Sri Lankan tea, also known as ceylon tea, has a long way to go. The name Ceylon Tea was not introduced to the export tea market in a matter of days or two years, but its history dates back to the British colonial era.

      A British man first imported a tea plant from China in 1824 and cultivated it in the Peradeniya Botanic Gardens without any commercial purpose.

     It was not until decades later that James Taylor, a Scotsman, revived tea cultivation as a commercial cultivation, which saw no progress. . He went to India in 1866 to study tea plantation  and in  1867 started tea plantation  on 19 acres of the Loolecondera estate in kandy.


      By this time the coffee plantation was being destroyed by a fungal disease and the growers had given up coffee plantation and turned to tea cultivation. Tea plantation  also spread to the Hole , Rockwood and Muloya estates around the Loolecondera estate .

Establishment of tea factories

      In 1872 , Taylor opened the first tea factory in Ceylon on the Loolecondera  estate. As a result, Sri Lanka was able to filter the first cup of tea in the country . In 1875 , Taylor 's first shipment of Ceylon tea was shipped to the London Tea Auction.

Tea cultivation after Taylor's death

    By 1899, tea plantation had spread over an area of ​​40,000 acres. The industry was further developed by the subsequent invention of tea dryers and tea rollers, as well as the contribution of the highly educated British to the plantation of tea in Sri Lanka.

Ceylon Tea Auction

    Ceylon Tea brand name known around the world and all became . In July 1883 , a tea auction was held at the Somerville & Co. premises under the auspices of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, marking the beginning of the sale of tea at Ceylon auctions .




     Institutions such as the Ceylon Tea Merchants 'Association, Colombo Brokers' Institute, Tea Research Institute, Tea Promotion Board and First Broker were also formed during this period. By 1960, tea production had grown to more than 200,000 metric tons over an area of ​​20,000,000 hectares.1963 out of the start and instant tea exports in Sri Lanka and the world's largest tea exporter in 1965, the forerunners of Sri Lanka.

   Ceylon tea from the different paths after , to tea compounds , to import, re-export, and in 1982 granted to the green tea beverage around the world at the production and export was started.

    In 1990, 23 local estate companies were created by privatizing state estates. In 2001, the first online tea sale took place at the Colombo Tea Auction, paving the way for a new journey.

    In this way, Ceylon Tea, which has been developing for more than 100 years , has now become a supplier of tea to a number of countries in the global market . The name Ceylon Tea is so popular all over the world because of its unique Sri Lankan taste and quality.