First shipment of Tetley ‘plantation fresh’ pure Ceylon Tea to leave Colombo’s shores

Watawala Plantations, one of Sri Lanka’s leading plantation companies, commenced the packaging and exporting of Pure Ceylon Tea under the brand name Tetley, a world-renowned tea brand.

The first master carton of the first shipment of Tetley was presented to the Minister of Plantation Industries Mahinda Samarasinghe by Vish Govindasamy, Managing Director of Watawala Plantations PLC.

Expressing his thoughts on the venture, Minister Samarasinghe noted that this was significant for Sri Lanka as well as the Ministry of Plantation Industries and would no doubt benefit the country’s economy.

The producer of popular brands, Zesta and Watawala Kahata, Watawala Plantations is a joint collaboration with TATA Global Beverages, India, of which the Tetley Group has been a member since March 2000.

The company was also the first to introduce the concept of ‘plantation fresh,’ where tea is directly sourced from the plantations, which was a major factor that attracted Tetley to commence its packaging operations in Sri Lanka.

Elaborating on the new venture, Govindasamy said, “Recently there was a lot of brainstorming about how to launch pure Ceylon tea with the Tetley brand overseas. In that, they were able to look at our ‘plantation fresh’ concept and they have taken that concept into the Tetley brand with Pure Ceylon Tea and are now launching it in one of their largest overseas market.”

He further added that this was a significant achievement for Sri Lanka as the Tetley brand was previously packed in UK and India. This venture will undoubtedly bring great esteem and a surge in export revenue to the country. The packaging will be done at the export packing facility of Watawala Plantations, he noted.

Tetley ‘plantation fresh’ Ceylon tea will be available in packets of 25 and 100 teabags and will be packed into shelf-ready tray cartons.

The first consignment of tea was shipped to an overseas market. Projected volumes for Tetley Plantation Fresh Ceylon Tea are expected to cross 100 million teabags per annum.