Dilmah Founder Merrill J. Fernando had a unique vision – he wanted to offer consumers the finest tea on earth and to do so with ethics and integrity. That pledge is fulfilled in our commitment to garden fresh, unblended tea. We pride ourselves in manufacturing the finest Ceylon tea in the world.
Our Founder’s intention to make his tea ethical, is honoured in the work of his MJF Charitable Foundation and Dilmah Conservation. In making our business a matter of human service, the natural goodness in every cup of Dilmah is extended by the positive humanitarian and environmental impact Dilmah has on comunities and ecosystems.
The promise our father gave consumers when offering the first genuinely ethical tea that was packed garden fresh at source, is what Dilmah offers today, three decades later. He has been steadfast in his commitment to keeping Dilmah a truly local product – this has not been easy. The pressure to adapt to changing circumstances, market conditions as they were called, has been unrelenting in the use of CTC tea, blending teas from other origins, costing a fraction of Ceylon Tea, to offer tea that is more competitive in price but is less authentic. This method was adapted by all our competitors because they believed in the new reality.