For most of its history, Sri Lanka’s tea has been sold at auction. The first public tea auction in Colombo was held in 1883, and the Colombo Tea Traders’ Association was founded in 1894. Today the Colombo auction is one of the largest tea auctions in the world.
How it works
- Factories send their tea to brokers in Colombo.
- The brokers taste every lot, describe it and suggest a value in a catalogue.
- Buyers — exporters and packers — taste samples too and decide what to bid.
- At the weekly sale, each lot goes to the highest bidder.
A market built on tasting
Everything at the auction depends on the cup. Brokers and buyers taste thousands of samples, and the words they use — bright, brisk, coppery, full — help decide what a tea is worth.
Online today
Much of the bidding has moved online, but the heart of the system is the same: many factories, careful tasting and competitive bidding that rewards quality.
