Tea

Tea was firstly introduced in Ceylon (Sri Lanka known as Ceylon then) in 1824 at the botanical gardens at Peradeniya in Kandy.they were brought from China and later more were introduced from Assam in 1839.A Scottish planter call James Taylor planted tea seedlings on eight hectares of forest land which had been actually cleared for coffee plantation. Two years later blight destroyed the whole coffee corp. and the all planters had to turn to tea as a result of James Taylor’s encouragement.

The first sale of Looll kandara tea was held in Kandy in 1872, and exporting of Tea started with 23 pounds (approximately 10 kg) being shipped to London in 1873.


The first public Tea auction was held in Ceylon in 1880 and The Ceylon Tea Traders Association was formed in 1884.To extend the facility of research work and to improve the industry The Tea Research Institute was established at Talawakelle in 1925.
Growing of tea is classified by elevation in to three main Groups,

1) Low grown teas those grown bellow 550m
2) Medium grown teas those grown from 550 to 1220m
3) The high grown teas those grown from 1220m up to about 2500m

Quality tea should meet all the criteria a tea drinker would look for: such as Flavor, an attractive bright coppery or orange color, good liquoring properties, which give body or strength to the tea, and fragrance. All the type of Tea produced in Sri Lanka is flavored by different drinkers of worldwide.
The high grown verities, with their light taste, weak color and strong aroma are proffered by German and Japan.Medium grown teas with their good mix of liquor, color are popular in Australia, Europe and North America.Low grown teas with their thick taste and strong color are popular in Middle East.
Present day marketers have introduced verity of flavored teas in to the domestic and export markets.