In 1880, the then thriving coffee industry in Ceylon was devastated by a coffee leaf disease. Almost four million acres of coffee plants were uprooted and replaced by tea plants and the tea plant (Camellia Thea). Thus began the great tea industry of Ceylon.
The saga of tea begins with seeds and young plants of the Assam variety imported from the Calcutta Botanical Gardens, which were experimentally planted in the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens near Kandy in 1839. In addition, a handful of enterprising coffee growers after the enormous damage did not close down he reduced coffee acres and experimentally invested in some acres planted with tea. Mainly concerned with the lucrative coffee, growers generally had no time for tea, and those experimental plots were forgotten for about thirty years. However, tea increased and grew well in the hills of Ceylon.