A GUIDANCE NOTE ON HOW TO  SELECT THE BEST CEYLON TEA, AND HOW TO ENJOY A CUP OF CEYLON TEA
The Island of Ceylon is world renowned for its high quality teas. Today, Sri Lanka is the world’s second biggest tea exporter. More than 25% of the value of all Sri Lanka’s exports are accounted for by tea. Tea cultivation is scientifically managed and skillfully produces the world’s finest, fragrant blends. This ensures consistency in the flavour, aroma and colour of Ceylon teas that are marketed.

Tea cultivation was established, in Sri Lanka, over a century ago and is now produced year round in the central highlands and southern regions of this beautiful tropical island. Based on the altitude at which it is grown tea is classified as high, medium or low grown teas.

The unique climatic conditions that prevail in the central highlands of Sri Lanka produces the exquisite high grown Nuwara Eliya and Uva blends, which are renowned for their taste and aroma. The medium grown teas provide a bold colour that is in demand by the consumers in North America. Lower grown tea plantations produce the leafy grades of tea from the tip of the unopened tea shoot.

Until recently the tea produced in Sri Lanka was shipped in bulk and repacked in the major tea consuming countries. Our company now has modern machinery and technology for tea bagging and packing to expeditiously meet the needs of wholesale or retail customers and food service companies in any part of the world.

Some of the advantages of packing tea in Sri Lanka are:
-The freshness of quality Ceylon blends is retained when purchased by the consumer.

-The authorized government lion symbol of the Sri Lanka Tea Board guarantees that only quality Ceylon tea of     specified blends are contained in the package.

-The product could be obtained at competitive prices.

-by the consumers in North America. Lower grown tea plantations produce the leafy grades of tea from the tip of the unopened tea shoot.

The Grading of Ceylon Tea
The grade names which follow are an indication of size and/or appearance of Ceylon Teas (Sri Lanka, but the name Ceylon still applies to the tea of that island nation) and NOT of its quality. The Tea Research Institute of Ceylon points out that “there is a lack of uniformity in the market grades today which makes it difficult to describe them with any accuracy.” Briefly, however, Ceylon teas are divided into two groups: (1) the Leaf grades such as were originally made by the Ceylon pioneers, and (2) the smaller Broken grades which are in style today.

Leaf grades are usually divided into:

  • Orange Pekoe (O.P)
  • Pekoe (Pek.)
  • Souchong (Sou.)

Broken grades are divided into:

  • Broken Orange Pekoe (B.O.P.)
  • Broken Pekoe (B.P.)
  • Broken Pekoe Souchong (B.P.S.)
  • Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (B.O.P.F.)
  • Dust (D.)

The grades may be described as follows:

  • O.P. -- Long, thin, wiry leaves which sometimes contain tip. The liquors are light or pale in color.
  • Pek. -- The leaves of this grade are shorter and not so wiry as O.P., but the liquors generally have more color.
  • Sou. -- A bold and round leaf, with pale liquors.
  • B.O.P. -- This grade is one of the most sought after. It is much smaller than any of the leaf grades and contains tip. The liquors have good color and strength.
  • B.P. -- Slightly larger than B.O.P., with rather less color in the cup; useful primarily as a filler in a blend.
  • B.P.S -- A little larger that B.P. and in consequence lighter in the cup, but also used as filler in a blend.
  • B.O.P.F. -- This grade also is much sought after, especially in the U.K., and fetches high prices. It is much smaller than B.O.P. and its main virtues are quick brewing, with good color in the cup.

In addition, there are various “Flowery” variants of the main grades (e.g., F.O.P and F.B.O.P.) the nature of which I will describe slightly farther down.

Only a small quantity of the Leaf and Flowery grades is produced in Ceylon. They find their chief market in North America and a few European countries. Few of the Up-country Ceylons make these grades at all, their stable lines being B.O.P. and B.O.P.F. such as are so dominant in the U.K., Australia and (less so) in South Africa. The demand appears to be for ever smaller and smaller leaf, and a great deal of cutting or milling is resorted to today both in countries of origin and by the packers.

