Origins

Our exquisite range of Chamellia teas are sourced from Sri Lanka, an island just north of the equator whose seasonal rainfall, diverse soil types and tropical climate provide optimum growing conditions for Ceylon tea. Often acclaimed as the best tea in the world,

Sri Lanka’s reputation for producing superior flavor and aromas has held strong for more than a century.

World class teas are produced mainly from bushes that grow above 4,000 feet. At this altitude the bushes grow more slowly in the cooler, mistier climate, the conditions adding complexity and intensity to the flavor of the leaves. The steep angle of the slopes on which the tea bushes are planted also makes picking the leaves more difficult. 

The leaves found in our range of Chamellia tea are sourced from the finest tea estates of Dimbula, west of the central mountains; and Uva, located east of Dimbula, from plantations located at altitudes up to 6000ft. The high grown tea we source is amongst the best that Sri Lanka produces, providing a beautiful golden liquor coveted for its complexity and intensity.

Owing to tradition and the challenging terrain, all of our tea leaves are picked by the estate workers by hand. Only the bud and the two youngest leaves are plucked, as these leaves have the most flavour and aroma. This is the first step in the manufacturing of quality Ceylon tea. 

In other parts of the world plucking is done by machines. These machines pluck the bud, the young leaf, a lot of coarse leaf and few twigs as well. Coarse leaf and and twigs just add bulk and not flavour to the tea.

The tea is then inspected for quality, withered, cut and skillfully fermented (for green tea the fermentation process is prevented by panning). Fermentation is a critical step, the humidity, temperature and fermentation time has to be skillfully controlled or the flavour and quality of the leaf can be lost. After fermentation, the leaf is fired to lock in the flavor and improve the keeping qualities.