About Tea Plant
- Scientific Name : Camellia Sinensis
- Appearance :Glossy, Dark green, Serrated leaves.
- Varieties :Sinensis and assamica
- Habitat :Prefers humid climates,temperatures between 15-30c
The history of Ceylon tea started back in the year 1824.The first tea plant brought from China and planted in Royal botanical garden in Peradeniya British who ruled the country at that time. This plant was consider the first non-commercial tea plant in Sri Lanka. For the experimental tea plant who brought for Assam and Kolkata in India. Before tea planted in Sri Lanka coffee was commercial crop in the country and after a coffee blight destroyed coffee plantations, James Taylor, a Scottish planter, established the first commercial tea plantation at Loolekandura estate in Kandy in 1867 and he mark the start of the island’s new agricultural backbone. The original tea plantation was just 19 acres. In 1872 Taylor began operating a fully equipped tea factory on the grounds of the Loolekandura estate and that year the first sale of Loolekandura tea was made in Kandy. In 1873, the first shipment of Ceylon tea, a consignment of some 10 kg arrived in London. However It occupied much of the country around Kandy and spread south, upward central hill.
Tea production in Ceylon increased dramatically in the 1880s and by 1888 the area under cultivation exceeded that of coffee, growing to nearly 400,000 acres in 1899. By the late 1880s, almost all the coffee plantations in Ceylon had been converted to tea. Then Tea processing technology rapidly developed and technologies that made realizing commercial tea production a reality and This realization was confirmed in 1884 with the construction of the Central Tea Factory on Fairyland Estate (Pedro) in Nuwaraeliya.Pedro Tea Estate, established 1885 near Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, is a historic and popular spot for learning about Ceylon tea, featuring its original 19th-century factory, beautiful tea plantations, and the Lovers Leap boutique.
