Products - Tea


Watawala Plantations as a company achieved its goal by bringing back the lost Ceylon Tea to the consumers' cup. As a fulfillment to that promise to the world the company launched its own brand, Zesta. Initially the brand was launched in Colombo as a tribute to the local consumers who wholeheartedly welcomed an 'excellent cup-of-tea', a pleasant change from regular dull cup. Zesta is perfected and packed within a matter of days right where its grown in order to preserve and secure its distinctive fresh flavor and aroma. This has been possible because Watawala Plantations owns some of the very best tea estates in the country producing teas of very high quality. Zesta is truly Plantation fresh tea.

The first of Zesta Products was launched in a PET bottle containing 250g of Premium Leaf tea. This was the first time Sri Lanka had a tea product in a PET container and consumers were to a brand tea, which was not only full of character but also reasonably priced. The container in which Zesta tea as were packed became very handy in their kitchens as a storing jar for spices and various items In short consumers had more than one reason to change their brand and both were difficult to ignore.

Zesta provoked other brands to improve the quality of their teas in order to come upto Zesta's standards. The new comer in the Sri Lankan branded tea market had come to stay.

After the Zesta 250g PET bottle, others variants were introduced. There is a PET Jug Jar containing 500g premium leaf tea, which can be used as a vessel to store water of any other liquid. There are also leaf tea packs in box board cartons. The teas in these packs are foil wrapped to seal the freshness. Zesta also has an extensive range of tea bags from the day-to-day drinking tea to fruit flavours. The exotic fruit tea range offers a wide selection of flavours including the much-preferred citric taste of the Earl Grey. The Zesta Gift teas come in attractive packaging and are reasonably priced. Our latest addition to the range is a Premium leaf tea in an Aluminium pouch pack with a Zip-lock - a packaging concept Zesta introduced to the Sri Lankan market.

Zesta tea is exported to many countries and inquiries are on the increase. Zesta lives upto the reputation of providing its consumers the Pure Ceylon Tea.

Domestically our brands such as Zesta and Watawala Kahata are also clear examples of our philosophy of investing in brands. We listen to what the market tells us. By being sensitive to the consumer's needs, we have positioned both these brands so that they continue to provide a virtual "storm in a tea cup". The acceptance of both Zesta and Watawala Kahata is nothing short of phenomenal. They remain the trusted tea in their segments and continue to enjoy strong and expanded brand loyalty despite an increasingly competitive market place.

Internationally through our groundbreaking tie up with Tate Tetley, our teas have gained the enormous trust of the discerning tea drinker in the UK. We invested our trust in Tata and in return we continue to reap the benefits by way of increased export markets and sales. The bottom line is to trust your instinct in our case with Tata Tetley and pursue the alliance with a passion. The end result growing market share, more value, and healthier bottom lines.

Our key strength is our pursuit of excellence. We are perpetually moving towards adopting business practices that go even beyond the best practice. This is why our capital development initiatives are one step ahead of the pack and we intend to keep it that way. We believe firmly in constant innovation and perpetual change.