Global tea party to mark 150 years of Ceylon Tea –Sri Lanka Embassy, Warsaw, Poland
The Embassy of Sri Lanka is pleased to inform that a Global tea party to celebrate 150 years of Ceylon tea will be held at the Embassy on 6th July, 2017 at 5.00pm. Sri Lankan Tea Industry, which commenced commercial cultivation in 1867, will celebrate its 150th Anniversary in 2017. The Embassy is organizing this event in association with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, as well as Sri Lanka Tea Board, and in collaboration with the Colombo Tea Traders’ Association. A unique ‘Global Ceylon Tea Party’, hosted by this Mission in Poland serving fine Ceylon Teas and a specially created biscuit for the occasion by Maliban Biscuit Manufactories in Sri Lanka. It was during the British era that tea first began to be cultivated and manufactured here. Tea from Ceylon soon gained the reputation of being the finest in the world, and tea exports became the mainstay of the colonial economy.
Housewives and restaurateurs across the globe grew familiar with the name of the country, learning that its appearance on a tin or packet reliably guaranteed the quality of the tea inside. Independence brought new markets, and production continued to increase. In 1965 Ceylon became, for the first time, the world’s largest exporter of tea. When the country changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972, its premier industry was faced with a knotty problem. Ceylon was not only the former name of the country; it was also one of the world’s leading brands, familiar to consumers from Virginia to Vladivostok – a brand the industry had been actively promoting and investing in since the early 1930s. Abandoning it would deliver a setback from which there could be no easy recovery. And the cost of promoting and establishing an unfamiliar new brand – ‘Sri Lanka Tea’ – would be ruinous. Though opposed by some who demanded a complete break with the colonial past and a new start for the country, industry leaders managed to persuade the socialist government then in power to permit the continued use of the name Ceylon to refer to the country’s most famous product.
Tea from Sri Lanka would still be marketed as Ceylon Tea; a priceless world brand had been saved. Today, Sri Lanka is one of the top tea growing and exporting countries in the world. The Global tea party is expected to attract international tea buyers’ value chain developers, international tea associations and industry entrepreneurs and tea professionals in Poland. The Sri Lanka Tea Board has planned to issue a series of stamps to mark the commemoration of 150 years of the tea industry. The organizing committee comprises officials of the Sri Lanka Tea Board, Colombo Tea Traders’ Association, the Ministry of Plantation Industries and all stakeholders of the tea industry. It has also been decided to have a felicitation ceremony for James Taylor, the founder of the Ceylon Tea industry. These celebrations to mark the occasion of 150 years of Sri Lanka tea industry will be a unique and momentous occasion for this prime industry of Sri Lanka which plays a vital role in our country.
