Ceylon Tea comes from the Republic of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, a green and pleasantly sunny island in the tropics, just 4 degrees north of the Equator, and 35 km off the southeastern tip of India.

It is a moderately-sized island of 65,610 km; ascending from sea level to approx. 2,400 meters and has been blessed by nature resulting in a diverse array of climates and scenery.

Tea came to be a principal crop in Sri Lanka in the early 1870s. It had been first grown there experimentally by a Scottish planter — James Taylor in 1867. From 400 hectares in 1875, the island’s tea extent grew to 120,000 hectares by 1990. Today it covers 221,969 hectares in the Highlands and Southern Low Lands areas of the country. Much of the black tea produced in Sri Lanka is by orthodox process.

Sri Lanka may be a small island, but it is a major player in the world of tea. It is the largest exporter of orthodox tea to the world and commands a 20% share of all tea trades. Consumers in over 130 countries delight in the pleasure of a cup of Ceylon Tea each day. Sri Lanka is also the largest producer cum exporter of Value Added teas in the world. Colombo, the capital, boasts of the greatest concentration of tea bagging capacity in any city.

The range of Value Added products extends from Packets, Tea Bags in its entire range, specialty and gift tea packs to a fine range of flavored teas.

What many connoisseurs of tea around the world are not aware of is that their favorite brand of tea has been enhanced by a percentage of Ceylon Tea. The more astute blenders and tea packers around the world have always known the value of a fine Ceylon and used it to enhance blends of other origins. The annual tea production of Sri Lanka has moved up to approx: 320 million kg today and accounts for 9% of the global tea output. The contribution from smallholder tea growers sector is the main factor for increase in the tea output. Over the years Sri Lanka has earned a reputation as a producer of high quality tea and Ceylon Tea is synonymous with quality and taste.

The strength of Sri Lanka’s tea lies, however, not merely in the volume of production, but also in its superlative quality and taste. Tea thrives on sloping terrain, and is grown in Sri Lanka in the Central Highlands and Southern Island Foothills, at various elevations.

Based on the height at which it is grown, Ceylon Tea is categorized in to three main varieties — Low Grown, Mid Grown and High Grown. The teas produced in Sri Lanka vary from small leaf to long leaf teas and from light fragrant cup character to strong, bright colored cup character.

Currently many Sri Lankan Tea Manufacturers and exporters have obtained ISO, HACCP and other international certifications to be ahead of the other tea producing countries and also to cater to the changing global consumer requirements. Fair trade, Ethical Tea Partnership and Good Manufacturing Practices, etc., are the other concepts followed by the Sri Lanka Tea Trade to move in to the 21st Century. The commitment of all stakeholders in the industry has helped Sri Lanka to sustain its leadership in the world orthodox tea market and also in value added tea export sector.

Sri Lanka has become the first tea producing country in the world to be recognized as a producer of “Ozone Friendly Tea”. The National Ozone Unit of Sri Lanka with the assistance of Tea Research Institute implemented two projects to phase out the use of Methyle Bromide (MeBr) in the tea sector.

The project was successful in finding and adopting Environmental Friendly Technologies without use of MeBr on the tea sector. Sri Lanka received the Montreal Protocol Implementers Award in 2007 for their achievement in the tea sector.

One of the happy discoveries the pioneer tea planters in the latter part of the 19th Century discovered is the effect of the diverse climates on tea production. This serendipitous discovery has resulted in an array of fine teas which are unique to each agro climatic district and not found anywhere else in the world, but also not found in the other agro climatic districts of Sri Lanka.

These distinct agro climatic zones produce teas known by romantic names such as, Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, Uva, Uda Pussellawa, Kandy, Ruhuna and Sabaragamuwa.

Sri Lanka exports approx: 95% of its production and has been able to maintain its global export share at 20 — 21%. Today its export profile has gone through significant development to cater to the changing would the consumer demand.

The product range includes black tea, green tea, organic tea, instant tea, flavored tea and RTD tea products. Sri Lanka exports a large quantity of tea packets and tea bags to add value to its tea than any other tea producing country in the world.

Sri Lanka’s 2007 tea export earnings reached an all-time record of Rs.112.8 billion ($1.1 billion) from Rs.91.7 billion earned in 2006.

As per Sri Lanka tea exports data available up to October 2008, country has exported 268,664 MT of Tea at a value of Rs.118.2 billion compared to 257,807 MT and Rs.91.3 billion recorded for same period in 2007. It appears that final export volume for 2008 will reach 300,000 MT and value will exceed Rs.125 billion.