SRI LANKA TEA TOUR 2003
SRI LANKA TEA TOUR PHOTO ALBUM
The Sri Lanka Tea Board in conjunction with the Tea Association of the USA and Specialty Tea Institute (STI) organized the August, 2003 tour of Sri Lanka's renowned tea estates and tea growing regions. In addition, a special awards ceremony was conducted for the winners of the First Annual Ceylon Tea Estate of the Year Contest.
The Tour was a wonderful adventure for all those who participated. Tour members met with Sri Lankan tea estate managers who shared their vast expertise and, in many cases, their homes, with members of our group. Tour participants drank in the superb tea and with it the country's unique natural beauty. We learned much more about why Sri Lanka is one of the world's greatest Specialty Tea producers.
We invite you to peruse our Sri Lanka trip photo album for a better view of this important tea industry event.
Credit for the success of this tour must go to the Tea Board of Sri Lanka, The Planters Association, the Regional Plantation Companies, The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, John Keells Conventions, and to The Colombo Tea Traders Association, and their chairman Mayhen Dayananda. Also, to numerous individuals such as Anil Cooke of Asia Siyaka, George Pelpola, and Hasitha DeAlwis of the Sri Lanka Tea Board, Dillan Ariyawansa of Sri Lankan Travel, Inc., and Saman Udagedara, Commercial Minister at the Sri Lankan Embassy in the U.S. We at the Tea Association and STI wish to extend special thanks to the intrepid and tireless Tea Tour group who traveled to Sri Lanka from all across the US and as far away as Argentina. Finally we must recognize the many new friends that we made who will be forever known as Arjuna, Bandula, Bez, Bryan, Chaminda, Dayapala, Dharmasiri, Dhammike, David, Geo, Godfrey, Jeremy, Johann, Kenneth, Kolitha, Maithri, Maxwell, Mirzan, Nish, Raj, Ravi, Sahampathy, Travice, and Vige. Thank you for helping to make our dream a reality.