JAMES TAYLOR
The Father of Ceylon Tea, Part II
by Karen P., Customer Service Manager & Master Tea Consultant
In 1867, 32-year-old James Taylor planted Assam (Camellia sinensis assamica) tea seeds on 19 acres of land at Loolecondera Estate in Kandy, Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka). His ultimate goal was to produce a tea that tasted like “the China tea sold in the shops.” To process the tea leaves, he transformed his bungalow into a tea factory, the leaves being rolled by hand on tables he had set out on his verandah. His industrious nature and dedication to learning all about tea production led him to devise a mechanical roller within 6 years, followed by a trip to Darjeeling, India, in 1874, to study tea growing and production.
Where did Taylor get the tea seeds for planting his 19 acres?
One of the turning points in the development of the tea industry in Ceylon was the “Morice Mission.” Superintendent of the neighboring Mooloya Estate, Arthur Morice approached planting from a scientific perspective, just like Taylor. At the annual meeting of the Planters’ Association, held on February 17, 1866, Morice was appointed to a committee assigned to find an experienced planter to travel to India “under the auspices of the Government and on a mission from the Planters’ Association to report upon tea production as carried on in India.” Ten applications were received for the job, including James Taylor’s, however, as Morice was a well-traveled man, he was chosen as their representative. He departed in December 1866 and toured Assam, Dehra Dun, the Kangra Valley, the Madras Presidency, Coorg and the Nilgiris — a 3,000 mile journey.
When he returned in April 1867, he wrote a comprehensive report, which stressed “that the seed used must be the best Assam of the hybrid variety,” and “that Ceylon should concentrate on high-grown tea and turn out only the superior grades.” The first seeds arrived from Calcutta shortly thereafter and were committed to the care of “that watchful nurse, Mr. James Taylor.”
A natural technician, Taylor taught himself how to survey land and clear it to create roads in the rocky soil of Loolecondera, a rambling estate filled with hills and crags, a place that D.M. Forrest, author of A Hundred Years of Ceylon Tea, compared to “what teagrowing in the Cairngorms would be if such a thing were possible as compared with the Lowlands of Scotland.” Born on the northeast coast of Scotland, Taylor felt right at home on Loolecondera.
In 1869, E.G. Harding traveled to Ceylon where he started his life in tea planting on the Great Valley Estate, a couple of miles from Loolecondera. Every Sunday, he visited Taylor to learn about tea growing and production. Harding observed, “The factory was in the bungalow. The leaf was rolled on tables on the verandah by hand, i.e., from wrist to elbow, while the firing was done in chulas or clay stoves, over charcoal fires, with wire trays to hold the leaf. The result was a delicious tea which we bought up locally at Rs 1.50 per lb.”
Being ever the renaissance man, Taylor was not satisfied with this rudimentary setup for very long and, in 1872, he designed and constructed his own fully-equipped stone teahouse, located next to a stream, with a rolling machine connected to a water-wheel, the first of its kind in Ceylon.
“I have a machine of my own invention being made in Kandy for rolling the tea which I think will be successful. If so, we cannot help making a profit on tea if it grows of fair quality in this country. The picking or gathering the leaves and the rolling are the greatest expenses in the production; the rolling costs nearly as much as the gathering.”
In all his years there, the only time he left the island was in 1874 when he visited a number of tea gardens in the Darjeeling tea district of India. Traveling by rail at night to stay cool, he stayed in Darjeeling for 10 days where he observed tea cultivation and manufacture, the valuable knowledge of which he enthusiastically brought home to Ceylon.
In addition to his Darjeeling trip, Taylor also learned from other Ceylon planters, like William Cameron, who taught him about a fine plucking of “two leaves and a bud.” Taylor developed this technique further on Loolecondera to produce “teas of the quality for which that estate was renowned.” Taylor also favored the process of hard withering “to allow the rolling to be properly done...with under-withering, rolling will also be imperfect…a lot of water must be evaporated from the leaf in withering or else juice will drop from the machine during rolling.”
After his initial experiments with growing tea, Taylor expanded the planting on the estate, however, the market for Ceylon tea was still confined to the island. That changed rapidly as they moved into the 1880s. The results of Taylor’s dedicated work expanded out into the world with Ceylon tea starting to be preferable to China and India teas because “it combines in flavor and strength, and does away with blending China and Indian (teas).” By 1886, there were nine hundred estates growing tea in Ceylon!
William Martin Leake, the first Secretary of the Ceylon Association in London, during a discussion that followed a January 1888 lecture about the Ceylon tea industry, said of James Taylor:
“He is a man who, of all whom I have known, is the most entirely devoted to his work. Self-advancement has been, I believe, as nothing in his eyes. He has cared for his work, and for that only. Here lies the root of the wonderful success attained…and it was, therefore, without hesitation that we entrusted the tea experiment to his care.”
Between February 1889 and June 1890, key supporters stepped up to echo Leake’s recognition of Taylor’s contributions as the pioneer of Ceylon tea. George Wall, former chairman of the Ceylon Planters’ Association, proposed a formal recognition “to tell the story of his achievement to future generations both for the sake of his memory and as a stimulus to other workers and pioneers whose work may confer benefits of a lasting nature.” Sir Daniel Morris, assistant director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, stated, “Mr. Taylor, in his plodding, careful way, worked out unaided, the details of tea manufacture and certainly deserves to be held in the highest estimation as a pioneer of the industry.” In recognition for his invaluable service, Taylor was presented with a silver tea service — salver, teapot, coffee-pot, milk-jug, sugar-basin and blue cloth — procured in England and shipped to Ceylon in a fitted wooden box.
Six months later, James Taylor, passed away after a short illness. This very big, gentle man with a long beard, who towered over the estate workers, was laid to rest in Kandy. His funeral procession consisted of twenty-four men, two groups of twelve taking turns every four miles, who carried his coffin eighteen miles into Kandy. All who knew him spoke of James Taylor with an air of awe and respect, calling him “sami dorai” (translates to the master who is god).
We raise our teacups to Mr. James Taylor for his enormous contribution to the world of tea! We invite you to explore our collection of Ceylon teas (page 32), which includes our new breakfast blend, TB11: James Taylor Breakfast Blend, created to honor this great man.