Sri Lanka Coffee Beans

Hansa Ceylon Coffee is a Sri Lanka-based specialty coffee processing/roasting/exporting company committed to producing some of the world's best coffee.

Situated in Nuwara Eliya, in the central highlands of Sri Lanka, our coffee now has many fans worldwide and has been described by coffee tasters as smooth, chocolaty, and rich.

Hansa Ceylon is a Sri Lanka based specialty coffee company involved in coffee processing as well as roasting and exporting coffee beans. They are located in the central highlands of Sri Lanka in Nuwara Eliya. These beans may trace their origin back to Yemen.

The taste of their Sri Lanka coffee is described as rich and smooth with notes of chocolate. The coffee includes both Arabica and Robusta coffee beans which are dry processed.

Sri Lanka Coffee Brands

Not many brands based out of Sri Lanka have international distribution and won't be recognizable to the American, Australia or European markets. More typically, local coffee roasters in these countries will purchase green coffees from brokers/importers and roast and sell Sri Lankan coffees under their own brand. This is typically a better experience for the consumer, who gets not only a better quality coffee because it's fresh roasted, but can also provide direct feedback to the roaster.

Sri Lanka Coffee Tours

Sri Lanka is a relatively lush island country with a large agricultural industry, which includes coffee, cocoa, tea, cinnamon and rubber. If you're someone travelling to Sri Lanka, we highly recommend looking into tours of both small and large plantations of coffee, cocoa, tea and cinnamon. Not only is it eye-opening to see how these foods are grown and harvested and sold, but the taste experience of trying freshly grown and processed coffee and spices will have you avoiding grocery-store brands for the rest of your life.

A coffee tour may consist of visiting actual coffee farms found outside major cities, which may require some travel, but should be arranged by the tour company. Processing stations are typically situated a little closer to major distribution hubs, while the trading hubs where the commodities are actually bought and sold will be closer to cities.

Coffee is a seasonal product that will be in various stages throughout the year - whether the coffee is still growing, being harvested or processed will determine the availability of many tours. Some of these tours are a way for farmers to supplement their income during the down season, while others use it as a way to sell direct to tourists.

Sri Lanka Cacao

Fertile soil and an ideal climate means that cacao cultivation in Sri Lanka is worth looking into. While not known specifically for cacao, the growing conditions and booming export market offers the chance to find world-class cacao beans. Like coffee, cacao trees really begin producing after about 4 years of growth. Before that, typical yields are roughly 63g in the first year, 250g in the second year, finally yielding 350g+ per year after the third year.

Each tree requires about 3m x 3m of spacing. It can be interspersed with coffee, coconut, rubber, pepper and bananas trees to offer a diverse plantation that is optimal for birds, bees. This also protects farmers against yearly crop cycles and potential low yields of any one crop for a more consistent income.

The large fruits take about 5 months to develop to maturity. Typical varietals in Sri Lanka include Criollo, Forastero and Trinitario. source.

The History of Coffee Cultivation in Sri Lanka

The British were the first to commercialize coffee in Sri Lanka creating the country's first largely successful export crop. Unfortunately this led to massive deforestation of Ceylon's mountain forests including high plateaus.

Coffee was a major economic crop in Sri Lanka from 1830 to 1850 and was creating a more modernized economy including available capital and the opening of the Ceylon Bank in 1841 which provided financing to expand coffee plantations. Coffee production was centered in the Kandyan provinces.

By 1867 more than 160,000 acres of coffee were being cultivated in Sri Lanka with exports of more than 67 million pounds.

Also see: Best Coffees In the World

Then a coffee blight due to a devastating fungus (hemleia vastratrix) destroyed the monoculture coffee plantations beginning in 1869. Within fifteen years the coffee plant disease had destroyed the plantations and tea became the crop of choice.

Thank You for Visiting Espresso Coffee Guide and Reading About Sri Lanka Coffee!  Savor Your Coffee and Espresso!

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Green Coffee Production

Year	60kg bags	Coffee grown
2016	35,000 bags	4,620,000 pounds
2015	35,292 bags	4,658,504 pounds
2014	35,472 bags	4,682,357 pounds
2013	35,719 bags	4,714,842 pounds
2012	35,248 bags	4,652,789 pounds

Green Coffee Exports

Year	60kg bags	Coffee exported
2016	0	0 pounds
2015	290	38,280 pounds
2014	470	62,040 pounds
2013	720	95,040 pounds
2012	250	33,000 pounds

Data may not be available for the most recent year.
Source: ICO

Facts

Sri Lanka is the #42 largest coffee growing country in the world, in 2015 they...
produced 4,658,504 lbs
exported 38,280 lbs
That's only 1% exported!

Sounds like a lot? It's actually 0.0% of the coffee grown worldwide.

Sri Lanka coffee is grown on mountainside "fincas" (farms) at 1700 to 1900 meters above sea level
(that's 5,578 to 6,234 ft)


Source: ICO