Tea Lovers

Ceylon Tea  Sri Lankan tea known for generations as “Ceylon Tea” is reputed for its’ taste and aroma world over. Sri Lanka is the largest producer of orthodox tea in the world. Currently, Sri Lanka ranks as the fourth largest tea producer of the world.  In the global export front, the country holds the position of third largest exporter of tea. Sri Lanka applies ISO 3720 as the minimum standards for tea. Sri Lankan tea growers and manufactures adopt Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and produce tea under the highest social and environmental standards. The tea processing factories for exports continually improve and upgrade to meet required technical and hygienic standards to conform to the international food safety requirements.   ost Sri Lankan tea producers have also consistently promoted the adoption of the most stringent agricultural standards and practices, particularly through the adoption of international quality certifi...

Creative Ways to use Tea in your Cooking🍃😊  If you’re looking for some unique ways to spice up your favorite dishes, look no further than your tea box! Tea adds a distinctive flavour to any preparation whether sweet or savoury ,here’s some fun things to try....👇   👉If your recipe uses water, try using strongly brewed tea instead – cookies, breads, soups, marinades and stews are just some ideas where you could use this   👉Create your own unique dry rub for meats by adding ground black or green tea leaves into the mix. You can even use whole tea leaves as herbs.  👉Steaming rice and veggies with green or black tea leaves adds both a deliciously light flavour and fragrance 👉Add your favourite tea leaves to a smoker the next time you’re making smoked veggies or salmon. The tea leaves release their aroma as they burn and infuse some great flavours  👉Steep tea in hot milk for an hour or two before using in recipes like ice cream, custard and pudding...

 TEA TASTING - Chapter 01  Tea tasting, much like wine tasting, uses similar steps – visual, smell, taste and touch. A lot about a tea can be told by examining the dry leaves. Gently press some dry leaves in your hand – most new teas are a little springier and less likely to crumble than older teas. Tea tasting is the process in which a trained taster determines the quality of a particular tea. Due to climatic conditions, topography, manufacturing process, and different clones of the Camellia sinensis plant (tea), the final product may have vastly differing flavours and appearance. These differences can be tasted by a trained taster in order to ascertain the quality prior to sale or possibly blending tea. It is the taster who describes and values tea. His description of the liquor is based on taste. In its widest sense, which includes aroma, taste is a very complex property that has so far not been assessed chemically. A taster may deal with several hundred tea samples in a d...

Colombo Tea Auction  The first Tea Auction in Colombo was held on 30th July 1883 in the office of Somerville & Co., down Queen Street now renamed Janadhipathi Mawatha. Prior to this, many tea plantation people shipped Ceylon teas to the London Tea Auction or sometimes directly to overseas buyers. The Auction itself was only modestly successful with only one lot of Kabaragala un-assorted tea selling for cents 45 a pound whereas the other 4 lots remained unsold due to either lack of bids or due to bids received not meeting the Broker’s expectations. Despite debacles, Somerville & Co. and the other brokers persisted and were able to conduct auctions on a regular basis from 1885. In 1894 the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) set up the Colombo Tea Traders’ Association to formulate rules for the conduct of the Tea Auction. They promoted the common interest of buyers and sellers in the Colombo market. With modest beginning, Colombo Tea Auction (CTA) grew to be the largest tea au...

How to prepare Lemongrass Tea Sorbet??? Ingredients   1L of water  2 cups of granulated sugar  12 stalks of lemongrass (white stalks only), slightly crushed  1 lemon, juiced ¼ cup of tea made with 2 tablespoons of Ceylon black tea leaves Preparation : Bring water to boil, add sugar and lemongrass and let it infuse for 15 minutes. Add tea leaves and keep for 5 minutes. Strain through a fine meshed sieve and let it cool. Add lemon juice and place in freezer until frozen hard (about 8 hours). Process in small quantities in a blender until slushy and creamy. Place in cool goblets and serve immediately, garnished with fruits, mint leaves etc.

