03-06-2025
Sri Lanka tea plantations offer a lesson in power and persistence
CENTRAL HIGHLANDS, Sri Lanka -- On a visit to Singapore in 2023, I enjoyed a Bridgerton-style afternoon tea offered by a hotel as part of a collaboration with Dilmah tea, a brand rooted in Sri Lanka. As I sipped a bespoke blend, redolent of that island's misty highlands, I found myself pondering the journey the leaves had made across the Indian Ocean to the edge of the South China Sea.
Now, visiting Sri Lanka, I find myself at Ceylon Tea Trails, the world's first tea bungalow resort and a member of Relais & Chateaux, a France-based association of independent hotels. Owned by the Fernando family, the founders of the Colombo-based Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company, this collection of five heritage bungalows nestles near the Pekoe Trail, a newly established hiking path that winds through the heart of tea country in the Central Highlands region.