“Tippy” or “Flowery” teas (such grades as Flowery Orange Pekoe) are still made in Ceylon and fetch high prices in most Western tea markets. They are extremely more expensive to produce than the run-of-the-mill grades, since they involve sorting out the tip by hand. The below article regarding “Flowery” Ceylon tea appeared in a London newspaper, THE PALL MALL GAZETTE dated 13 March, 1891:

“Unusual excitement prevailed on Tuesday in Mincing Lane (the London Tea Auction Houses were/are located there), on the offering by Messrs. Gow Wilson and Stanton, tea-brokers, in public auction, of a small lot of Ceylon tea from the Gartmore estate in Maskeliya (Mr. T.C. Anderson). This tea possesses extraordinary quality in liquor, and is composed almost entirely of small “golden tips,” which are the extreme ends of the small succulent shoots of the plant, and the preparation of such tea is, of course, most costly. Competition was of a very keen description.

“The bidding, which was pretty general to start with, commenced with an offer of 1 pound, 1 shilling per pound of tea; as the price advanced to 8 pounds per pound of tea many buyers dropped out, and at this price about five wholesale dealers were willing to purchase. Offers where then made up to about 9 pounds, 9 shillings per pound of tea by three of the leading houses, the tea being ultimately knocked down to the “Mazawattee Ceylon Tea Company” at the most extraordinary and unprecedented price of 10 pounds 12 shillings 6 pence per pound of tea.”

THIS WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY PRICE IN 1891. It still fetches an extraordinary price on the market and to the consumer BUT what a magnificent tea it is indeed.

HISTORY OF CEYLON TEA
In the 1840 a Scotsman by the name of James Taylor read about the Jewel of an Island called Ceylon A typical tea estate in the central highlands of Sri Lanka and the opportunities existing there for growing coffee. A few months later he moved to the Hill Country area and planted not only coffee but also some tea seeds from India. The "ugly little shrub" was grown next to his acres of coffee and provided large yields. It wasn't till a couple of seasons later that a virulent leaf disease devastated his whole plantation but the "ugly little shrub" was immune and the Tea Industry came into being. Soon the perilously steep mountainside of the hill country were carpeted with the vibrant green of tea bushes. And Ceylon Tea became the worlds favorite beverage.
The origins of Tea was with the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung who was boiling water when the leaves from a nearby plant Camellia sinensis plant floated into the pot. The emperor drank the mixture and declared it gave one "vigor of body, contentment of mind, and determination of purpose." Perhaps as testament to the emperor's assessment, tea the potion he unwittingly brewed that day today is second only to water in worldwide consumption. The U.S. population is drinking its fair share of the brew; in 1994, Americans drank 2.25 billion gallons of tea in one form or another hot, iced, spiced, flavored, with or without sugar, honey, milk, cream, or lemon.

Cultivation
The Tea plant, Camellia Sansis, is cultivated variety of the tree originating from the region between India and China.  The tea leaves are mostly hand plucked. When the plant is plucked two leaves and a bud are cut. An experienced plucker can pluck up to 30 kg tea leaves per day. To make one kg black tea, approximately 4 kg tea leaves are needed. One tea plant produces about 70 kg black tea a year. In a warm climate the plant is plucked for the first time after 4 years and will produce tea for at least 50 years. A suitable climate for cultivation has a minimum annual rainfall of 45 to 50 inches (l, 140 to 1,270 millimeters). Tea soils must be acid; tea cannot be grown in alkaline soils. A desirable pH value is 5.8 to 5.4 or less.
Scented and spiced teas are made from black tea. "Scented teas look just like any other tea," says FDA chemist and tea expert Robert Dick, " because the scent is more or less sprayed on. They're flavored with just about anything peach, vanilla, cherry. The spiced teas, on the other hand, usually contain pieces of spices cinnamon or nutmeg or orange or lemon peel so you can see there's something in there."

Black Tea Blends
Like coffee plants, tea likes hot days, cool nights and plenty of rain, and also like coffee, most high quality tea is grown in mountainous regions. During the growing season, tea is harvested every seven days. Only  the two tender uppermost leaves and terminal buds are plucked by hand. After this gentle beginning, the leaves are left in a hot room to wither, then put into a machine that rolls the leaves and releases their juices. These juices react with the air (oxidation) giving black teas the color and flavor we love. The tea is then dried in ovens (fired) and graded according to size. (this grading process is what is responsible for all of those confusing letters: OP (Orange Pekoe), BP (Broken Pekoe), and even FTGFOP (Fancy Tippy Golden Flowery Pekoe). Generally the more initials the better the Tea.

Herbal Teas
Not tea at all. Dried flowers, roots and bark have been brewed into a consumable hot liquid for many centuries as folk medicines throughout the Orient and Europe. The European tradition is to use only one main herb, such as Chamomile. Americans, on the other hand, traditionally concoct potions containing many different herbs and flowers such as Rosehips and Hibiscus.