THE WORLD’S FIRST AND ONLY Ozone-Friendly Tea

Ceylon Tea is a high quality, high cost product which is known the world over for almost a century and half (155 years). Sri Lanka, the island nation in the shape of a tear drop at the southern tip of India is world famous because of Ceylon Tea and continues to look after the livelihood of almost 2 million people (10% of the population) directly and indirectly. Generating export revenue of US $ 1.32 billion in 2021, the Sri Lanka Tea industry is vital for the economic stability, social stability and political stability of the country. The competitive advantage of Ceylon Tea lies on the following key attributes.

Hand Picked

Ceylon teas are handpicked to ensure a better selection of green leaf for the manufacture of tea – an expensive and labour intensive process, which greatly influences the final product quality.

Artisanal

Sri Lanka is a bastion of the original Orthodox tea manufacturing process that results in small batch, labour intensive production of a wide variety of leaf style or grades and ensures the best flavour.

Ethical

The Ceylon Tea Industry is well regulated with a unionized workforce that is governed by a collective labour agreement. Child labour is banned. Workers are provided a comprehensive selection of facilities from housing to healthcare.

Passion

Growing and producing Ceylon tea has been a tradition and a passion for more than 150 years. Each day about 1.5 million people all over Sri Lanka, from tea pluckers to tea producers, from tea tasters to tea packers commit themselves to produce some of the finest black teas on the earth. It is a way of life.

Provenance

Ceylon Tea estates are in pristine environments and are of a small size of 200-400 ha generally with professional managers and a dedicated workforce living on the estate.

Ecological

Sri Lanka has implemented various measures to comply with environment related international conventions and agreements, including the Montreal Protocol. The usage of methyl bromide as a soil fumigant in the tea sector was halted to comply

Freshness 

Teas are packaged in Sri Lanka in 2-3 weeks from harvesting, thereby preserving the freshness and inherent aroma of the tea. This is in stark contrast to teas packed in consuming markets, which can be many months old, sometimes over a year, when packaged. The goodness and quality of the tea would be lost apart from the possibility of blending with other origins. The best guarantee of freshness is to buy a product packed at source (Sri Lanka)

Diversity

The seven agro-climatic regional teas namely Nuwara Eliya, Uva, Uda Pussellawa, Dimbula, Kandy, Sabaragamuwa & Ruhuna has given Ceylon Tea an unique advantage to produce teas of different flavor, aroma, strength and colour unmatched by any other origin in the world.

The Lion Logo trademark for Ceylon Tea captures the legacy and essence of tea grown in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Tea industry follows the stringent quality assurance measures in compliance with MRLs ( Maximum Residue Levels) set by the different countries and regions for the agrochemicals used in the tea plantations and compliance to other international standards such as ISO standards , Good Agricultural Practices, HACCP, Good Manufacturing Practices, Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade etc.

An Industry with Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility

Sustainability is not just a fashionable catch-phrase among members of Sri Lanka’s tea industry. In recent years, the drive towards sustainable practice in all aspects of the cultivation, manufacture, storage, transportation and distribution of Ceylon Tea has gathered momentum, with new legislation and industry rules being put in place. Alliances have been forged with international conservation bodies and hundreds of individual initiatives are being practised on estates and smallholder farms throughout Sri Lanka’s tea-growing districts. Concern for sustainability is not new to the Ceylon tea industry. An early industry initiative was to prohibit the use of DDT, while the use of environmentally-unsustainable wooden tea chests was abandoned more than twenty years ago. Sri Lanka now produces the world’s only ozone-friendly tea, certified under the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances. This was achieved through an industry-wide effort backed by the Tea Board.

All tea growing in Sri Lanka is now considered as 100% ozone-friendly. This is a distinction of which no other tea-producing nation can boast. Plans are now being drawn up to impose a total ban on methyl bromide fumigation in applications such as export packaging and shipping. As of May 2011, all Ceylon Tea is entitled to bear the new ‘Ozone Friendly Pure Ceylon Tea’ logo, certifying that it has been produced without the use of any ozone-depleting substances, mainly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) including Methyl bromide.