ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF CEYLON – A  LOOK  INTO  THE  PAST – TEA CENTENARY YEAR SOUVENIR 1954 Edition Pioneers of the Tea Industry in Ceylon (A) JAMES TAYLOR James Taylor the father of the Ceylon Tea Industry opend up the first Clearing on Loolecondera Estate, Hewaheta. Born in Kincardinshire, Scotland in 1835, Jemes Taylor arrived in Ceylon in 1852 at the age of 17 years. He was sent to Loolecondera which he developed first as a Coffee Estate showing much enterprise also in introducing Cinchona before his first Tea Experiment. He had already grown Tea Bushes on the Estate before the first commercial Scale Clearing and had taught himself something about Tea Making by rolling the Green Leaf by hand on the verandah table and firing it over a Charcoal Fire. The Original 1867 Clearing on Loolecondera still exists. ...

Read More →