CEYLON TEA
The Story of Ceylon Tea
Years on, Ceylon tea is synonymous with quality, and Sri Lanka is recognised as the largest producer of orthodox tea in the world, using handpicked tea leaves and manufactured under artisanal methods passed down from one generation to another since the 1800s.
In the 1800s. The coffee ‘enterprise’ had come to an abrupt halt. The economy of Ceylon, ruled by the British, was on the verge of collapse. The upcountry estates filled with the forgone aromas of coffee were being sold for a song. Frantic experiments with other crops came to naught. Panic sets in. Where, oh where, is Ceylon headed?
Amidst the chaos, a reclusive Scotsman named James Taylor started experimenting with tea, planting it along the margins of his coffee estate. The first leaves withered on his bungalow veranda in 1866, and the first Ceylon tea consignment was sold to England in 1873, kicking off Ceylon’s intimate relationship with tea.
Amidst the chaos, a reclusive Scotsman named James Taylor started experimenting with tea, planting it along the margins of his coffee estate. The first leaves withered on his bungalow veranda in 1866, and the first Ceylon tea consignment was sold to England in 1873, kicking off Ceylon’s intimate relationship with tea.
Although the first commercial plantation was under Taylor, the first tea bush was said to have been grown in 1824, when a tea plant was brought to Ceylon from China and planted in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya for non-commercial purposes.
Built on the ruins of an old enterprise, Ceylon tea and its tale were coined one of the greatest commercial victories of its time, prompting revered author Sir Conan Doyle to pen: “Not often is it that men have the heart, when their one great industry is withered, to rear up in a few years another as rich to take its place, and the tea fields of Ceylon are as true a monument to courage as is the Lion of Waterloo,” recollecting his journey in Ceylon in ‘The Last Galley: Tales and Impressions’ (1911)Years later, Ceylon tea is synonymous with quality, and the country.
Built on the ruins of an old enterprise, Ceylon tea and its tale were coined one of the greatest commercial victories of its time, prompting revered author Sir Conan Doyle to pen: “Not often is it that men have the heart, when their one great industry is withered, to rear up in a few years another as rich to take its place, and the tea fields of Ceylon are as true a monument to courage as is the Lion of Waterloo,” recollecting his journey in Ceylon in ‘The Last Galley: Tales and Impressions’ (1911)Years later, Ceylon tea is synonymous with quality, and the country.
The tea fields of Ceylon are as true a monument to courage as is the lion of Waterloo.
-Sir Arthur Conan
