Sri Lankan specialty coffee the revival story and where to actually drink it

Roaster here so this is my favourite question on the forum The history you have right by 1860 Ceylon ranked among the worlds great coffee producers then Hemileia vastatrix the leaf rust arrived and within two decades the industry was dead and the planters replanted in tea the entire tea identity of this island stands on a coffee graveyard The revival is real and young smallholder arabica from the higher elevations Haputale Bandarawela the Knuckles fringes and around Nuwara Eliya grown under shade in mixed gardens picked ripe and processed with actual care washed and natural lots that cup genuinely well floral and citric at their best the volumes are tiny which is why you have not met it in Curitiba export lots sell out to specialty buyers fast Where to drink it in Colombo the third wave scene clusters around the Colombo 3 to 7 belt look for the roasteries serving identified Sri Lankan single estate lots alongside their imports the cafes that name the farm and elevation on the board are the real ones the ones serving generic island blend over ice cream drinks are not In the hills several Haputale and Ella area cafes now pour local arabica from their own slopes ask specifically for Sri Lankan beans the default machine pull is often imported The estate visit question yes the emerging coffee gardens around Haputale and the Knuckles welcome visitors by arrangement smaller and more intimate than any tea factory tour you walk the shade garden see the wet processing and cup with the grower half a day arranged through hill country guesthouses And the homework before you arrive order one bag of high grown Sri Lankan natural process when you find it the cup that tastes like the country deciding to remember something it was forced to forget