Coffee may not be the first hot beverage that springs to mind when thinking about Sri Lanka, but the island’s coffee story predates that of its tea!

Coffee was introduced in the 1820s under British rule, growing into a major industry by the 1840s in the Kandy highlands, ideal for Arabica beans.  At its height in the 1860s, the island exported over 50 million kilograms yearly, reshaping the economy with plantations and infrastructure.

Disaster struck in 1869 with coffee leaf rust, a fungus that ruined crops, collapsing the industry by the 1880s. Planters switched to tea, which flourished and overshadowed coffee, making “Ceylon Tea” famous across the globe. Despite this, coffee persisted on a small scale, and today, boutique farms are reviving it with specialty beans and artisan processes, echoing its colonial past.

This resurgence extends beyond just the coffee industry, as we witness the growth of high-quality, small-batch, artisanal agricultural enterprises across the island from traditional products like tea to new arrivals such as European type cheeses.