Tea is the beverage that the world needs most : Dilhan Fernando 

Tea is a traditional beverage that is being consumed quite often in every corner of the island. When speaking of pure Ceylon tea brands, Dilmah remains at no. 1. A family owned business right from its inception today is the only vertically integrated tea company with its own tea gardens and state-of-the-art printing and packaging facilities. Introducing its latest segment to the high tea culture of Sri Lanka, the Dilmah Real High Tea Challenge (DRHTC) will take place from July 1 – 3 at Hilton Colombo Residence. Speaking to the Daily Mirror Life, Dilhan C. Fernando, Director of MJF Holdings Pvt. Ltd. explained about the challenge and its objectives.

Give us a brief introduction about Dilmah and the challenge.

My father started this business and was the pioneer in producing finest Ceylon tea In fact he was able to change a system. Tea is a finished product and nowhere in the world was tea grown, plucked, packed and distributed from its source. My father was able to introduce a revolution. In fact when tea was taken to London only 50% of it would be Ceylon tea and the rest would be from India, Brazil and products from other countries. Tea is a unique ingredient which helps to treat conditions such as dementia and diabetes. It also helps reduce stress and as such it has quite a number of protective health benefits. In fact tea offers a solution for all issues.

Yet there is a belief that tea is only for the old. So we are trying to introduce it to the younger generations through this high tea culture. We are using all new techniques to initiate this ceremony through cool food and cool mixology. So this challenge makes use of tea as its fundamental ingredient. At the DRHTC ultimately each chef must relate to a certain technique which they have used to make their food. It is the most popular tea ceremony in the world. It gives an opportunity for the contestants to transfer their knowledge for something useful. We look in to both the hospitality and the culinary aspects. As such they should know their tea and should bring their experience and inspirations together in this initiative. So we can always follow modern culinary styles but tea is a beautiful herb and therefore we need to respect it.

Is DRHTC a first time in Sri Lanka?

We have had it in countries such as New Zealand, Thailand, Amsterdam, the UAE and have been organising it for the past 8 years. Up until now we have had 710 contestants and this is the first time that Sri Lanka has ever had an international culinary challenge.

Who are the judges?

Peter Kuruvita from Australia, Simon Gault from New Zealand, myself and Bernd Uber from Australia who is endorsed by the World Association of Chefs (WACS). Bernd and I will be looking in to the tea while Peter and Simon will be judging the culinary aspects.

What do the winners get?

They get a bronze trophy embedded with precious stones and they also get a lot of prestige and recognition. So all these chefs have got a trip to Sri Lanka and the event is being covered by the media representing all 14 countries. It is the toughest tea challenge in the world. This challenge is about knowledge transfer and we want to bring honour to Sri Lanka through it.

We see high teas in hotels only. Does this mean that it is only for the elite?

Certainly not. Take some tea from Nuwara Eliya and a piece of butter cake. You will see that there’s some harmony because Nuwara Eliya tea is known for its aroma and with the vanilla fragrance in the butter cake, it is a good combination. Similarly low grown tea has a different taste and texture. When you drink it, it has to please you. Tea must be fresh and it is changing everyday. You don’t need cucumber sandwiches for high tea. Just adding some honey to a plain tea would make a difference. So this should be properly studied before you taste it. At the end of the day you need to respect the ingredient. In fact, tea is for everybody.

This revolution started with plain tea and now it is high tea. What next?

Tea mixology. We are using ingredients to keep its natural goodness while allowing the younger generations to enjoy tea.

By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe
Photographs by Waruna Wanniarachchi