Stash Ceylon Breakfast Tea
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Stash Ceylon Breakfast Tea

The prototype for "Breakfast Tea" was developed over a hundred years ago by a Scottish Teamaster . It became popular in England due to the craze Queen Victoria created for all things Scottish (the summer home of Victoria and Albert was the Scottish Highland castle at Balmoral). Tea shops in London, however, changed the name and sold it as "English Breakfast Tea". Breakfast tea has become a favorite of tea drinkers worldwide and is the tea most often enjoyed during English High Tea.

Ceylon, or its contemporary name, Sri Lanka, is a beautiful tropical island that lies just 22 miles off the southern tip of India. Sri Lanka supplies about 25% of the world's tea. The nearly six hundred thousand acres of tea under cultivation provide well over half of the island's export earnings.

Ceylon grew no tea until 1867, when James Taylor, the Scottish manager of Loolecondera tea Estate, first planted some. His timing was fortuitous, as just two years later a fungus disease descended on the island's coffee plantations, ruining what had been Ceylons leading industry. Those who could afford to, turned to growing tea.

Ceylon tea is grown from sea level to altitudes exceeding 7000 feet. The best Ceylon teas are harvested at altitudes above 4000 feet. Here the bushes grow more slowly and yield far less, not to mention being more difficult to harvest. Most high grown Ceylon teas come from gardens so steep that the newly picked green leaves must be conveyed to the estate factory by means of aerial ropeways.

The Ceylon tea used in our Breakfast blend comes from the southwestern area of the island, the Dimbula region, which is one of the original tea producing areas in Sri Lanka. Most plantations in the Dimbula region are 5000 to 6000 feet above sea level. The Kiruwanaganga Estate, located in the Kukulagala hills, produces this particular Ceylon. This large pekoe leaf (generally referred to as curly pekoe) is typical of a high grown tea with fine character, smooth rich flavor, and golden color in the cup. Our Ceylon Breakfast is good any time of the day but especially enjoyable in the morning with milk and sugar.