Sri Lanka vs Kenya as black-tea origins
The two origins that between them supply most of the world’s everyday black tea, by opposite routes. Sri Lanka is orthodox by tradition and sells on district; Kenya is CTC by design and sells anonymously into blends.
origin
What is being compared
Point by point
| Aspect | Sri Lanka | Kenya |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacture | Orthodox rather than CTC by tradition. | Very largely CTC. |
| How it is differentiated | By elevation band, which corresponds to genuinely different cup profiles. | Barely at all at the consumer end; differentiation happens at the auction. |
| Harvest pattern | Year-round, with district-level seasonal signatures such as Uva’s dry-season character. | Year-round with no dormant season and no flush structure. |
| Grades | The Indian-style leaf-grade abbreviations. | Granule-size grades — BP1, PF1, PD, Dust — with no relationship to orthodox grades despite sharing letters. |
| Where the name appears | ‘Ceylon’ is a selling point and appears on packets. | Rarely named; it is the backbone of blends sold under a packer’s brand. |
| What each is chosen for | Brightness, and a range of profiles across one island. | Brisk, deeply coloured liquor that performs consistently through milk at commodity prices. |
The short answer
Anonymity is a commercial convention rather than a statement about quality. Kenyan tea is engineered for a job it does extremely well; the absence of its name from the packet reflects the blending trade rather than the leaf.
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