Sri Lanka: Tea and Travel

Contrary to what one might expect based on the news coming out of Sri Lanka over the last 2 and a half decades, the people of the old Ceylon are some of the most peaceful I have ever met and their country is a mecca of health and beauty.  The tiny island known as Serendip actually embodies the qualities of its most famous export, tea, and I have been fortunate over the last 6 years to become a part of the inspiring work happening there to spread the island’s vitality throughout the world by way of the ethical and sustainable trade of their tea and to use that trade to bring peace back to the island.

I first visited Sri Lanka in 2004.  After cycling around the island--from perfect surf beaches and ancient temples carved into rock to green mountain valleys full of flowers, waterfalls and exotic spice forests and ayurvedic treatments around every bend--I arrived at the world’s first organic tea estate, Indulgashinna, where I had come to meet the producers of the fine tea I was selling into the Australasian market.

I knew that Indulgashinna was an organic and Fair Trade tea estate, but the earth friendly agricultural practices, social development programs and state of the art tea packing and producing facilities I witnessed there far exceeded any expectations I had and rivaled anything I had seen anywhere in the US or abroad.  Indulgashinna follows strict biodynamic growing principles; has health care, housing and education for everyone and manages funds through a democratically organized joint body.

The fact that Ceylon tea has for a century been regarded the world’s best is how the industry can afford to raise the bar for global tea production’s social and environmental sustainability standards.  What is surprising is that the US, one of the world’s richest countries, does not partake in all that Sri Lanka has to offer.  We are not even on Sri Lanka’s top 10 list of tea importers.  The US gets most of its tea from low quality producing countries like Argentina and Tanzania.

However, current trends in tea are predicting a change as American consumers are looking to tea for quality, health, sustainability, flavor and accessibility.  These 5 traits are launching our thriving tea industry into record growth and tea drinkers are increasingly interested in origins-- just as 10 years ago, we were learning the difference between arabica and robusta beans and the terroirs of Kenya and Colombia, we are now wondering about the difference between green, white, oolong and red tea and about places like Assam and Ceylon.

Now, 6 years and many more trips to Sri Lanka later, I have returned to the US and developed a tea company that offers US consumers a chance to indulge in Sri Lanka’s health and beauty and to give back to the country’s wellbeing at the same time.  Partners Tea Company sells Fair Trade and Organic teas and unique tea blends.  Our Pure Ceylon Green Tea is a high grade OP1 leaf tea from Idulgashinna estate.  1% of all of our sales (not profits) are donated to the community of tea growers at Idulgashinna through their non profit association-- IBITAD_ Idulgashinna Bio Tea Association for Development.