CEYLON TEA HISTORY

Before learning the Ceylon Tea History, let us know about early attempts to grow Tea in other parts of the world and how it came to take a deep root in Ceylon.

According to known history, it is believed Tea originated in Yunnan province of China and the plant was introduced to other countries from here. The people here believed that eating tea leaves or brewing a cup could be pleasant.

Camellia Sinensis is the botanical term for the tea plant. However, occasionally the word tea is used to describe products made using parts of other plants. The chemical composition of the beverages made from other plants is quite different to that of Camellia Sinensis. Therefore, the effects of these beverages on human health are also different. Effects of Camellia Sinensis on human health has been studied in great detail.

• Tea was originally named “Thea Sinensis” and “Camelia Japonica” by Linnaeus in his ‘Species Plantarum’ (1753). Since then botanists distinguished, identified and named several other species. In 1807, Botanist Sims used the original name given by Linnaeus in 1753 to embrace all forms of Tea, using the shortened form of the oldest name ‘Thea Sinensis.’

Myths (if you believe them!)

It is not clear whether History or Myth which is the correct version on how tea came into use. Since there is no written proof on the origin or history of tea, let us believe in myth for a while, as it seems quite interesting.

Shennong, the legendary Emperor of China, inventor of agriculture and Chinese medicine was drinking a bowl of boiling water some time around 2737 BC when a few leaves were blown from a nearby tree into his water, changing the color. The emperor took a sip of the brew and was pleasantly surprised by its flavor and restorative properties. He then experimented with poisonous herbs and found tea to work as an antidote – fortunately he did not die…! so ‘tea’ came into being.

The emperor claimed that tea was able to detoxify 72 varieties of poison. During his period, only the very rich and royal court circles were privileged to enjoy tea, which was considered more a medicine than beverage.

During the Tang Dynasty, legendary Bodhidharma, founder of Chan Buddhism, accidentally fell asleep after meditating in front of a wall for nine years (shorter than Rip Van Winkle!).

He woke up in such disgust at his weakness that he cut off his own eyelids. They fell to the ground and took root, growing into tea bushes, wow! Seems really interesting!

Though these legends do not have any basis in fact, tea has played a significant role in Asian culture for centuries as a staple beverage, a curative, and a status symbol. These theories of its origin are more religious or royal in nature.

CEYLON TEA HISTORY

• Studies on Ceylon Tea History indicates, in the mid or late 1700’s attempts were made to grow tea in Ceylon. They were made by the Dutch who ruled large parts of Ceylon during that period as they could not find Tea and some other elegant aromatics in the island. They made some trials to grow some species of China Teas without success.

• In 1826, some natives thought they had the tea plant, but it was later identified to be Cassia Auriculata, popularly known as ‘Ranawara’ by the natives. The leaves are similar to tea leaves and consumed after infusing in water, just like tea.

• In 1839, Dr. Wallich, head of the botanical garden in Calcutta, sent several Assam tea plant seeds to the Peradeniya estates in Kandy district. Seeds of Chinese tea plants, brought to Sri Lanka by travelers such as Maurice de Worms, were also planted in the Peradeniya nurseries although these yielded disappointing results, and Chinese plants were gradually abandoned in favor of the Assam variety that is now grown on every estate in Sri Lanka. These early arrivals were largely ignored for the more lucrative coffee craze that had seized the region.

• Later, in the 1840’s, cuttings, seeds and seedlings from the Chinese province of Yunnan, from the sub-species known as Yunnan were brought to Ceylon. These were planted in the Pussellawa growing district of Ceylon. These Chinese tea beginnings were on the tea plantations in Labookelle group, situated near Nuwara Eliya. During this same 1840’s time frame, the Dimbula tea-growing district was opened to tea production. Due to some unknown reasons tea growing did not pick up till the demise of Coffee in the island.

Death of Coffee - Beginning of the Ceylon Tea History

Widespread planting of Coffee in Ceylon began in the year 1825 and so the emergence of the island’s plantation industry. However, this booming industry came to a dramatic halt in 1869 when a leaf disease Hemileia Vastatrix (or coffee rust) spread rapidly throughout the countryside, reaching all coffee districts within a five year period.

While the plantation owners desperately cleared and replanted coffee, the disease continued to spread unhindered. The tea plantations did not emerge as a result of prior planning. They and the crop of tea were the result of a coffee leaf infestation.

After the ‘blight’ killed the coffee trees, Cinchona seeds were planted. The bark of this tree was the source of Quinine which produced anti Malaria vaccines. For a short time cinchona trees helped ward off plantation bankruptcy but the inevitable was on the march ever so slowly.

(Cinchona bark is used in native medicines even today and the trees can be found at Kenilworth Estate in the Kandy district).

During the next twenty years, in a frantic effort to avoid financial ruin, planters in Ceylon converted their decimated acreage to tea; it was a remarkable effort that involved the wide-scale uprooting and burning of millions of infected coffee bushes.

Thus the birth of Ceylon Tea History took place in the demise of Coffee in the island.

Below: Some pics of pluckers getting ready for green leaf weighing and Weighing in the 1950s (Courtesy: Ian Gardner)