A historical perspective and challenges faced by:

The cuppa that rejuvenates

Shirley WIJESINGHE

Sri Lanka Tea is known to be the “ cleanest of the cleanest” tea in the world. Its flavour would linger in your taste buds for a long time. It is a unique brew that has brought fame to the country. Today tea drinking has become almost an addiction with most people.

Although tea is not known for its nutritional value it has no calories and is a safe brew for those conscious about such issues. It has high sodium content though less in potassium which is of immense benefit to persons seeking relief from hypertension and cardiac disorders.

The history of tea dates back to 2737 BC, when a stray tealeaf accidentally deposited itself into the Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung’s drinking water. This chance occurrence changed the drinking habits of an entire populace.

The Emperor experienced a pleasant taste in his water after the entry of a single tealeaf. By the end of the sixth century the habit of tea drinking had gradually spread among the Chinese population and today it had spread all over the world.

Sri Lanka has a long and colourful history related to its tea. The first tea genus Camellia was introduced to Sri Lanka, then Ceylon in 1824, initially on an experimental basis. It was brought to Ceylon by the British from China and was planted in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya.

Today it had spread to more than 200,000 hectares in the country. In 1867 James Taylor, an Englishman, planted the first 19 acres of tea in Loolecondra Estate near Kandy. This marked the birth of the tea industry in Ceylon. The first export consignment of 23 lbs. from Loolecondra Estate to London was recorded in 1873.

The first central tea factory was constructed in 1884 on Fairy Land Estate (Pedro), Nuwara Eliya. The Tea Traders’ Association and Colombo Tea Brokers Association were formed in 1894 and 1896 respectively. In 1925 the Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka (TRISL) was established to develop the tea plantation and production in the country.

The TRISL commenced its work on vegetative propagation at St. Coombs Estate, Talawakele, in 1938. The first colonial tea plantation came into being in 1955 and the recorded tea production increased by 200,000 metric tonnes in 1961. In 1963 production and export of instant tea was begun.

The year 1972 was a turning point for the tea industry of the country due to the take over of privately owned estates but their management was handed over to the private sector in 1993 once again. Total tea production exceeded 300,000 metric tons and exports reached up to 250,000 metric tonnes in 2001.

According to the sources at the Sri Lanka Tea Board the total reported production of tea was 304.6 kgs million during the year 2007, registering the first ever recorded income of more than US$ 1.12 billion in foreign exchange to the country.

Tea is processed from the tender shoots (typically the bud and the first two leaves) of the tea (Camellia senensis) branch.

The chemical composition of the beverages made from other plants species is quite different to that of Camellia senensis. Therefore scientists were able to find more details about the tea relatively to the other brewery plants.

There are mainly two types of tea as Black and Green. In Black tea processing the plucked shoots (the bud and the first two leaves) is withered to reduce the moisture content approximately by 50 per cent. Then the shoots are rolled by mechanical rollers lacerated and broken into pieces.

The broken pieces will undergo various chemical reactions capitalised by inserted enzymes. Those chemical reactions are allowed to take place in the next stage of fermentation but without producing alcohol.

The next stage is the drying of tea at high temperature to reduce the moisture content to three per cent to improve the lasting qualities and neutralise the chemical reactions.

The major difference in Green Tea processing is that after plucking, the shoot is subjected to heat by steaming or dropping on to a heated pan. Thus the chemical composition of Green Tea is similar to the fresh leaves of the plant.

Sri Lanka is renowned as the best tea producer, creating distinct seasonal flavours such as Dimbula, Uva, Nuwara Eliya and Uda Pussellawa. The teas produced in Sri Lanka are mainly an Orthodox type (90 per cent) and only less than 10 per cent consists of Crush Tea and Curl type. A series of operations is involved in black tea processing such as withering, rolling, roll breaking, fermenting, drying, grading and packing.

Grading is a very important factor in marketing but in our country people have limited knowledge about tea. They are very poor in their selecting capabilities. The dried tea particles are of various sizes and shapes depend on the type of manufacture.

Therefore the grading of tea is done using sieves consisting of different sizes of mesh to separate particles according to their sizes. The main tea grades produced in Sri Lanka are Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP), BOP Fannigs (BOPF), Dust 1, for up country. Leafy grades namely Orange Pekoe (OP), OP1, Broken PO1 (BOP1), OPA (OPA). Flowery Grades such as Flowery Orange Pekoe (FOP), Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe (FBOP), Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (FBOPF) and other cut tear and curl (CTC) of Pekoe are Broken Pekoe 1 (BP1), Pekoe Fannings 1 (PF1), Pekoe Dust (PD).

The quality of produced tea is detected by organoleptic evaluation of the tea liquor and is called Tea Tasting.

The water-soluble chemical components in the tender shoots of tea are a class of chemical compounds known as Polyphenols. Polyphenols add mostly to the taste of tea. It falls into the sub group “flavonoids” which have common structural and functional features.

Challenges faced by the Tea Industry in Sri Lanka are many. Despite earning from more than US$ One billion income, there has been problems caused to the tea industry as a result of the action by certain social and political elements.

Briefing about the present situation in the Sri Lanka tea industry, Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka (TRISL) Chairman Dr. S.D.G. Jayawardena said that there are many job avenues in the tea plantation sector.

They are not limited to the estate workers’ grades but higher grades are in place as Tea Tasters, Superintendents and Managers in the sector. They can earn higher incomes if they are professionally skilled.

“No fertiliser subsidy was given for tea plantation as it was for the paddy cultivation. Paddy cultivation accounts for a total value of Rs.60 billion in the country’s income against spending Rs. 30 billion as the Government fertiliser subsidy.

But with only Rs.2 billion as Government subsidy tea contributes Rs.100 billion to the country’s income”, Dr. Jayawardena said. He said a labour shortage, hesitation for re-planting, power crises and high price for fertiliser were adversely affecting the tea plantations. He briefed about the future challenges for tea plantation in the country,

Dr. Jayawardena said that the TRISL was established for raising productivity of the tea plantations and the industry through scientific research by well-qualified staff.

He also said that in order to minimise the future problems in tea plantations the Ministry of Plantation should plan to get the maximum harvest from selected economically viable tea estates such as family managed ones which deploy a limited workforce.

Production of organic tea through nature farming for the world at higher prices are also ideal for overcoming the present future challenges which could be possible in the future, he continued.

The environs of TRISL would create nostalgic memories for visitors by its pleasant aroma and fragrance with attractive sceneries.