disappeared from their Nant-y-Coy Mill tea room, near Treffgarne, but co-founder Tony Malone said they were simply concentrating on production.

“We are looking at focusing back on the tea.

“Nant-y-Coy was a good move over the summer, it was very busy but it diverted away from making the tea.

“Since winning the True Taste award we were struggling as a small company to balance Nant-y-Coy and producing our teas, and unfortunately one had to give,” said Mr Malone.

Pembrokeshire Tea stirred up success with a gold True Taste award last month for its Dewi Sant tea blend, in the non-alcoholic drink category of the Welsh Assembly’s annual awards celebrating innovation and excellence in Welsh food and drink.

As negotiations continue Mr Malone was tight-lipped about where the production site will be but did say the company is “looking at massively expanding the production side.”

Before setting up at Nant-y-Coy, Pembrokeshire Tea were based at the Technium in Pembroke Dock.

No tea had been planted at the Nant-y-Coy site but Mr Malone said he still had all the seeds and it was hoped they could be used elsewhere.

Asked about concerns that creditors might have found themselves in hot water, Mr Malone said: “We have been having a rough time ot it of late. We have had a lot of people late paying us but we are getting on top of the situation at the moment.

“The company is still going, we were trying to do to much for a small company and reached the limits.”