Why Zesta Teas?

Over the years, since James Taylor introduced tea to the island of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), tea has become synonymous with Sri Lanka. Recognized as a form of art, the process of manufacturing tea is a long one, before it finds its way to your cup, warming your hand and refreshing your body with each sip.

The iconic Ceylon tea stands unparalleled in the industry, offering only high quality, fresh flavoured tea. Ceylon tea is grown at various elevations, which includes: Low Grown, Mid Grown and High Grown, each area offering a different taste and character.  Zesta’s sister companies, Hatton Plantations & Watawala Plantations has a total of 17 estates spread across these three elevations.

Zesta doesn’t just give you a fresh brew of tea. Zesta gives you the experience of more than just drinking tea. From the first sip that touches your lips to the final sip that leaves your tongue, you are transported to our lush tea estates, where our skilled tea pluckers search for the finest, followed by the drying and rolling process until it is finally packed and transported to your local store.

Largest Plantation Company & Largest Producer of Ceylon Tea

Once the fresh leaves are plucked and they go through the process of creating the perfect blend for you, the tea leaves are packaged in tins, bags and sachets before it’s sent to your store. Zesta’s sister companies Hatton Plantations and Watawala Plantations together produce 25 million kilos of tea a year.

No. 1 Branded Tea Company in Sri Lanka

Watawala Tea Ceylon Limited (WTCL), the parent company for Zesta is Sri Lanka’s leading branded tea company, holding 35% of the market share. In less than 1.5 decades, Zesta has continuously challenged, surpassed and consolidated against stiff competition, with both, local and international brands in the market.

Member of Sunshine Holdings

Sunshine Holdings, a joint venture between Pyramid Wilmar Plantations. This exposure ensures that Zesta is on par with the highest international standards in terms of quality and process.

Consistent Quality – Constant progress with our process

Zesta comprises of a team of experts including planters, pluckers, tasters and marketers who know and love tea. Tea is an art created with a good brew of passion. Zesta follows a stringent quality control system that ensures and delivers the highest quality of tea production and tea packaging. The specialised tea tasting team at Zesta tastes over 1,000 cups of freshly brewed tea each day in order to give you the perfect cup of Ceylon tea.

Working for your community

Our employees are its biggest strength. Zesta owes it success to the employees for their hard work and dedication which plays a major role in tea, from planting to packaging. In order to look after the wellbeing of our employees and their families, we have implemented the following programmes in our plantations to ensure:

• 0 maternal and infant mortality
• 100% institutional births
• 100% immunisation of all children of associates
• 100% primary education for children
• 90 Child Development Centres in our estates, with over 2,600 children
• Sanitation facilities for over 9,000 families
• The establishment of a Vocational Training Centre for the physically challenged in 1998, located on the Kenilworth Estate. The centre won an Asian CSR Leadership Award in 2014.

Environmental Protection & Sustainability Practices

Growing and producing high quality tea is not our only aim. Understanding that the rich soil of the island is the reason for our success, we have taken numerous measures that aid in protecting and preserving the environment.

Energy Management

Our integrated energy management approach resulted in the company investing in a briquetting machine. Using tea waste, paddy husks and saw dust, the machine produces briquettes; to create a compressed block of biomass material which can be used for fuel or to kindle a fire, which results in lower net carbon emissions. Zesta produces compost from bio-degradable waste to fertilise crops, among other measures.

Water Conservation & Biodiversity Preservation

Our group company has launched a set of programmes which are aimed at water conservation, including the harvesting of rain water and improving water retention in the soil. In order to protect the biodiversity in our flourishing estates, the company set to study the habitats within each estate, while also creating buffer zones along waters bodies.

Explore our exclusive collection of Zesta Ceylon Tea here.