And it's surrounded by quiet, scenic surroundings. Visiting the tea factory is an education on the procedures engaged in the withering, rolling, fermentation, drying, cutting, sieving and grading of tea. It's likely the most extensive tea factory tour around, and then you can taste the finest cup of tea from Sri Lanka and purchase the highest quality tea products from the showroom at the factory.

History of Tea

It was in 1824 that the British brought the first tea plant from China and planted it in Peradeniya, Kandy, in the Royal Botanical Gardens. It is regarded as the country's first non-commercial tea crop to be cultivated. A Scotsman was provided the assignment of increasing tea on just 19 acres of land in Loolecondera Estate in Kandy nearly two decades later, in 1867, James Taylor. This is the first commercial tea crop to be cultivated. Coffee growers shifted to tea as an alternative commercial crop with the disastrous coffee blight that swept through the coffee plantations. Taylor keen to experiment with tea, quickly set up his own' factory' tea, likely the first in the country in Loolecondera Estate's bungalow verandah.

The leaves were placed on tables by side and the firing on clay stoves was carried out over charcoal fires, with wire trays to air the leaves. A delicious tea was the end product, likely the first commercial cup to be brewed. Taylor later developed fundamental leaf rolling equipment, had a lot of individuals to help him in the tea process, and a year later he sent the 23 pounds of tea to London. With his creative thinking, Taylor continued to create the tea sector until he died at the age of fifty-seven in 1892. Pure Ceylon Tea stamped today with the Lion logo symbolizing 100% Pure Ceylon Tea packed in Sri Lanka is world-renowned as the world's best tea. Today's tea export is one of the country's most significant foreign exchange sources. The industry has more than 1 million direct and indirect employees and is the world's fourth largest tea producer.