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Text and pix by
P.D. DE SILVA
“The oxygen rich atmosphere in the Lumbini tea valley and ecofriendly agricultural practices helped us win a record 20 national and international awards in 2017,” said Chaminda Jayawardena Managing Director of Lumbini Tea Estate and Tea Factory over a cup of freshly brewed Lumbini Sinharaja Wiry tips a few days ago.
Lumbini’s Sinharaja Wiry Tips a single origin single garden Ceylon FBOPF EX SP (Finest Broken Orange Pekoe Flowery Extra Special) produced by Lumbini and has won six awards this year and a total of 12 awards since 2013.
As Sri Lanka celebrated her 150th year in the tea industry Lumbini’s award winning year was crowned when Chaminda was honoured to receive the Presidential Award for the best Small Scale Tea Factory in Sri Lanka from President Maithripala Sirisena a few weeks ago. The other awards won by Lumbini Tea Estate and Lumbini Tea Factory in 2017 are
“We believe in producing quality tea rather than quantity and provide the tea lovers with single origin single garden unblended Pure Ceylon Tea which is fast becoming a rarity. At Lumbini we strictly adhere to only picking two leaves and the bud as it is the bud and first two leaves that have the highest concentration of polyphenols,” Jayawardena said. There are over 30,000 polyphenol compounds in tea which gives it its unique flavour, aroma and colour. The Polyphenols together with Amino acids, enzymes, pigments, carbohydrates and minerals makes tea a beverage with many health benefits.
“Lumbini Estate is a family business founded by my father in 1984 and presently managed by me. Together with Harris Uddika Mahadiulwewa who was ready to take on the challenge of recapturing the niche market for Pure Ceylon Tea I formed Giri Tea Marketing Ltd. We have been successfully promoting teas from the Lumbini Valley which are marketed under the ‘Dalu’ and ‘Giri’ brand names among connoisseurs of tea in USA, Japan, UAE, Australia, India, Sweden, France, Latvia, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Germany, Kuwait, Mexico and Spain who are willing to pay a premium price for Pure Ceylon Tea. Lumbini’s ‘Dalu’ brand of teas comprise of single origin single garden pure black tea including handspun tea and specialty tea while we market single origin unblended pure Ceylon tea and Ceylon Seasonal Teas,
Green Teas, Garden grown Lumbini Valley white Teas and flavored teas with 100% Lumbini Valley Black Tea under the ‘Dalu’ brand. We rather go in search of new markets rather than compete for existing markets. We at Lumbini believe in offering the world the purest Ceylon Tea,” said Jayawardena.
As the cost of producing quality tea is high Lumbini been compelled to establish their own sales outlets to keep the ‘Dalu’ and ‘Giri’ brands within the consumers’ budget. Presently there are ‘Dalu’ Tea Centers at Lumbini Valley, Deniyaya Town, Hikkaduwa and Ella.
“Black Tea should be allowed to steep for approximately between three to five minutes in boiling water to obtain optimum benefits,” said joint Managing Director of Giri Tea Marketing Uddika Harris Mahadiulwewa. “In 2017 Chaminda and I have been travelling around the world promoting Pure Ceylon Tea produced in the Lumbini Valley. We highlighted that Sri Lanka was one of the few tea producing nations that still resort to hand picking tea leaves and Lumbini Valley’s proximity to the UNESCO world heritage Sinharaja Rain Forest which helped convince those who attended our promotional events of the pureness of the atmospheric conditions in the valley.”
