[Photo/Australia Plus]

Window into a new kind of reality

High tea the Chinese way

"We actually had to take the bear down from our website, and people have been hacking into the backend of our website to place orders.

"Every story you can imagine has happened to us. People are using their friends, close contacts, pressure is brought to bear on all sorts of channels just to acquire one, or one thousand, of these bears. It's become a mania, just like the black tulip.

"There are bidding wars in China for the product, it's beyond comprehension."

The company produces the bears on the farm with a small team of workers, and at this time the amount of lavender the farm harvests limits the number of bears the company can produce.

Bobbie bears now have a ‘Made in Tasmania’ label, and to help the consumers to distinguish between fake ones and the real deal, the company has added a scratch tag where a unique number can be revealed and used to authenticate the bear on Bridestowe’s website.

Mr Ravens says at the moment there are only two ways of getting a real Bobbie: to visit their physical shop on the farm or to order from their website. They have just started to place a limited number of Bobbie bears online everyday but those are usually sold out within half an hour.

While Bobbie has shown that being a Tasmanian can give a business marketing edge, he still lists his 'professional skills' as hugging on his Facebook profile.