Premium Sri Lankan tea believed to boost libido<\/p>\n
By Amal Jayasinghe<\/p>\n
COLOMBO (AFP): A master taster at one of Sri Lanka's famed tea
\nfirms slurps a spoonful brewed from a prized sample and spits it
\nout in distaste.<\/p>\n
But the brew is more than a simple cuppa to his Japanese and
\nArab buyers, who believe the drink will boost their libidos.<\/p>\n
The Silver Tips tea is the most expensive commodity produced
\nin Sri Lanka and, although industry expert Sriyan Senadhira
\nthinks little of the bland variety, for the rich and mighty it is
\na love potion.<\/p>\n
\"This is a very special tea because rich Arabs and Japanese
\ntea drinkers think it is an aphrodisiac,\" Senadhira said.<\/p>\n
\"Personally, I don't like. It tastes a bit like water.\"<\/p>\n
Connoisseurs pay through their noses to keep the market firm
\nfor Silver Tips.<\/p>\n
Tea experts are unsure if the tea and the slightly more
\nexpensive Golden Tips variety can enhance the sex drive but the
\nbelief is good for the industry.<\/p>\n
A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of the exotic Silver Tips fetches up
\nto 8,000 rupees (US$140), compared to the regular quality teas
\nthat sell for 150 rupees (less than $3) at wholesale rates.<\/p>\n
Senadhira, a director at John Keells, a leading broking firm
\nhere, draws on an experience of tasting and selling millions of
\nkilograms every week at the world's largest tea auction here.<\/p>\n
To the uninitiated, the loud slurping noises Senadhira makes
\nwhile taking in the brewed tea may sound rude, but sloshing the
\nback of one's throat with it is the only way the quality of the
\ntea can be savored, he said.<\/p>\n
The Silver Tips, which look like actual shavings from a chunk
\nof silver, do not make it to the tea tasting rooms often. In
\nfact, it is produced in such small quantities that it never makes
\nit to the tea auction.<\/p>\n
Auctions<\/p>\n
Only parcels weighing more than 75 kilograms (165 pounds) can
\nbe offered at the auctions, where an average of five million
\nkilograms change hands every week, making Colombo the world's
\nbiggest center for tea.<\/p>\n
Once the pure Sri Lankan teas, better known by the nation's
\nformer name of Ceylon, leave the shores of the country, they are
\noften blended with cheaper teas to bring down retail prices.<\/p>\n
An international blend of tea would typically have a large
\npercentage of cheaper Kenyan and Indonesian produce to give it
\nbody, Indian tea for appearance and Sri Lanka's to give it
\nquality and character. But it wouldn't include Silver Tips.<\/p>\n
The exotic tea is taken from a clone known as 2043 from the
\nCamellia Sinensis, better known as the tea bush, and is grown at
\nelevations between 2, 000 and 4,000 feet (600 meters and 1,200
\nmeters) above sea level, or some times even higher.<\/p>\n
\"There is no particular season for the Silver Tips,\" Senadhira
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes there are requests for small quantities but there
\nis no regular market as such. It is only the rich Arabs and the
\nJapanese who buy it.\"<\/p>\n
It is the more regular black tea that is the mainstay of the
\nSri Lankan economy.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka was able to take more advantage of rising prices in
\nthe world market last year because the country's tea crop turned
\na bumper harvest.<\/p>\n
Production<\/p>\n
Production reached 258.4 million kilos (568.48 million pounds)
\nof tea last year, up from 245.96 million kilos in 1995. Sri
\nLanka's tea exports last year rose to 243.5 million kilograms
\nfrom 240.8 million kilograms in 1995.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka last year lost the prestigious world top tea
\nexporter position to Kenya, which exported a million kilograms
\nmore than this Indian Ocean island.<\/p>\n
Earnings from tea last year rose by 35 percent to 32.5 billion
\nrupees, compared to 24 billion rupees in 1995.<\/p>\n
In real terms, the rise is less dramatic because the rupee
\ndepreciated by more than 10 percent against the dollar. But
\nstill, the tea income is crucial for the country's war-battered
\neconomy.<\/p>\n
However, it is tea's health drink potential that is attractive
\nto Sri Lanka rather than the sex appeal of Silver Tips.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka is banking on plans to promote tea as a health drink
\nwith the potential of preventing cancer.<\/p>\n
Plantations deputy minister Athauda Seneviratne recently said
\ntea could reduce the risk of cancer and several other illnesses.<\/p>\n
\"According to research studies already undertaken on tea,
\nthere is sufficient evidence to the effect that tea contains
\ncomponents which would reduce the risk of cancer and many other
\ndiseases,\" he said.<\/p>",
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