·  1824  ·
The first tea-plant was brought from China and planted in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya.

·  1867  ·
James Taylor started Sri Lanka’s first tea plantation of 19 acres in the Loolecondera estate in Kandy, and subsequently constructed a tea factory on his estate in 1872.

·  1873  ·
The first shipment of 10kg of tea arrived in London.

·  1883  ·
On July 30th the first public Colombo Tea Auction was held through Somerville & Co.

·  1884  ·
Construction of the Central Tea Factory on the Fairyland Estate in the central NuwaraEliya region.

·  1888  ·
Sri Lanka’s black tea tea production increased significantly and by 1888 the total area under cultivation, 400,000 acres, exceeded that of coffee. By the late 1880s, almost all of Sri Lanka’s coffee plantations had converted to cultivating tea. Coffee stores were also rapidly converting to tea factories to meet this demand.

·  1893  ·
1million tea packets were sold at the Chicago World’s Fair. Also that year, Sri Lankan tea reached the record price of 36.15 per lb at the London Tea Auctions.

·  1927  ·
Tea production exceeded 100,000 metric tons, almost all of which was exported.

·  1932  ·
The Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board was formed.

·  1934  ·
A law prohibiting the export of poor quality tea was enacted.

·  1960s  ·
Total tea production and exports exceeded 200,000 metric tons produced over 200,000 hectares.

·  1963  ·
Production and exports of instant tea was introduced.

·  1965  ·
Sri Lanka became the world’s largest black tea exporter.

·  1966  ·
The first international Tea Convention was held to commemorate 100 years of Sri Lanka’s tea industry.

·  1971 - 1972  ·
The government of Sri Lanka nationalised the tea estates previously owned by British companies, acquiring some 502 tea, rubber and coconut estates. Land reforms meant that no cultivator was allowed to own more than 50acres for any purpose.

·  1980  ·
Sri Lanka became the official tea supplier at the Moscow Summer Olympic Games.

·  1981  ·
Imports commenced for blending and re-exports, and the production of green tea for export began.

·  1992  ·
Sri Lanka celebrated the 125th anniversary of the tea sector!

·  1992 - 1993  ·
Many of the government-owned tea estates which had been nationalised in the early 1970s were again privatised.

·  1996  ·
Tea production exceeded 250,000 metric tons, providing 23% of the world’s tea.

·  2000  ·
Sri Lanka’s tea production reached over 300,000 metric tons by the millennium.

·  2001  ·
First online sales of tea began, sold by Forbes & Walker Ltd., at the Colombo Tea Auctions. In the same year, despite falling prices in every major tea exporting country and increasing competition, Sri Lanka retained its position as the world’s top tea exporter. A record 294 million kg were sold in 2001, compared to 288 million kg the previous year.

·  2002  ·
A tea museum was established in Kandy and the Tea Association of Sri Lanka was formed.

·  2008  ·
Total production hit a record 318.47 million kg, up from 305.2 million kg in 2007. Export earnings struck a record high of $1.23 billion for the year, up from $1.02 billion in 2007.

Tea plantations are very unique visually, planted in patterns of lines and spirals and circles, they cover most of the hillsides of Sri Lanka. Steep slopes are terraced for puckers to walk around in and hand select the best leaves. They pluck two leaves and a bud by hand, these leaves contain the best aroma. After which the leaves are collected and certain collection points, weighed and then laid out to remove the moisture from the environment. After which the process of rolling and fermentation begins to prepare the enzymes in the broken leaves to react and ferment them to the appropriate levels. While these leaves go through the fermentation process, great care is taken to maintain the correct conditions in order to give the finest results.
As this fermentation process oxidizes the leaves, the color changes from green to red. Once the correct level of fermentation and oxidization is reached the leaves are artificially warned and treated with fire to stop the process. This final process of heating the leaves at the correct temperature ensures the quality of black tea and green tea. At this stage the leaves turn the distinct black you find in the tea you drink.
The next process involves the separation of tea leaves by size and breakup of the leaf. This is called the grading of tea. Tea grading separates leaves by shapes and size using special sifting machinery. The final leftover tea which is below the benchmark set by the Tea Board of Sri Lanka is excluded from production or auctions. Once the factory completed the sorting process, they are segregated and the information is sent to the weekly tea auctions in Colombo. Where buyers eagerly await the samples for selection.
Ceylon Tea is a finer produce from Sri Lanka, where there is a specific authority monitoring and maintaining regular standards. Each shipment and sample are checked and validated to ensure that every drop of tea exported maintains the best quality which has been regulated over centuries.

When it comes to the world tea market, every country or region has a specific preference in the character of tea they drink. The art of selecting the correct grade of tea and blending it to the required taste is the skill of the tea blending professionals. These tea tasters have developed a keen sense of taste and smell and are able to distinguish tea from each other, be it black tea, green tea, white tea or even herbal tea. For black tea orders globally, tea must be blended to the clients specific requirements, which is a two way process of communicating and sending and receiving samples and approvals.

Tea is then bought at the auctions in order to satisfy the orders received. Once the tea blend is approved, samples are sent to buyers for their approval. At this point the process of packing and shipping begins.