One hundred and fifty years ago, the pioneers of Ceylon Tea, cultivated the land, built the infrastructure and laid out the foundation for an industry to be nurtured and grown. Today, producing 350 million kilograms annually and employing over 2% of the population of Sri Lanka, Ceylon Tea has become one of the top five export earners for Sri Lanka.

Tea, inherently, has been Sri Lanka’s most important agricultural commodity. With its beginning in 1867, when the enterprising young Scotsman James Taylor experimented with tea as a replacement for the then disease-ridden coffee industry, the Ceylon Tea industry celebrates its 150th year anniversary this year. The Colombo Tea Traders’ Association (CTTA), together with the Sri Lanka Tea Board, and supported by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all the stakeholders of the tea industry, is celebrating this momentous sesquicentennial of the industry that sustained Sri Lanka’s economy for over 100 years with many events taking place throughout 2017.

The office of the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Los Angeles organized a networking event on July 6th to celebrate is milestone. Entrepreneurs of the Beverage and Tea sector and dignitaries of 45 countries joined to celebrate Ceylon Tea.