By Bernadine Rodrigo
There is one word that will forever follow the world – Ceylon. With Ceylon, there’s always tea. Pioneered by Scotsman James Taylor in 1867, the tea produced in Sri Lanka has always held the title of “best in the world”. This fame of the island’s tea was begun not just by Taylor but also by Sir Thomas Lipton who was even knighted as a result of this task. 129 years ago, he bought himself an estate from a Group in Haputale and began a legacy that lasts to this day, with the establishment of the Lipton Ceylonta company to produce some of the finest tea in the world.
Throughout the years, Lipton Ceylonta, unlike many other companies that began back in the day, grew, according to the representatives, to become the largest tea manufacturing company in the world. Their quality-assured blend contains neat, clear, and smaller tea leaves and these leaves have BOPF (Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings) grade conformance.
Although their name is well known around the world now, as they are now owned by Unilever, their produce is specialised to cater to the strong palates of local consumers, who truly are a large part of the tea market, Sri Lanka, with the echoes of colonial times, is still vastly a tea-drinking nation.
To commemorate their everlasting legacy and start anew in the face of an ever-changing world, they relaunched their brand with even more improvements to the glorious and simply refreshing cup of tea we all know and love.
While the island produces a large variety of tea – from the highlands and the lowlands – Ceylonta’s tea comes exclusively from the highlands. This is because the high elevation provides the perfect atmosphere for the perfect tea with the right texture, taste, and mouthfeel (how strong the tea is). But no matter how new their products may be, 10% of the leaves in each packet come from the Dambatenne Estate.
“There is a saying in Sri Lanka that ‘old is gold’, and true to that, in Sri Lanka, we treasure and nurture our island nation’s rich history and culture which attracts people from all over the world,” Unilever Sri Lanka Manager – Tea Standards Thilanka Dasanayake said. He went on to say that they would like to pay homage to the pioneering spirit of Sir Thomas Lipton, who took two leaves and a bud and turned it into the “magical” golden brew that can be savoured in a cup of Lipton Ceylonta tea today. “Sri Lankan hospitality is incomplete without a cup of heady and rich Lipton Ceylonta tea to refresh and reignite the customer’s energy for the day,” he said.
Photos Krishan Kariyawasam
