“From whatever direction it is approached, [the island] unfolds a scene of loveliness and grandeur unsurpassed, if it be rivalled by any land in the universe”.

~ James Emerson Tennent (Ceylon: an account of the island, 1860)

It is on this island of unparalleled beauty that RCTC was established in 1885 in the mountainous Uva Province of Sri Lanka, formally known as Ceylon. When James Taylor first proved that tea could be grown as a plantation crop on the Island in 1867, the RCTC’s plantations were among the first to successfully harvest tea due to Uva’s ideal weather conditions, high elevations (4000 feet above sea level), strong ‘kachan’ winds and consistent annual monsoons.

 

RCTC encompasses an area consisting of nine-mountain ranges, spanning 22,000 acres of eight separate estates. Each estate has its own internationally recognized ‘single estate marque’, with each being easily identified by tea tasters and connoisseurs alike, as the tea has an unduplicated ‘Uva flavour’.

RCTC has furthered the tea industry with developments in tea processing and packaging, while maintaining the same orthodox methods of tea plucking which is “two leaves and a bud”. Together, these have continually served as a competitive advantage and have helped the company maintain the highest price-fetching quality tea on the market time and time again.

royalceylonteacompany.com