Second only to water, tea is quite rightly one of the oldest drinks in the world, dating back around 5,000 years. Without any doubt, China was the first country to find out about its regenerative powers. 

Humidity, cool temperatures, and rainfall provide the perfect climate for production of high-quality tea. That’s why Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka, is the world’s fourth largest producer of tea. The industry was introduced to the country by the British from China in the 19th century and Sri Lanka has been renowned for its prized tea leaves ever since.

The British traditionally beloved beverage offered by Hay Hampers is a sophisticated, premium tea that comes directly from right where the tea is grown, in Ceylon’s beautiful central highlands. Shipped within matter of days of harvesting, Basilur teas keep all their goodness and freshness. 

Using highest quality tea leaves skilfully blended and combined with innovative, unique packaging, we offer an exclusive premium tea product. It is not just another packet of tea, but a new tea drinking experience. 

Black tea is usually graded on one of four scales for quality. Whole leaf teas are the highest quality and widely considered the most valuable, especially if they contain leaf tips. The scale degrades to broken leaves, fannings and then dusts.

Whole leaf teas are produced with little or no alteration to the tea leaf and this results in a finished product with a coarser texture, such as in our black tea; two leaves and a bud are neatly rolled into long wiry tips that offer honey liquor with a fine and subtle taste. 

Plain black tea without sweeteners or additives contains caffeine and is rich in polyphenols, which are antioxidant i.e. they help protect against development of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis and eurodegenerative diseases. 

Even richer in polyphenols, particularly flavonoids, is green tea. Several varieties of green tea exist, which differ due to growing conditions, horticulture, production processing and time of harvest. 

Inspired by the Chinese green teas, our green tea is grown in breath-taking tea gardens in Sri Lanka and produced from the exact tea plant as black tea, known as Camelia Sinensis, but processed differently to obtain a lower level of oxidation.