At last a place has opened in Colombo dedicated to serving a decent cup of tea.
Like a breath of fresh air to chase away the fumes of the city, Tea Breeze has opened in Colombo with the noble objective of making a good cup of tea a reality for residents and visitors.

In the capital of Sri Lanka, the country that gave the world “Pure Ceylon Tea,” the opening of a café serving tea might not sound newsworthy. But it is.

I remember in the 1980s walking into a medium-range café (now closed down) on the Galle Road and asking for a cup of tea. I was told, by the manager who was sitting at his desk with a mug of tea in front of him, that the establishment did not serve tea. That was true, and has been true for decades – there has been nowhere in Colombo (apart from some enterprising hotels) to have a good “cuppa.”

The local cafes and corner stalls serve hot water in which has been marinated a few tea bags, or water that has been poured through a sieve of tea and had heaps of sugar added to it. There are also those wonderful wayside boutiques where a lad juggles with containers and pours a frothy stream of a milky concoction, from a great height from one container down into another. An interesting beverage, but not tea, as we know it.

Tea Breeze however, provides a unique tea experience to discerning clientele, and is an eminently suitable platform for Ceylon Tea. It is part of the Mackwoods Group, one of Sri Lanka’s oldest conglomerates, founded in 1841. (A portrait of the original Mackwood appears on the side of the tea pots in the café.) Mackwoods also runs the Labookellie Tea Centre on the road between Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya, the most popular of hill country tea outlets. For years it was the only place where visitors could buy freshly packed, single estate tea, whilst also enjoying a tour of the tea factory on Mackwoods Labookellie tea estate.

Mackwoods, of course, was also the pioneer of fine tea tasting and opera events in Europe, and had the distinction of carrying the Queen’s Golden Jubilee logo, and presenting their Connoisseur’s Ceylon tea “The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Blend”, created to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the Queen, at Buckingham Palace.

With the opening of Tea Breeze it is at last possible actually to drink and enjoy single estate teas (there are 33 varieties available) in the centre of Colombo in a refined setting. The entrance is through the Arkipelego store on the right, heading inland up Dharmapala Mawatha from the Liberty Plaza roundabout. Tea Breeze is perched on the first floor, with a wide window view of the traffic below.

The flooring is parquet, the tea bar of handmade walnut burl, the ambience genteel and contemporary, the service smooth, and the tea – well, its however you want it like Orange Pekoe (OP) without sugar and the couple of cups I had there reassured me that good tea is alive and well. It is served in individual tea pots and comes with complimentary tiny tea cookies.

Tea Breeze is open everyday from 9:00 to 19:00hrs and features some amazing variations on tea. “Tea Tantalizers” are drinks of flavoured tea, cream and ice cream, all in delectable flavours. A big hit is the English High Tea of scones, jams, butter, a slice of gorgeous gateau or cheese cake (fasinationgly made from different grades of Mackwoods teas), and a pot of single estate tea.
The café seems set to become a popular haunt (already diplomats from several High Commissions and Embassies have become regulars). International daily newspapers and poetry books by budding Sri Lankan poets are provided for those with time to relax, and there are freshly made English sandwiched (pepper beef, asparagus, chicken pate, and even smoked salmon canapés) for the puckish. And a variety of single estate, garden fresh, Mackwoods tea can be bought to take home.