About Tea

Camellia sinensis originated in southeast Asia, at the point of confluence of the lands of northeast India, north Burma, southwest China and Tibet. It has been introduced to some 50 regions from this center of origin. Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) is renowned for its high quality tea and as the fourth biggest  tea producing country globally, after China, India and Kenya.

Originally carried to Europe from the orient by caravan, by the early 18th century tea had become a necessity of daily life, first by the wealthy, later  by all levels of society, particularly in England and its colonies.

History of Ceylon tea

“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 at Waterloo.” - Arthur Conan Doyle 

By 1880, the hitherto thriving coffee industry in Ceylon had been ravaged to virtual non-existence by a terrible blight. Nearly a quarter million  acres of coffee plants were uprooted and the tea plant (Camellia Thea) was accorded its pride of place instead. Thus began the great Ceylon tea industry. This  Ceylon tea saga begins with tea seeds and young tea plants (of the Assam variety) imported from the Botanical Gardens in Calcutta, then experimentally planted in the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens near Kandy in 1839. In addition, a handful of more enterprising coffee planters too had cleared the occasional half acre and planted it with tea. Being chiefly concerned with lucrative coffee, planters in general had no time for tea and those experimental plots too were forgotten in time for  some thirty years.

However, tea did grow, and grew well in the hills of Ceylon.

The first commercially planted tea began in 1867 at the Loolecondera estate owned by a Scotsman named James Taylor, when the coffee industry was being severely plagued by the blight. The first recorded shipment of tea came five years later in 1872 with the export of a mere 23 pounds. The first vessel recorded as carrying Ceylon tea to England was the steam-ship “Duke Argyll” in 1877.

Economically devastated by the coffee leaf disease by the early 1880s, coffee planters quickly turned to tea. Experienced tea makers and cultivators from China and India were immediately sent to planters in Ceylon. To meet the unmanageable demand for tea plants, seeds were imported from Assam, and to a lesser extent, China, which were nurtured in tea nurseries in several suitable  locations.

Ceylon teas are grown on estates in the mountainous region of the island of Sri Lanka, at altitudes ranging from 2,000 to 8,000 feet. Pure healthy air and brilliant sunshine give these regal teas their famous aroma and beautiful golden colour, Ceylon teas are generally classified according to the altitude at which they are grown:

High grown: Teas grown at the loftiest altitudes, from 4,000 to 8,000 feet. They highly appreciated for their bright golden, fragrant liquor.
Middle grown: Teas grown at average altitudes, between 2,000 and 4,000 feet. They are rich and smooth, with a handsome hue.
Low grown: Teas grown at around 2,000 feet. Their liquor is dark and strong.

There are six main tea-growing regions on the island: Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, Uva, Ratnapura and Galle. Each region produces a tea with its own specific flavour.

About Green Tea

Green tea releases catechin, an antioxidant with proven anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties. Research found that drinking 2 to 6 cups a day not only helps prevent skin cancer but might also reverse the effects of sun damage by neutralizing the changes that appear in sun-exposed skin. Other studies show that green tea—infused with another antioxidant called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)—can boost your cardiovascular health and reduce the risk of most types of cancer.

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