Sri Lanka - History Every Tea Enthusiast Should Know

OK. Maybe it's not imperative to know, but it's still pretty interesting. ;)

Early on (circa 6 BC) Sri Lanka was dominated by the Sinhalese (a Buddhist people), however over time, the Tamil people from India took over as more and more people migrated over to the island.  the Tamils were people of the Hindu faith.

They didn't really get along all that well (this appears to be a recurring theme in history), So they fought it out and the Tamils established a presence in the Kandy region, and The Sinhalese move further down to the South of the island.

Eventually Europe steps into the picture.  The Portuguese arrive and establish 'friendly'  trade with the islanders, but by 1505 they have control over the whole island except for the Kandy region.  The Tamils are worried so they ask the Dutch to help them (silly!), and by 1658 the entire island except for Kandy is now controlled by the Dutch.  by 1796 the British had moved in and by 1815 they had control of the ENTIRE island.

Could all this fighting really be over tea?!  No, of course not!  It was over coffee.  Up until the 1860's the island grew mainly coffee.  The coffee plantations in the 1860's was literally wiped out by a type of pant virus known in plain english as 'coffee rust'.  At this time the main crop was replaced with tea.  The first plantings were from cuttings from the Aasam region in India.

(This file was originally shared by Colby Otero and was taken from his Flickr Account at this location.  He has allowed usage of his photo under Creative Commons.)

James Taylor was one of the first from the British to plant a tea garden in the Kandy region.  He planted in 1866, and by 1872 he had built himself a tea processing plant.  In 1875 the first shipment of tea was sent to England.  Sir Thomas Lipton recognized that tea was a potentially lucrative product and hooked up James Taylor as his supplier of tea,  and well as you know, Lipton teas became famous for their teas from Ceylon.

Sri Lanka's tea production has grown to be the third largest tea producing country in the world. There are 6 tea growing regions ( Kandy, Dimbula, Nuwara Elia, Uda Pussallawa, UVA and Ruhuna) of which 5 were covered in the tea tasting here.

The island was first named Ceylon in English, and in 1972 the name was changed to Sri Lanka which means 'beautiful island'.  Incidentally in 1948 the British finally relinquished their rule and Sri Lanka became what is known as  a self governing dominion of the commonwealth nations.  Which I believe is the same as Canada!!

Tea from Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

Five black teas from Sri Lanka is what we are cupping this week along with the 5 green teas from Japan covered previously.  I definitely enjoy green teas over black teas, but as I'm learning more about teas, and trying all these different varieties, I am developing an appreciation for all types of teas.

The teas we are tasting are broken down by region:  Kandy, Dimbula, Nuwara Elia, Uva and Ruhuna.  This is the order that they appear in the attached photo.  All the teas were steeped with boiling water for 4 min.

Kandy is located 2000-4000 feet above sea level.  It is the ancient capital of Sri Lanka, and geographically it lies in more of the centre of the island.  These are full bodied teas with strong bold flavours, but very sweet.  I really enjoyed this tea, it was full bodied with a very sweet flavour.  The dry leaves are very dark which translates to one of the darker coloured liquors in the flight.  The wet leaves turn the typical redish brown colour of a black tea.

Dimbula lies 3500-5000 feet above sea level and is located in the mountains.  The region relies heavily on the monsoon rains.  The flavours of the tea produced here range from full bodied to light and delicate and fragrant.  On my cupping I couldn't really capture these flavours on my palette.  What I could determine was that there was an astringency to this tea, and that is about all I noticed.  I am not really a fan of the astringent teas.  at least not yet anyways.  I brewed it a second time, so it was quite a bit lighter in flavour, and the astringency didn't take over and I could taste more of the floral delicate flavours they talked about.  Maybe my tea measuring was out!?

Nuwara Elia is also high in the mountains at 6240 feet above sea level.  This tea has been referred to as the champagne of tea.  These teas are typically fragrant and light with distinctive flavours.  The dry leaves of Dimbula and Nuwara Elia are very similar, but Nuwara Elia has more golden tips included.  They are both a lighter brown color than Kandy which translates to a lighter liquor and a lighter body.  They are tightly rolled and smaller than kandy, and the wet leaves are a mixture of light brown and green in colour.  I had the same issue with this tea.  The first go around was very astringent and couldn't make out much else.  On the second time around I could taste more without being overpowered by the astringency.  It was very enjoyable.  

Uva also lies around 3000-5000 feet above sea level and is located in the eastern slopes of the central  mountains.  These teas are typically used mainly for blending and have a relatively pungent flavour.  The dry leaves are very small and dark.  I didn't care much for this tea.  It was bitter tasting to me.  The tasting notes said to expect a menthol eucalyptus flavour to come thru.  I didn't get that.  So I gave it a second go around I still couldn't taste it - Now I'm starting to get nervous for my blind cupping at the end of this module!!

Ruhuna lies right along the coast and only at a maximum height of 2000 feet above sea level.  The dried leaves are very dark which translates to a dark liquor and full body.  I enjoyed this tea as it also has a honey sweetness about it that I enjoy.

My favourite would be the tea from the Kandy region.  In case you haven't noticed yet I love sweet stuff!!!  Next week is India - more black teas - Yikes!!