Cheericup Ceylon Tea

Cheericup Ceylon Tea from Mark T. Wendell Tea Company

Off the coast of India is the country of Sri Lanka. About the size of Ireland, over half a million acres of this country are used to grow tea plants. This acreage makes Sri Lanka the world’s third largest tea producer. With this much land devoted to tea, it is hard to believe that tea was not always part of Sri Lanka’s history. Tea bushes were transplanted to the island over a hundred years ago by British planters. In 1972, Sri Lanka reverted to its original Sinhalese name, and decided to retain this name for its export tea product. Almost all Ceylon tea is black, and it is among the finest black teas cultivated in the world. There are very subtle differences between different Ceylon teas, and overall they have similar characteristics from estate to estate. Ceylon teas are broadly classified by the altitudes at which they are grown. These are: Low-grown (up to two thousand feet), Mid-grown (two thousand to four thousand feet), and High-grown (above four thousand feet).

As with all tea producing countries, climate greatly affects the taste and quality of teas from year to year. Since Sri Lanka is surrounded by the Indian Ocean on both sides, it is prone to monsoons blowing from different directions. With an abundance of rain, the plants grow wildly and can lose much of their distinctive characteristics. The best Ceylon teas are those made in the dry months preceding the monsoons. The five tea districts (Kandy, Rhuna, Dimbulla, Nuwara Eliya and Uva) are concentrated in the central highlands and southern inland districts of the island. These are areas that have the ideal growing conditions for the tea plant.

Mark T. Wendell’s first imported teas originated from the island of Formosa (Taiwan.) His unusual Formosan Lapsang Souchong, HU-KWA, and Formosan Keemun were unknown in this country a hundred years ago. Mr. Wendell also had an affinity for the lighter Ceylon teas, so he created a special blend to market under his own name. He blended several high and low grown Ceylon teas into what he called a “Cheery” cup of tea. From that time forward, he called his blend Cheericup Ceylon. For the most part, we have been able to source teas from the original districts that Mr. Wendell used: Dimbulla, Rhuna and Uva.