It will suit you to a tea

WE LOVE our cuppa in Ireland and are still drinking more tea per head than any other country in the world. Sadly nowadays most cups of tea are made from teabags rather than good loose tea which I am totally convinced makes a far superior brew.

On a recent trip to Sri Lanka I visited Handunugoda Tea Estate only a few miles from Galle. Mr Gunaratne, whose family have been tea planters for 400 years, proudly showed us around.

In 2008 Sri Lanka overtook Kenya as the second most important tea producing nation after India. Annual production of Ceylon Tea, as Sri Lankan tea is called, is about 330 million kilograms and enjoys premium prices at the tea auctions in Colombo. Tea has been grown in Sri Lanka since 1869, shortly after the coffee crop was decimated by disease. The industry employs 3.5m people and is the largest foreign income earner and the largest employer.