Mlesna’s latest tea centre is alive with beams of bright light that fall on the neatly arranged minute porcelain elephants and tea pots, making them glisten, and instantly transports you into an era of colonial tea estate bungalows of long gone era, offering you the best of Ceylon Tea displayed in a burst of colour and variety.
Words Kamalika Jayathilaka Photographs Menaka Aravinda
A defining element of the Sri Lankan culture, tea is a crucial component that shapes the Sri Lankan identity and has been a part of the daily lives of its people from time immemorial. The new Tea Centre by Mlesna at K Zone Moratuwa, takes this tradition forward offering a variety of blends of pure Ceylon tea at its best.
As soon as you enter its glass doors you are greeted by a large ‘Mlesna’ tea pot sitting against the opposite stone wall. On either side from floor to ceiling, are wooden shelves that bear rows of colourful boxes and packs of pure Ceylon tea. In the centre is a wooden counter with ancient pillars behind which stands a lady clad in an Osari (traditional dress), the colour of dark tea leaves offering assistance to its customers in finding their favourite flavour of tea.
The use of wooded shelving and the stone wall facing the main entrance, not to mention the display of tea sets, flasks and old fashioned wooden boxes of tea have all given this latest tea centre by Mlesna an atmosphere characteristic of a fusion between modern elegance and traditional grandeur.
Mlesna’s beginnings date back to 1983, maintaining exclusive standards of providing quality tea for almost three decades. Over time, the company has brought forth a range of innovative products and gift ideas in relation to marketing Sri Lankan tea. Mlesna makes sure that their tea is of the best quality by the expertise of their tea tasters, and grades them as strong, light, medium and so on, suiting the taste and requirements of the tea consumer.
Among its many tea centres and outlets island wide, the K Zone Tea Centre is the latest and provides the suburban consumer an opportunity to purchase their favourite tea at their local shopping centre, as well as foreign visitors to the country. Small yet elegantly designed the tea centre offers all Mlesna products including their range of teas both flavoured and otherwise that come in vibrant attractive packaging, cloth bags, softwood and pinewood boxes, metal caddies and in a range of porcelain containers in the shapes of tea pots, cups and elephants adorned with 22 carat gold and platinum plating. In addition, the store is also home to spices, an array of accessories such as tea strainers of various shapes, beautiful tea sets and mugs as well as informative books on the history and culture of tea.
Hence, whether you are fan of black tea, or health consciously favour the Green, or would like to literally spice up your ‘cuppa‘ or add a pleasing flavour of tropical fruit; If you want the perfect blend to go with a drop of milk or take the taste of Ceylon tea across seas, Mlesna Tea Centre at K Zone gears up to fulfill all your requirements.
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