history of coffee ( part2)

TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF COFFEE

Ceylon (Sri Lanka) – How this City Switched to Tea

After Yemen, coffee has spread over the Indian region and other areas. This 300 years long period of evolution of coffee consists of two parallel lines: Typica and Bourbon.

Tea is part of national culture and is fundamental to the meal in Sri Lanka. In the mid-19th century, it was coffee that was Ceylon’s first export to international markets and was there for several decades. For some period, Ceylon remained as a leading global supplier of coffee but then disaster happened. In the second half of the 19th century, a fungus known as coffee rust had destroyed all the islands of a coffee plantation in Ceylon and eventually the entire industry collapsed. The place of coffee was then gradually taken by tea and became the pride of Sri Lanka and today, Sri Lanka is one of the largest exporters of