Melo Villareal
Tea for…Well, everyone! The Story of Dilmah Tea
Tea has been around for centuries. It has been traded and consumed throughout history. Nations prospered, cultures developed, and wars were waged around tea. Today, tea is still an integral part of human society. It has developed so much that there are even more varieties available today. Like wine, tea has become a product with varying degrees of taste, quality, and luxury. Also, like wine, it has its own common culture and die-hard aficionados.
Among the many companies that produce tea worldwide, one is quite distinctive. This is the Single Origin Tea, Dilmah Tea.
To appreciate the originality and high quality of Dilmah Tea, we must go back to its roots. Its founder was Merril J. Fernando, who was definitely a tea connoisseur. He was very much interested in teas, even as a young man. In the 1950s, he decided to devote his life to its development.
His passion gave him insight into cultivating the precious leaves. He learned the how, where, and when of how they are grown. He studied the effects of the climate and soil on different types of teas. He also learned to best process them. This is what makes Dilmah Tea what it is today.
The name for his tea came from the names of his two sons, Dilhan and Malik, both of whom have followed their father’s footsteps by making tea their business and passion. After sixty years, the business is thriving with the next generation, Merril Fernando’s grandchildren, getting ready to take their places in the tea-making business.
In 1988, the company upped the ante by introducing three innovations: Traditional Tea, Single Origin Tea, and packed Garden Fresh. These have made Dilmah tea a higher quality tea but also unique.
Traditional Tea is the process of producing tea using old methods and techniques passed on from generation to generation for the entire process. This includes picking the leaves by hand, withering, rolling, oxidizing, and firing. This is instead of modern CTC methods focusing more on mass production. Traditional Tea emphasizes achieving the highest quality tea through meticulous care in the production process. That is the Dilmah Method.
Single Origin Tea is about unblended teas. An important factor in determining the flavor of the tea is its terrior or the place of origin of the tea. Terrior determines that tea grown in a specific place at a particular time produces a distinct flavor for that tea. Each region, with its own climate and soil, has its signature tea flavor. Based on soil and climate, this gives each area its own identity of tea flavor. For a cheaper tea all year round, other companies go for the Multi-Origin Blend, a process of blending teas produced cheaply from different regions to create a palatable tea. Although this method may produce new and beautiful flavors for coffee, it does the opposite for tea.
Dilmah Tea is also Garden Fresh. They take great pride in making sure of the freshness of the product. This translates to the fresh and vibrant flavors of Dilmah Teas.
Because of his love for tea, Merril Fernando has built Dilmah Tea into a company passionate about their products. They grow their tea in their gardens, which are in some of the best locations in Ceylon. They have their own tea packaging and art printing company. They heavily invested in almost all aspects of the tea industry. This is to ensure that they have a stake in the entire tea manufacturing process. This is how the Fernandos ensure that their products are of the highest quality.
Dilmah Tea is the only vertically integrated tea company. Family for Dilmah is not limited to Merril Fernando, his sons, and grandchildren. Family values are passed on to the employees of the company. At Dilmah Tea, the fruits and rewards of the company’s successes are also shared with the workers. At the core of the Dilmah Tea Company Vision is the commitment to human service as part of making business.
Sharing the rewards of success does not end within the company. The MJF Charitable Foundation was initially set up by Merril Fernando to help the 18 original workers of the company. This gradually spread to the community. As the business grew, so did the MJF Charitable Foundation. It was able to help many communities in Sri Lanka. Eventually, the Foundation’s humanitarian efforts reached a global scale (www.mjffoundation.org), touching the lives of more than 10,000 people through over 100 humanitarian projects. Now it is also committed to environmental sustainability through Dilmah Conservation (www.dilmahconservation.org).
Dilmah Tea has truly come a long way. Through it all, it has stayed the course holding true to its values of commitment, quality, and service to community and family. Because of this, they have produced the finest collection of teas renowned worldwide. Try one now and have the Dilmah Tea experience.
Get the unmatched experience of having a perfect brew at the Dilmah t-bar in the lower lobby of Radisson Blu Cebu. Open from 9 AM to 11 PM, they also serve traditional afternoon high tea from 3 PM to 5 PM. For more information, call (63 32) 402 9900 or email reservations.cebu@radisson.com.
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Read:
- Putting the Tea in T-Bar: Radisson Blu Cebu Launches in the Country with Dilmah Tea
- 5 Reasons to Travel When You’re Single!
