James Taylor

29 Mar 1835 - 2 May 1892

how it all began

The history of Pure Ceylon Tea

The story of tea begins with the entrance of devastating hit to a thriving coffee plantations industry. A disease known as “coffee rust” brought a natural death to the coffee growing era of Sri Lanka. The first tea plant was brought to shore by the British in 1824 and was planted at Haggala Botanical Gardens.It was James Taylor in 1867 who initiated this pioneering step by taking a bold step towards changing the path of a nation. A 19 acre estate called Loolecondra Estate situated in the hill capital of Kandy was the first commercial tea plantation of Ceylon.The tea plant, known as Camellia Sinensis, for this project was specially brought from Assam by James Taylor himself. He was a young Scotsman who arrived on the shores of the island when he was only 19 years old in 1852.Having fallen in love with the island, he only ventured to India after his arrival and this was to learn all there is to know about tea. Self-educating himself in Assam he decided to introduce it to the land he was destined to change.

how it perfected

Perfection of Commercialization

James Taylor and later Sir Lipton perfected the art of commercially growing and processing tea in Ceylon. James Taylor grew the tea and Sir Lipton made the world fall in love with the drink. The legacy of Ceylon Tea was fine-tuned over the next 145 years. These combined efforts have made tea the champion of teas in the entire world. To this date it is known as the finest tea in the world, a true drink for the tea connoisseur.

It is not every day we hear tales of something beautiful being born or created. But this is exactly what happened out of the fallen kingdom of coffee. Ceylon Tea was given an identity unique to its growing conditions, flavors, aromas around the world. The determination of a single man to never give up, to persist against all odds lead to James Taylor earning his rightful place as the father of Ceylon tea.

Sir Lipton

10 May 1848 – 2 Oct 1931

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