CEYLON UNIQUE TEA ENSEMBLEHome-made Ceylon tea, held to an export standard.
Thirty-eight families across six districts. Every garden inspected, every batch tested, every packet named.
What the ensemble does
A single household cannot carry the cost of testing or the weight of export paperwork on a small batch. Together they can.
Certifies the tea
Two inspections a year, blind cupping by the committee, and laboratory testing paid for out of member fees.
Handles the paperwork
Tea Board registration, certificate of origin, phytosanitary certificate and packing lists, all prepared centrally.
Finds the buyer
Enquiries go to every member who can fill them. No commission on anything a member sells.
Five checks between the shed and the shelf
Each one produces a document the buyer receives with the shipment.
Garden inspection
Plucking practice, wither shed, rolling table and hygiene, checked on site twice a year.
Batch record
Plucking date, weather, wither hours, roll time and firing temperature, written as it happens.
Blind cupping
Tasted against the grade standard. Roughly one lot in eight goes back to the maker with notes.
Laboratory testing
ISO 3720 with residue screening to EU and Japanese limits. This is where lots fail.
Sealing and shipping
Vacuum packed under the seal, then consolidated so a small order still ships economically.
The members
Buyers write to the maker directly. We do not sit in the middle of that conversation.
Amba Estate
Nine people making hand-rolled orthodox and a rolled green above the Ravana Ella falls.
Ravana Craft Tea
White and silver tips, plucked before the sun reaches the bush.
Monkeytail Tea Garden
A heritage garden and factory run as a village enterprise.
Kirkoswald Smallholding
One family, one pan, under a hundred kilos a run.
Kaley Teas
A single garden on virgin soil at the edge of the Sinharaja rainforest.
Forest Hill Tea
Leaf hand-plucked from abandoned estate bushes grown thirty feet tall.
Membership
Applications open in March and September. Inspection is free and you get a written report either way.
Associate
- Listed on the register
- Four training sessions a year
- One inspection with a report
- Cuppings as an observer
Full member
- Right to use the seal
- Full profile on the register
- Lab testing and paperwork paid
- Enquiries forwarded direct
- A vote on the standard
Partner
- Early notice of cleared lots
- Register search with contacts
- Quarterly cupping invitations
- Named on the affiliations page
News
Notes from three days of buyer meetings in Colombo
The four documents every importer wanted to see before talking price.
Why two of our first fourteen lots failed at the lab
Both failures came from neighbouring land, not the member's own bushes.
Second intake of members opens 1 October
Applications for the March 2027 inspection round open next month, with three teams working the low country first.
Upcoming
Quarterly blind cupping
Secretariat, Colombo 03 - open to members and applicants
Uva season tasting
Bandarawela - trade members and invited buyers
First annual general meeting
Colombo - all members
Looking for small-batch Ceylon tea?
Tell us the profile, the volume and the month. We send samples with lab certificates attached and reply within two working days.
Send a buyer enquiry