How to prepare Pineapple Tea Punch????? 🍍🥤🍃 Ingredients 5 cups of water  1/3 cup of Ceylon black tea leaves or 15 tea bags ½ tsp of grated nutmeg  1 cup of white sugar  6 cups of pineapple juice  1 cup of lemon juice  1L of club soda, chilled  Preparation:  Bring the water to a boil, add tea leaves and let it infuse, then add nutmeg and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Stir and strain into a punch bowl, add sugar and let it cool. Mix in the fruit juice. When ready to serve, mix with chilled soda and pour over ice cubes.

How to prepare Chocolate Tea??? 🥤🍫🍃  Ingredients    1L of milk  ½ cup of sugar  60g of bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped  2 tbsp of Ceylon black tea leaves  6 cardamom pods, crushed slightly  2 whole sticks of cinnamon 4 allspice berries, crushed  1 tsp of vanilla  Garnish with :  4 cinnamon sticks  Preparation:  Place all the ingredients in a pan except the garnish and simmer until the chocolate is fully dissolved. Cook over low heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow it to infuse for 10 minutes, then let it cool and strain. Freeze for one hour. Break up the frozen mixture and process in a blender until slushy.

How to prepare Iced Tea Lemonade🥤🍃🍋  Ingredients-   1L of water  6 tbsp of Ceylon black tea leaves  3 cups of cold water  ¾ cup of sugar made into a syrup with ¾ of cup water  1 cup of fresh lemon juice  Preparation-   Bring the litre of water to a boil, remove from heat and add tea leaves. Keep for 3-5 minutes. Stir and strain into a container, add the cold water and the cooled sugar syrup. Pour in the lemon juice and mix well. To serve, pour over ice cubes.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF SILVER TIPS TEA Ceylon Silver Tips tea is easily considered to be one of the more exclusive and exquisite teas in the world. From the processing of the Camellia sinensis plant buds to the way the end product is brewed, the tea gives out a light, sweet and sublime taste that satisfies many palettes. However, did you know that with its unique taste, Ceylon silver tips tea benefits are plenty? From the boosting of the immune system to helping your mind stay focused in your daily tasks, this particular Ceylon Tea does wonders to the body. By choosing Zesta’s Silver Tips Jar, your experience will be all the more special in addition to its benefits of silver tips tea. Silver Tips Tea and Heart Health It has been researched that the antioxidants contained within the silver tips tea is known to have a positive effect on the circulatory system and the heart. This is attributed to the fact that the compounds help in reducing the levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol from the blood...

SABARAGAMUWA Regional TEA  Sabaragamuwa is Sri Lanka’s biggest district, the teas of which are low-grown as its estates range in elevation from sea level to 610m. Sabaragamuwa, sandwiched between Sinharaja in the south and Adam's Peak wilderness in the north, produces a fast-growing bush with a long leaf. The liquor, too, is similar to that of Ruhuna teas, dark yellow-brown with a reddish tint. The aroma, however, is noticeably different from the Ruhuna products, with a hint of sweet caramel, not quite as strong: yet exceptionally stylish. RUHUNA Regional TEA   The teas of the Ruhuna district are defined as “low-grown” as they are cultivated at an altitude not exceeding 600m comprising vast sub regions from coastal plains to Southern edge of Sinharaja Rain Forest. The soil, combined with the low elevation of the estates, causes the tea-bush to grow rapidly, producing a long, beautiful leaf. Full-flavoured black tea is a distinctively unique Ruhuna specialty. Ruhuna factories p...

The use of the names of the tea-growing regions of Sri Lanka is strictly restricted and controlled. Only teas that conform to a registered, legal definition of origin and manufacture can bear the name of a given district. First, the tea must have been grown entirely within a particular ‘agro-climatic region’ (the technical term for ‘district’). This usually implies a particular altitude range as well; for example, tea from Uva district will have been grown at an altitude between 1,000 and 1,600m (3,000-5,000ft.) above sea level, while Nuwara Eliya tea will have been cultivated at a higher altitude range, averaging 2,000m (6,000ft). Secondly, the tea has to have been ‘manufactured’ within the district. Fresh tea-leaf does not travel well it has to be processed within a short period, and every large estate has its own factory dedicated to this operation. While the regional definition permits some latitude regarding the actual processes of manufacture, most Ceylon tea is still made accord...

