Until 1971, more than 80% of the plantations were owned and operated by British companies, but in 1971, most of the plantations were nationalized (including rubber and coconut, which were grown for export) by a Sri Lankan government ordinance, and about one-third were privatized. From 1990, restructuring was carried out and the nationalized plantations were privatized (by domestic and foreign companies). Due to domestic circumstances, Sri Lanka, which was once the world’s number one producer of tea, fell to eighth place in 1993. Manufacturers were forced to make decisions on production methods, production range, export markets, etc. At one time, the UK was Sri Lanka’s largest market, but now nearly 70% of production is shipped to Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa. The Middle Eastern market prefers traditional, orthodox black tea, but consumers are steadily shifting to European-style black tea and are beginning to demand black tea in teabags.

Tea grown and produced in high altitude mountains is called Ceylon Tea Champagne!

Sri Lanka’s traditional black tea, acclaimed to be the best in the world among high quality black teas, is not suitable for tea bags. In 1993, 3% of production was CTC, but manufacturers were forced to decide to transfer to CTC in order to capture a wider market. Some companies believe that there is still a market for traditional orthodox black tea, while others see a shift to CTC in the future. Customers are always attracted to the increase in processed black teas, so a wide variety of canned, crated and basketed black teas are available today. Products made with 100% Sri Lankan tea leaves carry the lion logo, invented by the Sri Lanka Tea Board, which guarantees the origin of the tea and protects the image of Sri Lankan black tea.

The best tea leaves in Sri Lanka come from plantations above 4000 feet above sea level. This is because the trees grow slowly in the cool environment and are planted on high sloping mountains where picking tea is difficult in frosty weather. There are six main tea producing areas, Galle in the south of the island, Ratnapura 55 miles east of Colombo, Kandy the ancient capital in the centre, Nuwara Eliya the highest producing area, Dimbula to the west of the central mountain range and Uwa east of Dimbula. The teas produced in each area have different aromas, flavours and colours. Lowland teas are produced at 1500-1800 feet and are inferior in colour, quality, aroma and flavour to mid-highland and highland teas and are mainly used for blending. Mid-highland teas are produced at 1800-3500 feet and have good aroma, flavour and colour, which I think is a quality that Japanese people prefer. Tea brewed at altitudes of 3,500-7,500 feet produces a delicious aroma, a glossy finish and a clear color.