Page 82 - Forbes - India (January 2020)

ForbesLife F&B

Distinct from its
Indian counterparts,
tea from the country
has its own story and
flavours to boast
SipS
By Khursheed dinshaw

he journey
of Ceylon from
tea began
in 1867, Sri Lanka
T when James
Taylor, an enterprising
17-year-old from Scotland,
planted the first tea bushes
(which he had brought
from Assam) over 19 acres
of the Loolecondera Estate in
Hewahata, located close to Kandy
in Sri Lanka. But although the
climate was nippy, and the soil rich
enough to grow tea, Taylor was an
82 inexperienced teenager. He then brought
in three veterans of the industry from India,
who trained him in the process of plucking,
withering and rolling tea leaves, in the manufacture
of samples, and the pruning of tea bushes.
Fortune further favoured Taylor when, in 1869,
an outbreak of fungus destroyed many coffee trees,
and tea became its substitute on many estates. eylon tea is different from the varieties grown
By the 1880s, there was a steady increase in in India as close to 95 percent of Ceylon
tea production, and, by 1888, it had exceeded C tea is produced through the specialised
the production of coffee. After a central tea orthodox manufacturing system. Almost 90 percent
factory was set up in 1884 on Fairyland Estate of Indian tea is produced through the mass-scale
in Nuwara Eliya, more factories began to sprout CTC manufacturing system. The soil, topography,
in surrounding regions, with machinery being elevations and rainfall that contribute to the flavour,
imported from companies like Marshals of character, quality, strength and aroma of tea is
Gainsborough and Davidson of Belfast. The different in Sri Lanka and India,” explains Pavithri
growth of plantations led to the development of Peiris, director, promotion, Sri Lanka Tea Board.
infrastructure, with road and rail networks being In Sri Lanka, 95 percent of tea leaves are hand-
set up to transport the tea from different plantations plucked while in India, a significant amount of
to Colombo, from where it was exported. mechanisation is also used. As an island, Sri Lanka
What began as Sri Lanka’s first consignment enjoys two monsoon seasons—the North-East and
photo courtesy: Khursheed dinshaw at `58—today contributes 5 percent of global Different because of more chlorophyll, while the Assamica tea
of tea to the London auctions in 1872—consisting
South-West—which makes its tea more diverse.
of two packs totalling 23 pounds, and valued
The Chinese variety of tea plant is dark green,
plant from Assam is a lighter shade. A few decades
manufacture and 15 percent of world exports. In
2018, Sri Lanka produced 303,843 tonnes of tea,
ago, hybrid bud grafted clonal plants—which

of which 282,363 tonnes were exported, mainly
embody the best of both the Chinese and Assam
varieties of
varieties and enhances the flavour—were developed
to Iraq, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Libya, China, the
Ceylon tea
UAE, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia and Japan.
forbes india • january 31, 2020 by the Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka.