Ceylon tea, from leaf to cup: how to drink it at the source

Factory tours, high-grown tastings and the roadside plain tea ritual. Enjoying the world's most famous tea where it grows. Sri Lanka is still Ceylon on every tea packet, and drinking it at the source is a trip highlight: hill-country factory tours show the withering, rolling and firing that turn green leaf into black tea, ending in tastings where.

travelguides.lk · updated 20 Feb 2026 Sourced editorial

On the plate

Sri Lanka is still Ceylon on every tea packet, and drinking it at the source is a trip highlight: hill-country factory tours show the withering, rolling and firing that turn green leaf into black tea, ending in tastings where elevation differences, delicate high-grown versus robust low-grown, suddenly make sense.

Down at street level, the ritual is plain tea (kahata) or milk tea, sweet and strong, at any roadside kade. For gifts, buy from factory shops or reputable brands and look for the Lion logo that marks genuine pure Ceylon tea.