🔭 History of Tea Cultivation 🔭
The scientific name of the 'tea' plant is Camellia sinensis (Camellia sinensis). This is a plant native to India. 'Tea' was first planted in the forests of the province called 'Assam' at the foot of the Himalayas. China was the first to discover 'tea' as a drink. 'Tea' is derived from a Fijian word. That is the word 'Te'. (Tea is called 'cha' in China. People in Russia call tea 'chai'.)
It is said that the Dutch were the first to sell tea on a large scale. It happened when the island of Fiji had become a colony of the Dutch. Fiji island is an island where tea was cultivated. The island was once a colony of the Dutch. At that time they were selling tea aiming to earn money.
📡 Commencement of commercial tea industry in Sri Lanka 📡
The first tea seeds were brought to Sri Lanka in 1824. Tea seeds were brought back to Ceylon for the second time in 1839. In both cases, tea plants were not brought to Sri Lanka for the purpose of cultivation. The seeds brought in that way have been exhibited only as a special plant in the Peradeniya Botanical Garden. James Taylor was the first to start a commercial tea plantation in Sri Lanka. That was in 1860. James Taylor is considered to be the pioneer of commercial tea cultivation in Sri Lanka. He has cultivated tea commercially for the first time in Hewaheta Lulkandura estate in Kandy district. It is said that the cultivation was spread over an area of 100 acres.
After that, the expansion of tea cultivation started with the surrender of Sri Lanka to the British imperialists. Since then, they made all interventions for the spread of tea cultivation in the country. The British even created infrastructure such as highways and railways related to the tea industry in Sri Lanka. After the independence of Sri Lanka in 1948, tea, rubber and coconut, which were known as the main economic crops of Sri Lanka, gained a leading position in the world market for Sri Lankan tea. Later, Sri Lankan tea was even given the reputation of Ceylon tea.
💉 Why did Sri Lanka get the name 'Ceylon Tea'? 💉
As the main producer of black tea in the world, the name 'Ceylon Tea' has become popular due to the diversity of climate and soil pH in our country. Due to factors such as value, air humidity, wind. These things have a strong influence on the quality and taste of tea cultivation. As many as 14 different tea products can be produced depending on the ecological diversity of the country. Also, among the commercial plantation industries in Sri Lanka, tea cultivation occupies the first place. Tea is currently grown in the areas of Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Talawakele, Ratnapura, Galle, Matara, Matale, Monaragala, Kurunegala, Badulla, Kegalle and Hambantota. Currently, the total area of tea cultivation in our country (as of 2015) is 202.4 hectares. As of now, the majority of Sri Lankan tea production is represented by small-scale tea plantation owners in the middle country and low country, surpassing the large-scale tea plantations in the upper country. That is 70 percent of the total Sri Lankan tea production.
💊 Sri Lanka tea export 💊
In 1989, Sri Lanka was the world's leading exporter of tea. At that time we supplied twenty one percent (21%) of the tea exports in the world market. In the year 1990, Sri Lanka even set a record for tea exports. That is why Sri Lanka exported 215.6 million kilograms of tea in that year and became the country that exported the highest amount of tea in the world. It even surpasses India, the largest producer of tea. But today countries like India, Kenya, Burma, Argentina, Brazil are invading the tea market with very good tea. Today, Kenya has become the main supplier in the world market. Therefore, Sri Lanka has to compete with other countries in the world market. Because of this, Sri Lanka has had to resort to exporting value-added tea.
Middle Eastern countries, European countries and several other industrialized countries are among the countries that buy tea from Sri Lanka. Among those countries, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, England, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Chile, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Turkey are the main countries. Sri Lanka produces various types of tea for the world market. The demand for tea from each country is different. Green tea is sent to countries like Pakistan, Japan and Morocco. Black tea is mostly sent to Middle Eastern countries. We have the ability to sell tea products in this country to a large number of 144 countries around the world. 23 percent of the total tea production, i.e. nearly three-fourths, is bought by Russia, which is very fond of black tea in this country. Sri Lanka's tea export income in 2015 was 182.05 billion rupees.