Ceylon
Tea
The story of
Ceylon tea begins over two hundred years ago, when the country that
is now known as Sri Lanka, was still a British colony. Coffee was
the dominant crop on the island, and intrepid British men journeyed
across oceans to begin a new life on coffee plantations.
However, coffee was not destined to succeed in Ceylon. Towards the
close of the 1860’s the coffee plantations were struck by Hemileia
Vostatrix, coffee rust, better known as coffee leaf disease or
‘coffee blight’. As the coffee crop died, planters switched to the
production and cultivation of tea.
Experimental planting of tea had already begun in 1839 in the
botanical gardens of Peradeniya, close to the royal city of Kandy.
These plants had arrived from Assam and Calcutta through the East
India Company. Commercial cultivation of tea commenced in
Ceylon in 1867. Reflecting on the bold initiative, Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle stated that,
“…the tea fields of Ceylon are as true a monument to courage as is
the lion at Waterloo”.
James Taylor, a Scotsman, played a significant role in the
development of Ceylon Tea.
A perfectionist by nature, Taylor experimented with tea cultivation
and leaf manipulation in order to obtain the best possible flavour
from the tea leaves. Taylor’s methods were emulated by other
planters and soon, Ceylon Tea was being favourably received by
buyers in London, proving that tea could be a profitable plantation
crop.
In 1872 the first official Ceylon tea was shipped to England and
contained two packages of 23lbs. The first recorded shipment,
however, was dispatched to England in 1877 aboard the vessel The
Duke of Argyll.
By the 1880s almost all the coffee plantations in Ceylon had been
converted to tea. British planters looked to their counterparts at
the East India Company and the Assam Company in India for guidance
on crop cultivation. Coffee stores were rapidly converted to tea
factories to meet the demand for tea. As tea production in Ceylon
progressed, new factories were constructed and an element of
mechanization was introduced. Machinery for factories was brought in
from England. Marshals of Gainsborough – Lancashire, Tangyes Machine
Company of Birmingham, and Davidsons of Belfast supplied machines
that are in use even today.
As Ceylon tea gained in popularity throughout the world, a need
arose to mediate and monitor the sale of tea. An auction system was
established and on 30 July 1883 the first public sale of tea was
conducted. The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce undertook responsibility
for the auctions, and by 1894 the Ceylon Tea Traders Association was
formed. Today almost all tea produced in Sri Lanka is conducted by
these two organizations.
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Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC.
Our Company, Talawakelle Tea Estates Limited produces
high-quality tea in seventeen tea gardens situated in the
best tea country of the land. Twelve of these estates,
nestled in the cool mountains of Nuwara-Eliya manufacture
high-grown quality tea while the rest, situated on the
verdant planes of the South bring forth the low-growns with
the objective of satisfying every tea aficionado in
countless homes, offices, restaurants, hotels…from the
grandest to the most humble, all over the world. |
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Health
Benefits
“Better to be deprived of food for three days than tea for
one,” - Chinese proverb.
"When the water looks like fishes' eyes and gives off but
the hint of a sound it has reached the first stage. When it
chatters like a spring bubbling with pearls strung together,
it has reached the second stage. When it leaps like majestic
waves resounding with their thunder, the water is at its
peak. To heat it longer, the water will boil itself out; do
not use it."
This is how Lu Yu the 8th Century Chinese scholar describes
how to prepare water that is perfect for tea
Add a spoon full of tea into water at the kind of
temperature Lu Yu advices of, and you will have a wonder
brew that will give you amazing health benefits.
Here is a brief synopsis of the latest findings
AGING
If you are the type to fret over the appearance of wrinkles,
age spots and other signs of growing old, tea may be the
answer to your worries. Recent experiments show mice which
were fed tea displayed fewer signs of aging than mice that
were fed water.
ALLERGIES
Green tea, rich in antioxidant treasures that protect
against heart disease and cancer, now shows promise as an
allergy fighter. In laboratory tests, Japanese researchers
have found that the antioxidants in green tea, block the
biochemical process involved in producing an allergic
response. Green tea may be useful against a wide range of
sneeze-starting allergies, including pollen, pet dander, and
dust.
BONE STRENGTH
Tea flavonoids may be bone builders. A report in this week's
Archives of Internal Medicine looked at about 500 Chinese
men and women who regularly drank black, green, or oolong
tea for more than 10 years. Compared with non-habitual tea
drinkers, tea regulars had higher bone mineral densities,
even after exercise and calcium-which strengthen bones-were
taken into account.
CANCER
"Tea is one of the single best cancer fighters you can put
in your body," according to Mitchell Gaynor, MD, director of
medical oncology at the world-renowned Strong Cancer
Prevention Center in New York City and co-author of Dr.
Gaynor's Cancer Prevention Program. The latest tea
discovery? Strong evidence that both green and black tea can
fight cancer-at least in the test tube. In a new study, both
teas kept healthy cells from turning malignant after
exposure to cancer-causing compounds.
CHOLESTEROL
Tea can lower 'bad' cholesterol levels. Researchers at the
Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville,
Maryland, asked test subjects to eat low-fat, low-calorie
prepared meals and drink five cups of caffeinated tea or
caffeinated and non-caffeinated placebos that mimicked the
look of tea. Levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)
cholesterol dropped 10 percent among the test subjects who
drank tea.
HEART DISEASE
Drinking black tea may lower the risk of heart disease
because it prevents blood from clumping and forming clots.
In a recent study, researchers found that while drinking
black tea, the participants had lower levels of the blood
protein associated with coagulation.
WEIGHT LOSS
Trying to lose weight? Reach for a cup of tea instead of a
diet beverage. If you consume 2,000 calories per day and
don't gain or lose weight (you're in energy balance), an
increase of 4% would translate roughly into an 80-calorie
daily difference. Over a year, this could result in 89
pounds of weight loss. (American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition) |
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