By the 1960s, Sri Lanka's total tea production and exports exceeded 200,000 metric tons per year and in 1965 Sri Lanka became the world's largest tea exporter for the first time. In 1963, the production and exports of Instant Teas was introduced, and in 1966 the first International Tea Convention was held to commemorate 100 years of the tea industry in Sri Lanka. During the 1971–1972 periods, the government of Sri Lanka nationalized estates owned by Sri Lankan and British companies, taking over some 502 privately held tea, rubber and coconut estates, and in 1975 it nationalized the Rupee and Sterling companies. Land reform in Sri Lanka meant that no cultivator was allowed to own more than 50 acres for any purpose. In 1976, the Sri Lanka Tea Board was founded as were such other bodies as the Janatha Estate Development Board (JEDB), Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation (SLSPC) and the Tea Small Holdings Development Authority (TSHDA) to supervise the estates thus appropriated by...

The Planters Association of Ceylon was established in 1854 and in 1915 Thomas Amarasuriya became the first Ceylonese to be appointed as Chairman of the Planters' Association. Tea was increasingly sold at auction as its popularity grew. The first public Colombo Auction was held on the premises of M/s Somerville and Company Limited on 30 July 1883, under the auspices of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. One million tea packets were sold at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. That same year the tea netted a record price of £36.15 per lb at the London Tea Auctions. In 1894 the Ceylon Tea Traders Association was formed and today virtually all tea produced in Sri Lanka is sold at the auction supervised by this association and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. In 1896 the Colombo Brokers' Association was formed. In 1925 the Tea Research Institute was established in Ceylon to conduct research into maximizing yields and methods of production. By 1927 tea production in the country exceed...

Tea production in Ceylon increased dramatically in the 1880s and by 1888 the area under cultivation exceeded that of coffee, growing to nearly 400,000 acres in 1899. The only Ceylonese planter to venture in to tea production at the early stage was Charles Henry de Soysa. British figures such as Henry Randolph Trafford arrived in Ceylon and bought coffee estates in places such as Poyston, near Kandy, in 1880, which was the centre of the coffee culture of Ceylon at the time. Although Trafford knew little about coffee, he had considerable knowledge of tea cultivation and is considered one of the pioneer tea planters in Ceylon. By 1883, Trafford was the resident manager of numerous estates in the area that were switching over to tea production. By the late 1880s, almost all the coffee plantations in Ceylon had been converted to tea. Similarly, coffee stores rapidly converted to tea factories in order to meet increasing demand. Tea processing technology rapidly developed in the 1880s, follo...

In 1824 a tea plant was brought to Ceylon by the British from China and was planted in the Royal Botanical Garden in Peradeniya for experimental purposes. Further experimental tea plants were brought from Assam and Calcutta in India to Peradeniya in 1839 through the East India Company and over the years that followed. In 1867, James Taylor marked the birth of the tea industry in Ceylon by starting a tea plantation in the Loolecondera estate in Kandy. He was only 17 when he came to Loolecondera, Sri Lanka. The original tea plantation was just 19 acres. In 1872 Taylor began operating a fully equipped tea factory on the grounds of the Loolecondera estate and that year the first sale of Loolecondera tea was made in Kandy. In 1873, the first shipment of Ceylon tea, a consignment of some 23 lb (10 kg), arrived in London. Soon enough plantations surrounding Loolecondera, including Hope, Rookwood and Mooloya to the east and Le Vallon and Stellenberg to the south, began switching over to tea a...

Sri Lanka was formerly a British colony known as Ceylon, a name it kept for nearly a quarter-century after independence. It was during the British era that tea first began to be cultivated and manufactured here.The story of Ceylon Tea begins with coffee. The coffee plant had already been found growing naturally among the approaches to the central hill country. Then British Governor Barnes threw the weight of official support behind large-scale cultivation. Land in the central hills was sold for a few pence an acre, official funds were dedicated to research and experiments in coffee-growing, planters and merchants were provided with incentives and support. Most important of all, Barnes provided the infrastructure – a network of roads, including the all-important trunk route from Kandy to Colombo – that enabled coffee-planters to get their produce to town, and then to market in England. In the 1870s, coffee plantations were devastated by a fungal disease called Hemileia vastatrix or c...