Untitled Document

Business

Dilmah Tea - the nectar in the beverage world

By Ruwanthi Herat Gunaratne
The whispery soft aroma of freshly brewed tea.

The story of tea
Myth and legend surround the origin of tea. The Chinese attribute all its agricultural and medicinal knowledge to its mythical emperor Chen Naung who was said to be the first to discover the virtues of tea.

Buddhist tales speak of Bodhi Dharma, a monk who went to China as a missionary in penance for his wild and dissipated youth. He had vowed never to sleep again. But while meditating one day at the Himalayas he drifted into peaceful slumber. Annoyed and angered by his sin, he cut off his eyelids and buried them. Returning many years later he found an unknown shrub growing just there. Feeling weary he steeped a few leaves in hot water and drank it. His weariness then disappeared and his spirits were revived.

Tea was greeted with mixed enthusiasm when it was first introduced to Europe. But the trend caught on rapidly. But it was only in the late 1900's that planters took an interest in cultivating tea in Sri Lanka.

Tea thrives in a benign, sub-tropical climate, but survives amazingly adverse conditions such as extreme heat or cold. The best of Ceylon teas are the high grown from the central highlands of the country, 4000 feet or more above sea level.

Divinely revitalising. This factory was full of it. Orange, Mango, Apple, Peach and Green flavoured tea - it loomed invitingly. Drawing us in with the promise of more.

Merrill J. Fernando was just another school-going kid when he was introduced to the wonderful world of tea. The allure it presented was just too great. "I joined the trade initially as a tea taster," says Fernando reminiscently. "It was during the time of the colonial rule." He soon realised that the tea business gave its foundation a raw deal. The plantation workers, specialised in their duty gave more and received less on a daily basis. He vowed to change the way the system worked. Twenty years on, his dream came true.

In 1974 MJF Exports was established. And in 1985 Dilmah, the single origin tea saw the landlines of Australia. That company in turn became the genesis of the MJF Group, which is the 7th largest tea packer in the world today and is placed third in the global tea market. Its influence on the Sri Lankan tea export market is mind-blowing; a staggering turnover in excess of 3 billion rupees in 2000 provides ample proof.

Vacuum packed Dilmah Tea at the assembly line. Pix by Ranjith Perera

Fernando heads the family-owned and managed group to this day along with his two sons and a dedicated team of professionals. The group retains his early emphasis on integrity, tradition and personalised customer service. The brand name coined by the founder from the names of his sons Dilhan and Malik is known for its exquisite quality in almost 90 countries across the world.

There's only one main focus in this company - to present the world's finest cup of tea. Pure Ceylon tea, grown, withered, curled, packaged and transported with the greatest care by the group itself to its end consumer - a Herculean task undertaken and completed on a daily basis at the company's Peliyagoda factory.

The rose-coloured building situated in the outskirts of Colombo gave no inkling whatsoever to the hive of activity taking place inside. A slight whir was generated by hundreds of machines. Factory workers buzzed in and out encased in protective clothing. Green aprons, green caps, green everything.

We're served a cup of freshly brewed tea. The leaves are a dismal colour. Whatever happened to those lovely green leaves, you wonder, spread so invitingly across the hill country. They underwent a process. The fresh green leaf turned into black tea.

The art of tea as we learned from the professionals at Dilmah is a complicated process. The idea of tea processing conjures up images only of lush green plantations to the uninitiated eye. But it's not only that. Specialised tea pluckers pick fresh leaves, its important to note that only the two tender leaves and the bud are plucked. Each tree is incidentally plucked only once a week.

This collection is then brought to the factory (in the plantations) to begin an elaborate process. First withering takes place, here the moisture of the leaves is reduced from 75 percent to approximately around 45 percent by a flow of cool air, a process carried out for a period of 6 to 18 hours depending on factory equipment and weather conditions.

The rolling of the withered leaf helps to establish proper enzymatic oxidation. This is achieved through either the orthodox method of mechanical rolling, or through the CTC method of crushing, tearing and curling with contra rotating rollers. Then it's time for fermentation; the process where green leaf is converted to black tea. The temperature of the leaves is maintained at around 25°C, however, lower temperatures have been shown to improve flavour characteristics. Following this is a firing and baking process takes place. That in turn leads to sorting and grading.

Once the tea has been graded tea-exporting companies are provided with samples of tea with all necessary details two weeks prior to the tea auctions. Brokers provide this service. Dilmah not only purchases tea from the auctions but also has its own plantations. Once the tea is bought and brought down to the factory the blending process takes place. This is done by tea tasters who work carefully to prepare the perfect blend to meet customer specifications.

As hygiene is given top priority machines take over from this point onwards. None of the packaging factory workers touches the black leaves at any point of time. Once either sacks or chests of tea have been delivered a mechanical hand gently pours the contents to specific containers. A main computer then takes over and the tea is transported via steel pipelines to the necessary packaging area. It is with a touch of a button that the tea is blended. These pipelines are cleaned on a constant basis.

The packaging plants used by the MJF Group are amongst the only such pieces of machinery in Sri Lanka. The tea rushes in from a steel pipe while pristine white wrappers and foil rush in at a right angle. The final product is a crisply packaged tea bag. Parallel to this runs another assembly line that packs loose tea. Here once the packaging is completed the air is drawn out, giving the end package a box shape and the guarantee of freshness.

The affixing of labels too is done separately. An exclusive machine adds on the labels minus the staple that we are all so familiar with. "This is in order to add more security and hygiene to the packaging process," adds Himendra Ranaweera, the Director - Chief Operating Officer of the MJF Group.

Human contact comes only then. Nimble fingers affix the flaps of the packages gently. Discarded packages are separated and only a chosen few make it through to the end of the assembly line. The variety of tea presented for the export market is different. There's the Premium Classic range, the Dilmah Classic range, Green Tea, Jasmine Green Tea, Oolong Tea, Fruit tea and a host of infusions such as Camomile, Peppermint, Hibiscus and Rosehip to choose from.

"We are to introduce four completely different blends of tea for the local market, they include Dilmah Strong, Dilmah Ginger Tea, Vanilla Flavoured Tea and Dilmah Premium," said Roshan Tisseraatchy, the International Marketing Manager, "consumer preference has played a big role in our choice." It is together with Hemas Marketing that the company hopes to launch these new products.

But why is it that it took so long to introduce this to the local market? "We've been exporting tea for 12 years now and have established our reputation overseas as a purely Sri Lankan tea. The local market is full of tea suppliers, we do not wish to encroach on their market. But together with the sponsorship of the Cricket Team came a greater demand for knowledge on Dilmah Tea. Henceforth we present a local tea. Cricket and Tea - pure Sri Lankan products," comments Fernando.

"For centuries the problems of mankind have been solved over a cup of tea. It has been a soothing balm that helped to find solutions. The simple act of pouring a cup of tea is in itself an icebreaker, providing pleasurable anticipation of the goodness that is to follow."

M.J. Fernando has dedicated fifty years of his life to provide that perfect cup of tea. Now it's within our reach. Fancy a cup?

Back to Business