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Over 200 years ago:
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Ceylon – A British Colony |
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Coffee was the dominant crop on the island |
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Courageous British men crossed the great oceans to begin a new life on coffee plantations |
1860’s
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Coffee was not destined to thrive in Ceylon |
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Coffee plantation were struck by Hemileia Vostatrix, coffee rust, better known as coffee leaf disease or ‘coffee blight’. |
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As the crop died, planters switched to the cultivation and production of tea |
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Commercial cultivation of tea commenced in Ceylon in 1867 |
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James Taylor arrives in Sri Lanka |
1872
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The first official Ceylon tea was shipped to England and contained two packages of 23lbs. The first recorded shipment, however, was dispatched to England in 1877 aboard the vessel The Duke of Argyll. |
1880
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Almost all coffee plantations in Ceylon were converted to tea |
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Coffee stores were converted to tea factories |
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As tea production in Ceylon progressed, new factories were constructed and an element of mechanization was introduced. Machinery for factories was brought in from England. Marshals of Gainsborough – Lancashire, Tangyes Machine Company of Birmingham, and Davidsons of Belfast supplied machines that are in use even today. |
1883
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An auction system was established as a need arose to mediate and monitor the sale of tea |
1894
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The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce undertook responsibility for the auctions, and by 1894 the Ceylon Tea Traders Association was formed |
To Date
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Tea auctions are still carried out at the Chamber of Commerce in Colombo |
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The industry is now ready to meet the challenges of the next millennium by looking in to the possibility of introducing an automated auctioning system. |
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