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by Ilika Karunaratne

Merrill J. Fernando's contribution to tea has been a one-man revolution. As our most traditional export, tea, like the mountains and valleys in which it grows has had its ups and downs. It is at its peak today and Sri Lanka owes this to Merrill whose vision saw that pure Ceylon tea with imaginative packaging hit the international market with a bang. As one who has known him since he began his journey in tea, I am overwhelmed each time I glance through magazines from abroad and see his picture in it with an advertisement for Ceylon tea.

I dropped in at his request at the Dilmah first ever global distributors conference and found it difficult to tear myself away from the lively discussions and superb presentations. I learnt a lot about tea, its benefits for good health and parallels between tea and wine, which had not struck me before. A most interesting perspective. Daya Wickrematunge, consultant to The MJF Group widened our horizons on Tea and its contributory factors to good health. It was the Chinese who first started drinking boiled water as they discovered that it prevented vowel disease. Tea drinking is a pleasant way of drinking water as six cups of tea meets one's water requirement. He quoted Dr. Wester Modder who had concrete evidence that it has a load of health benefits including anti toxics against cardiovascular disease and cancer. Tea contains all nutrients and essential nutrients, also non essential nutrients like polyphenol and caffeine. It also has vitamins C, B, E, K and P, which is known to strengthen arteries and to kill bacteria.

Tea is a rich source of fluoride, potassium and sodium. Another interesting point I learnt was that a cup of tea contains 60 mg of caffeine as against 100 mg in a cup of coffee. Caffeine contributes to the briskness of tea, and improves its quality. Its association with flavonol nullifies the adverse effects of caffeine. A great advocate of tea as a panacea for everything was Samuel Johnson, who drank 32 cups of tea a day. When questioned once as to whether this was not injurious to his health, he snapped back "Don't be insolent".

I am one who drinks green tea after a meal as I have been told that it is good for one and clears the system. I discovered that day to my surprise that this quality was not exclusive to green tea but that black tea too, had the same effect. Something else which was news to me was that in addition to maintaining good leaf standards in the plucking, it is essential that tea reaches the supermarkets as soon as it is produced to ensure that the flavonoids would still be there, tea also kills salmonella but does not affect the natural bacteria in the stomach.

Something else entirely new to me and I'm sure to everyone else too, was when Merrill introduced his "Watte" teas. It was a first for me to learn about the similarities between tea and wine. Firstly, both depend on soil, climatic conditions, maturing and fermenting. Talking about his new "Watte" teas before we were introduced to them, "I did not need or consult an MBA to develop these. I have fought a long and lone battle to put class and quality into tea. When one goes into a restaurant and orders a cup of tea, the invariable question is "Black or White"? But with the emergence of my "Watte" teas, Dilmah will help the consumer to be more discerning about their cup of tea." Tracing the history of teas like "English Breakfast". He said "It was first called "Scottish Breakfast" as the first planters to come here were from Scotland but the English hijacked it and called it "English Breakfast". I am now half way on my journey from single origin teas to single region teas. My "watte" teas are each distinctive in colour and flavour and as I introduce you to them, I have by my side famous wine master and wine connoisseur from Singapore, Edwin Soong, who will talk about the wines that I compare my "watte" teas with. Each cup of tea as it was placed before us had a different colour and differed in taste too.

"Yatawatte" is low grown tea grown at 1,000 feet above sea level. It is heavy, robust, gutty and deep in colour and is very popular in Arab markets. They call it an aphrodisiac and drink it with lots of sugar.

The wine it is compared with is a Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes for this wine grow in Bordeaux, France on plains and flat land. The next tea we were introduced to was "Medawatte" which is mid grown tea and grows on 2,000 to 3,000 feet above sea level. It is strong, pungent, full bodied and slightly lighter in colour than "Yatawatte". The wine chosen as a match in style is "Shiraz", which grows on hilly slopes and grows best in Australia where it laps up the hot sun. Then we come to "Udawatte".

This is high grown and grows on 5,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level. It is full-bodied, refreshing and slightly lighter in colour than "Medawatte". The wine similar to this is "Pint Noir" often referred to as the "enfant terrible" of wines. It demands a cooler climate and is purer. It grows in single vineyards with a higher elevation. The last in the set of Watte teas is "Ranwatte", which is highgrown tea grown at 6,000 feet above sea level in N'Eliya and Udapussellawa. It is a delicate infusion which is light and mellow.

This is compared with champagne which is light and bubbles. It is considered a celebrity wine and a wine of seduction. It grows on higher cooler climes and the grapes for this are picked on the point of ripeness and not allowed to ripen on the vine. Champagne is a fine, elegant wine, one used at a very special celebration.

One man's dream for tea has put pure Ceylon tea and fun teas too, on the global market. Euromonitor has rated Dilmah as the third largest tea brand in the world. It was Merrill's courage, his vision and his pursuit of excellence for Ceylon tea that made this possible. Dilmah created true value for pure Ceylon tea by being an exporter and producer of branded tea from its source, having had to fight many international giants in the trade to do so.

It was the Chinese who first discovered tea. This quote on tea from China seems apt to end with. "Tea tempers the spirit and harmonises the mind, dispels lassitude and dispels fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drowsiness, lightens or refreshes the body and clears the perceptive faculties".

What more does one need?

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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