Tea

Ceylon Tea , tea plantations took over 188 175 hectares ( 727 sq mi ) , or about 4 % of the country 's land area is covered in tea plantations . This plant grows best at high altitudes over 2,100 m ( 6,890 feet ) , and the plants require more annual rainfall of 100-125 cm ( 39-49 in) .

Tea is cultivated in Sri Lanka using the ' contour planting ' , where the tea trees are planted in rows in coordination with the contour of the ground , usually on the slopes . For commercial manufacture ' flush ' or leaf grows on the branches and trunk shrub used . 

Generally two leaves and a bud , which has the flavor and aroma , which skillfully plucked , usually by women . Sri Lanka is one of the few countries where each tea leaves are picked by hand rather than by mechanization , if the machine is used , often a large number of leathery leaves and twigs could be mixed in , add bulk but no taste for tea . With experience women have the ability to pluck rapidly and set a daily target of around 15 to 20 kg ( 33-44 lb ) of tea leaves to be weighed and then transported to a nearby tea factory . Sri Lanka tea crop in need of constant care and attention . An important part of the process is to take care of the soil with regular applications of fertilizer . Young plants regularly reduces 10-15 cm ( 4-6 in) from the ground to encourage lateral growth and trimmed very often with a special knife .

Tea factories found on most tea estates in Sri Lanka is very important for the final quality and value of tea produced . After plucking , the tea is very quickly taken to a warehouse to be weighed and monitored muster under strict supervision , and then are transported to factories . A tea factory in Sri Lanka is usually a multi-storey building located in tea plantations and to minimize the costs and time between plucking and processing tea . Leaves are transported to the upper floor of the factories where they are spread in troughs , a process known as withering , which removes the excess moisture in the leaves . After wilting , leaf tea is rolled, twisted and split , which serves as the catalyst for enzyme in the leaves to react with oxygen in the air , especially with the production of black tea .

in 1824 the factory was brought to Ceylon tea by the British from China and planted in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya for non - commercial . Further experimental tea plants brought from Assam and Calcutta in India to Peradeniya in 1839 through the East India Company , and during the following years . In 1839 Ceylon Chamber of Commerce was also established followed by the Association of Planters ' Ceylon in 1854 . In 1867 , James Taylor marked the birth of the tea industry in Ceylon by starting a tea plantation in Loolecondera estate in Kandy in 1867 . He started at a tea plantation to plantation 19 acres ( 76,890 m2 ) . In 1872 he started a tea factory in Loolecondera real and complete the same year that the first sale was made in Kandy Loolecondra tea . In 1873 , the first shipment of Ceylon tea , consigned some 23 pounds ( 10 kg ) , arrived in London . Sir Arthur Conan Doyle commented on the establishment of tea plantations , " ... the tea fields of Ceylon are as true a monument to courage like the lion at Waterloo " .

Soon enough plantations around Loolecondera such as Hope , Rookwood and Mooloya located in the east and Le Vallon and Stellenberg to the south began to turn into a tea plantation and amongst the first tea plantations were established Sri Lanka .