The story of Ceylon tea begins over two hundred years ago, when Sri Lanka, was still a British colony. Although coffee was the dominant crop during this time, it was not destined to succeed in Ceylon as the coffee plantations were struck by Hemileia Vostatrix, better known as coffee leaf disease towards the close of the 1860’s. As the coffee crop died, planters switched to the production and cultivation of tea.

In the year 1840 a Scotsman by the name of James Taylor read about Ceylon, the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” and the opportunities existing there for growing tea. A perfectionist by nature, Taylor experimented with tea cultivation and leaf manipulation in order to obtain the best possible flavour from the tea leaves when he moved to the hill country area of Ceylon. Taylor’s methods were imitated by other planters and soon, Ceylon Tea was being favourably received by buyers worldwide, proving that tea could be a profitable plantation crop.