Dear friends,
Most tea brands don't grow tea. We still do — and for that I want to thank you, and also explain why. It is a lot easier and cheaper to trade tea than to grow it. Traders can find the cheapest sources, buy and blend their tea, focusing only on packaging and selling.
We could never do that. My father, Merrill J. Fernando, built our family tea company on his refusal to accept commoditisation, compromise, or indifference to the people who grow the world's tea (and food). That is our promise and the reason for our existence.
As growers, taste goes beyond aroma and flavour. For us, good taste demands ethical and sustainable agricultural methods, each sip benefiting lives and livelihoods, honouring tradition and produced in harmony with Nature. Alongside our emphasis on purity of origin, garden fresh, un-blended tea packed at source, the ingredients of our Dilmah Tea are great Taste, natural Goodness and Kindness to people and nature.
We are tea growers and we love tea. Like our father before us, my brother and I have devoted our lives to tea. We care for your cup of Dilmah from the time it is a tiny saplings in our tea nursery through handpicking, traditional manufacture, and until it brew goodness in your cup.
That’s how we fulfill our promise to make the world a better tea.
Good tea is one of the most affordable luxuries on earth. Tea was first discovered as a medicine, and apart from the flavour in your cup, tea is rich in flavonoids. Science tells us that these aid wellness and long life. That's one of the reasons, we are so passionate about our teas. Every cup of Dilmah is an act of kindness — to people and nature.
Australia has a special place in our hearts because Australians first gave my father a chance when he offered his tea to the world. We continue to support the Cancer Council and Salvation Army, also investing in community initiatives to bring Australians together over a cup of tea.
This winter, we are proud to support Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea and invite Australians everywhere to join us. Together with more than 100,000 Australians gathering over tea, conversation and connection, we hope to help support the fight against cancer and remind ourselves of the importance of community, compassion and togetherness.
Whether you’ve enjoyed Dilmah for decades or are discovering us for the first time, we invite you to join us, and do try it! Share a cuppa with someone you care about. Start a conversation. Take a moment for connection in a busy world; remember strangers are just friends we haven't met as yet.
Together, we can make the world a better place.
Dilhan C. Fernando
Tea Grower & CEO, Dilmah Tea
Learn More About Dilmah Sustainability and watch our new Baby Elephant ad film
Kindness in Every Cup
A minimum of 15% of Dilmah’s pre-tax profits is dedicated to helping people in need, with additional funding supporting environmental conservation, restoration and climate action.
Through the MJF Charitable Foundation, that commitment supports programmes focused on education, nutrition, empowerment, disability support, livelihoods and community care.
Through Dilmah Conservation, it extends into biodiversity, habitat protection, climate research, sustainable agriculture and wildlife conservation.
This is the heart of Dilmah’s philosophy: business should be a matter of human service.
Because the success of a business means very little if it is not shared.
A Better Cup Begins at the Source
Dilmah is proudly single-origin Ceylon tea, grown and ethically crafted at source in Sri Lanka.
So why does that matter?
It means our tea is connected to one island, one heritage, and one community of growers and makers. It means every cup carries the character of Sri Lanka’s rich tea gardens, shaped by altitude, rainfall, soil and sunshine.
But source is not only about flavour.
It is also about responsibility.
To care about where tea comes from is to care about the people who grow it, the ecosystems that sustain it, and the future of the land itself.
That is why Dilmah has always stood for quality, integrity and kindness. Not as separate ideas, but as part of the same promise.
Caring for Land, Water and Life
Tea depends on nature.
It depends on healthy soil, clean water, stable climates, thriving ecosystems, and rich biodiversity.
Dilmah Conservation was established to protect and restore that natural inheritance, with work across biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, climate action, renewable energy and environmental education.
In Sri Lanka, one of the world's great biodiversity hotspots, that work matters deeply.
From protecting forests and habitats to supporting research and conservation partnerships, Dilmah Conservation helps preserve the natural systems that make life, agriculture and tea possible.
Looking After the Elephant
Among Dilmah Conservation’s most loved initiatives is our support for the Elephant Transit Home at Udawalawe National Park.
The Elephant Transit Home cares for orphaned elephant calves with the aim of rehabilitating them and returning them to the wild. Dilmah Conservation has supported the facility through infrastructure development, including renovation work and an Information Centre designed to build awareness around our local elephants and the challenges they face.
It is a fitting expression of what Dilmah stands for.
The story of tea does not end at the garden gate. It reaches into forests, waterways, communities and habitats. It touches the animals who share the land. And it asks us to think bigger than the cup that’s in our hands.
A Cup That Takes a Stand
When you choose Dilmah, you choose a leaf grown with care and purpose.
You choose a family-owned tea company that believes quality should never come at the expense of people or nature.
You choose tea that supports communities, conservation, biodiversity and kindness.
That is what it means when we say we’re “Making the World a Better Tea”.
Not with grand gestures alone, but through the everyday act of choosing better.
Do try it.
