The first Tea seeds and
young plants were brought to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from
the botanical gardens in Kolkata (India) in 1839.
The father of the Tea industry in Ceylon - James Taylor,
first planted Tea commercially in 1867, two years before
the coffee blight. The first shipment of 23 pounds of
Tea took place in 1872, and today the country exports
around 300 million kilograms of Tea to all corners of
the world, and also has the distinction of conducting
the largest Tea auctions in the world, which has been in
operation since 1883.
Today, Sri Lanka is known as the largest exporter of Tea
to the world, and hence, 'Ceylon Tea' from Sri Lanka is
often acclaimed as the best Tea in the world. Also,
reputed for the excellent quality of conventional and
organic Tea, low and high grown, from some of the finest
Tea gardens in the world, and blended to perfection.
Influence of climatic conditions of its plantation
allows for a variety of flavors and aromas, synonymous
with quality of the final product.
All around the world, connoisseurs of Tea clamoured for
'Ceylon Tea' which soon became a household reference for
the finest quality Tea. It acquaints that the Sri Lankan
population starts and ends the day with a cup of Tea
because it has qualities to refresh the hearts and minds
and acts as a catalyst.
The Tea cultivating industry in Sri Lanka has always
been a vital component of the overall Sri Lankan
economy. The Sri Lankan Tea sector employs approximately
one million people in this industry, thus also
contributing significantly to the country's gross
domestic product as well as government revenue. The
total extent of Sri Lankan land under Tea cultivation
has been assessed at approximately 187,400 hectares. Tea
production is a year round phenomenon and cultivation is
usually concentrated in the central highlands and the
southern inland areas of the island. 'Ceylon Tea'
consists of a combination of distinctive, fine rich yet
mellow flavor, bright and golden color that appeals to
Tea drinkers throughout the world.
Each day around 300,000
estate workers pluck several million tea leaves by hand.
This is the first step in the manufacture of quality
Ceylon tea.
Only the bud and the two youngest leaves are plucked,
for it is only these leaves that have the flavour and
aroma. In other parts of the world plucking is done by
machines. These machines pluck the bud, the young leaf,
a lot of coarse leaf and few twigs as well. Coarse leaf
and and twigs just add bulk and not flavour to the tea.
The plucked tea leaf is then brought to the muster sheds
where they are wheighed in, and first quality inspection
is made. The leaf is then moved to the factory where
they are withered using large blowers.
The next step in the manufacturing process involves,
cutting the leaves. This brings out the juices and
begins the fermentation process. Fermentation is the
critical step. The humidity, temperature and
fermentation time has to be well controled or the
flavour is lost.
After fermentation is completed, the leaf is fired, to
lock in the flavour, to dry it and to improve the
keeping qualities. Absoloutely no preservative or
artificial flavouring are added in the manufacture of
pure Ceylon tea.
The final step is the separation of the product
according the color and the particle size. Here
strignent quality control is done and anything that does
not measure upto the standards is rejected.
The finished product is shipped in bulk to mainly to
europe, the middle-east, Australia, and North America.
Only the best tea is exported. Unfortunately once it
leaves Sri Lanka it is mixed with lower quality and
cheaper produce from the African countries and India. |
