Postcard from Sri Lanka

Tea is one of Sri Lanka’s top exports but much of it is for multinational label teabags. On a recent trip, Adeline Teoh searches for gems among the dust.

It has just gone 6am and a tuk-tuk pulls up at Lipton’s Seat, a 1950-metre-high viewpoint above Haputale, Sri Lanka. We are in Uva, one of the seven main terroirs for Ceylon tea and the site of Sir Thomas Lipton’s first tea plantation and factory in Sri Lanka. Now called Dambatenne, the estate was founded by Lipton in 1890, though has been in Sri Lankan hands since 1930 and still sells tea to Unilever’s Lipton brand.

The early morning was supposed to deliver us a sunrise, but the mist is thick and rolls artfully upwards over the peak in waves, droplets trickling over our arms as if we are swimming in cloud. On one side is the tea estate; on the other is a picturesque valley we see intermittently as the morning fog thins and thickens.

There's a statue of Lipton here, where he used to bring family and friends for picnics to admire the view. I'm amazed to find it's made of fibreglass by accidentally leaning on it and having his seated form scrape along the bench, which is decorated with a puddle of condensation. I do not sit on Lipton's lap, even for a silly photo. The statue faces towards the road rather than either of the two stunning views, an irony I can't quite shake as I watch a pack of friendly dogs and a family of macaques take guard nearby.

Later, although it's Sunday, a Dambatenne staffer named Sydney will give me a one-on-one tour of the factory for a small fee and then, when I express dismay at the broken orange pekoe and fannings I'm regularly offered, he will kindly go out of his way to cup a superior whole leaf orange pekoe. 

But for now I take turns peering over the terraced tea and the villages below, wondering if I'm feeling how Lipton felt when he did the same more than a century ago – a little chilly and therefore prone to reaching for the tastiest remedy: a hot cup of tea.

(Below: View of the Dambatenne Tea Estate from Lipton's Seat by Adeline Teoh)

FAQs

I am not an AUSTCS member. How can I get involved?

First of all, the best thing you can do to support AUSTCS is to become a financial member ($7 per month or $72 per year). As an organisation we are assessed by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission by membership and the more members we have and the more active we are, the more viable we are as a not-for-profit.

We understand that circumstances may prevent you from becoming a member, however. In that case we occasionally have volunteer positions available. These roles support AUSTCS at events where, and at times when, members are not available to represent us and are not to be used to promote your own business or agenda. Contact Adeline Teoh if you are not a member but are interested in joining our volunteer list.

Above: Kaishan Mellis, AUSTCS Regional Ambassador for Victoria. Photo supplied.

Meet the tea lady of Prahran

AUSTCS would like to introduce our new Regional Ambassador for Victoria, Kaishan Mellis of Libertea and The Melbourne Tea Meetup.

To start a teashop at the heart of a coffee city takes a certain kind of courage but ask Melbourne-based Kaishan Mellis what fortifies her and the answer is simple: tea. It’s a drink that can incite change, she believes. “Tea is not just a beverage, it is an experience. It is a way to bring mindfulness to daily life where you stop, brew, and sip, using tea-drinking to connect with yourselves and others.”

Kaishan started her shop Libertea at Melbourne’s Prahran Market in 2017 after a lifetime steeped in tea. Born and raised in China, she recalls a childhood home decorated with lines of clay pots full of pu’er cakes and shelves full of Yixing teapots and attributes her love of the brew and starting her brand to her father’s influence. 

In 2015, he decided to take his tea addiction further, she explains. “He became a certified tea master and started his own line of tea business making tangerine pu’er tea.” After gifting this tea to family and friends, Kaishan received overwhelmingly good reviews and realised that teabags dominated Australian palates and that quality loose leaf tea was hard to come by.

Her mission, she has since decided, is to introduce good teas and tea experiences to our teabag nation, “converting tea drinkers one at a time from bags to loose leaf tea, from chamomile to oolong”.

In addition to running Libertea, Kaishan also organises events for The Melbourne Tea Meetup, hosting monthly tastings to bring people to the tea table. Her passion for tea appreciation, education and sharing experiences makes her an ideal AUSTCS Regional Ambassador. We welcome Kaishan to the TEAm!

AUSTCS would also like to thank Kristy Moorcroft for her time as Regional Ambassador for Victoria. Kristy is still involved in supporting AUSTCS' push into hospitality education but as she is embarking on a course herself over the next year or so, felt she could not do justice to the role in the near future.

Upcoming events

17 November: Tea & Chocolate, Brisbane

23-25 November: Australia Chinese Cultural Festival & Tea Expo, Sydney

24 November: End of year celebration: summer tea drinks, Brisbane

25 November: Dark tea tasting, Melbourne

1 December: Seven terroirs of Ceylon, Sydney

Do you have an event to promote? Let events liaison Kym Cooper know!