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Ceylon Tea
Tea plant (Camelia sinensis) was introduced as a plantation crop by James Taylor, a British planter who in 1867 established the first tea plantation on Loolecondera Estate in Hewaheta. It was due to the pioneering efforts of Taylor who established the first of the many tea estates and developed machinery for processing of tea leaf, that the Tea Industry flourished in Sri Lanka.
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Today, tea industry provides employments to over 700,000 people. Around 300 million Kgs. are produced annually from 600,000 acres of tea gardens.
The central mountain massif with its many valleys, the different temperature regimes and monsoon winds have enabled Sri Lanka to produce a range of uniquely different teas, that comes from individual tea areas such as Dimbula, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy and Uva.
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Sri Lanka is a major exporter of teas to almost every tea consuming market in the world. Reputed as a supplier of cleanest teas to the world, it is able to produce well-twisted Orange Pekoes, exotic Tippy Teas, shotty Pekoes and small leaf Fannings grades suitable for up-market tea bags.
Equipped with over one hundred years of experience in orthodox tea making, tea manufacturers in 750 tea factories in the island produce teas that are sold at the Colombo Tea Auctions, considered as the world’s largest tea auction center.
Sri Lanka maintains a position as a leading exporter of tea in the world for the sixth consecutive year.
The CIS countries, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany are the main markets for Sri Lankan teas.
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