The World Famous Ceylon Tea in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is one of the largest exports of tea in the world.
Th country produces a wide range of varieties, including grades of the
traditional black tea, flavoured teas, organic teas and green tea. The first
tea plants, brought from china, were grown in Peradeniya Botanical Gardens in
1824, but it wasn’t until 1867 that the first commercial tea plantation was
established near Kandy. Before the cultivation of tea began on the island,
coffee was the principal plantation crop. However, when the coffee trees were
decimated by disease in the 1870s, tea became a profitable alternative. Today,
the tea industry is of great importance to Sri Lanka’s economy. The country’s
tea estates attract visitors from around the world and offer tours of tea
factories, stays in plantation bungalows and picturesque views of rows of tea
bushes.
About 4 percent of Sri Lanka’s land area is covered with tea
plantations. These are mainly found in the Hill Country, which offers the ideal
terrain and climate for the plants to flourish. Tea bushes are carefully
manicured and kept at waist height for ease of plucking. Tea cutting are kept
in a nursery for about a year before being planted in the fields.
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