THINK of the origins of coffee and lush jungle paradises come to mind - sun-kissed climes a world away from the reality of northern England.

Think of Yorkshire and it's foods like Wensleydale cheese, fish and chips and a certain Sunday lunch batter pudding that would probably top the familiarity chart.

But that could all be about to change, thanks to a little bit of subterfuge and eight years of patient effort by a dedicated team in the heart of North Yorkshire.

In what they believe to be a first for the UK, tea and coffee merchants Taylors has cultivated, processed and roasted its own coffee beans in the far from tropical setting of Harrogate.

The company, famous for the Bettys chain of tea-rooms, may be ultimately hoping to put the county on the gastronomic map for coffee-growing - but it admits it will be a long time before it will have the Brazilians worried.

To date, they have managed to harvest only enough for two cafetieres - about eight cupfuls - easily making their coffee one of the most exclusive in the world.

The Yorkshire coffee story began when Taylors coffee buyer Mike Riley managed to smuggle a small, six-month-old coffee cutting back to Harrogate from its natural home in the foothills of Jamaica's Blue Mountains.

"We're 99.9 per cent sure it was legal and he didn't break any laws," a company spokesman is quick to point out.

But once the cutting reached Taylors, recreating the conditions that coffee needs in order to flourish proved to be no easy task.

Coffee bushes require months of continuous sunshine, a temperature of at least 75F and annual rainfall of about 150cm.

It was only after eight years of tender loving care in a climate-controlled "tropical house" specially built in the centre of the factory, that the bushes finally bore fruit.

In total, a little more than 300 coffee "cherries" - which encase the beans - were picked and processed before being medium roasted.

"It has everything I'd expect the world's best gourmet coffees to have, a full body, plenty of character and aroma and a hint of nuttiness," said a delighted Mike yesterday.

"We've long been famous for our traditional Yorkshire tea blend.

"Perhaps one day we'll be famous for our Yorkshire coffee."

He could be right, but when eight years of effort create eight cups of coffee, the wait could be considerable.