Tony Poyner
Plantation Director
Tony Poyner
A Queenslander, born and bred, Tony Poyner is Nerada’s Plantation Director. He is the custodian of our Malanda tea plantation, ensuring the quality of the teas grown here are world-class. Tony is often referred to as Australia’s luckiest tea taster given he tastes the freshly harvested tea daily. He’s worked at Nerada for almost 30 years and his passion for producing the highest quality teas saw him persevere with implementing a strong environmental focus for our single estate tea.
Tony was born in Brisbane but grew up on the Atherton Tablelands. A love of the land and growing things lead him to the tea industry. He began his career with Nerada as a Tradesman’s Assistant. He then trained as a tea maker and taster and was then appointed Assistant Factory Manager. His understanding of all the roles within the Malanda tea factory have helped him in his current role as as Plantation Director.
Tony is passionate about the environment and says that his greatest achievement at Nerada has been to go pesticide-free in the plantation and see the plantation awarded Rainforest Alliance certification.
Tony and his wife enjoyed raising a family on the estate and are lucky to still call Nerada home. Their greatest joy is now watching the next generation, their granddaughter, playing in the same tea rows as her father did, wading in the mountain streams, and sitting on her poppy’s lap watching the sun set over the estate.
But the thing we want to know most about this tea master is how does he take his tea? Black or with a dash of milk, depending on his mood is the answer. His favourite tea is Nerada Black Tea of which he has about 6 or 7 cups a day – you could say he is a tea fanatic, in the truest sense.