BRINGING the benefits of a traditional Yorkshire beverage all the way to America is the mission facing staff from a York tearoom.

Bettys and Taylors have selected an 11-strong team of employees to fly across the Atlantic and drive a tea van – known affectionately as “Little Urn” – through the States.

The team from the family-run firm, whose tearooms include venues in York’s St Helen’s Square and Stonegate and the centre of Harrogate, include a tea buyer, the company painter and decorator, a factory manager, two marketing assistants, a production engineer and the head of HR.

They will be flown out in pairs over a six-week period to take turns driving and manning Little Urn.

Tea buyer Suzy Garraghan, who normally spends her days tasting hundreds of different teas at the firm’s headquarters in Harrogate, said: “I think the Americans will love Little Urn.

“There’s not a lot of good tea in America, so people can’t turn down the chance of a good brew.”

The company will also be filming parts of the trip to use in television and online adverts later in the year – so making potential stars of the employees involved.

Production manager John Hennighan, another member of staff to have been chosen for the trip, said: “In America they are very good at doing iced tea – all sweet and flavoured with peach.

“But when it comes to hot tea, I don’t think they’re really educated about what a proper brew actually is.

“Yorkshire tea has a reputation for a being a top-quality tea, and we want to spread that reputation beyond our shores.”

As part of the trip impromptu tea parties will be held with Brits right the way across America, from celebrities and Morris dancing groups to classic motorcycle clubs and holidaymakers.