The Rise, Fall, and Return of Coffee Production in Sri Lanka

Originally commissioned for Standart magazine. This version has been edited and updated to reflect current information.

Written by Resi

Updated on Jan 02, 2026

I strive to keep all content fresh, but details may change

The Rise and Fall of Coffee Production in Colonial Sri Lanka

Word has it that the first Arabica seeds planted on Sri Lanka’s soil originated from Yemen and were brought to the island by Arabs via India in the early 1600s. The first ones to cultivate coffee were the Dutch who shipped plants from the Amsterdam botanical gardens. The crop was discovered as potentially profitable almost a century later by the Dutch East India Company, who controlled major coastal regions of Sri Lanka at the time and imported more seedlings from Java.

Baron van Imhoff was the first Governor that took a serious interest in coffee during his service from 1736 to 1740. He believed that stimulating agricultural production could soothe recurring tensions between the Dutch and the Kingdom of Kandy and therefore suggested to extend the cultivation of coffee from the lowlands to the highlands. Even though his ambitions were sprouting they were later on suspended by Batavia. Ultimately, the main objective of the Dutch East India Company remained to protect their monopoly on the cinnamon trade. Only when the demand for coffee could not be met by the traditional producing regions, the interest in producing coffee in Sri Lanka grew, until it threatened to create competition for the coffee originating from Java.

Coffee production under British rule

When the British took control of Sri Lanka in 1815, they picked up the production of coffee and started planting in the Kandyan highlands. Ventures in the lowlands near Galle had continued to fail due to the unsuitability of the area, which shifted the focus of planters almost entirely to the central districts. Even though most plantations were run by Europeans, the native Jeronis de Soysa is known to be one of the pioneer planters. Him and later on his son Charles Henry de Soysa worked alongside the British to develop the plantation industry of the country. The rapid expansion of coffee plantations was so significant that by 1845 it was referred to as the ‘coffee mania’. Meanwhile, the coffee consumption in Western Europe had been on a rise, creating an increasing demand that encouraged investments to rise up to 5 Million Pounds flowing into the operation of close to 600 coffee plantations. These ambitions were briefly washed away by the commercial crisis hitting Britain in 1847/48. The consequential fall in prices and consumption lead to a temporary abandonment of plantations.

When Britain recovered in 1850 the industry became profitable again and investments picked up where they had left of. Supported by the construction of roads and railways coffee planting reached its peak in 1870–1871 when as many as 273000 acres were dedicated to it. For a short period coffee was the country’s most successful industry, making former Ceylon one of the top coffee producing countries in the world.

Coffee leaf rust and the mass destruction of coffee plantations

The earliest record of the appearance of the disease hemileia vastatrix in Sri Lanka, also known as coffee leaf rust, was in 1867, which marks the first time the fungus ever appeared in cultivated coffee. The blight spread unceasingly from district to district until it had decimated almost the entire coffee production of Ceylon by the 1880s. The era of coffee took a bitter ending and was quickly replaced by another plant that proved to be far more profitable and would remain the country’s main crop until today, tea!

Revival of Coffee Production in a Major Tea Producing Country

Hansa Coffee

For nearly 100 years the few coffee trees growing on the island weren’t considered to be much more than shade providers. It was the curiosity of a Dutch man named Harm van Oudenhoven that sparked the rediscovery of coffee in the mid 1990s. He examined the characteristics of coffee trees growing in the wild and believed in their potential. Together with Lawrence Goldberg, who emigrated to Sri Lanka from Seattle in 1995, he established ‘Hansa Coffee’ and started sourcing and roasting coffee from the surrounding hills of Nuwara Eliya . Lawrence, who is running the enterprise to the present day as ‘Hansa Ceylon Coffee’, told me that “the coffee from villagers had every defect imaginable”. He believes coffee to be in “its infancy”, also due to a lack of education regarding sustainable farming. Lawrence stresses that “creating monocultures is asking for trouble”, and the devastating blight that wiped out the coffee production under the British rule confirms his statement.

The practicing herbalist is teaching farming from an organic angle and supports coffee planters to improve their processing techniques. “Farmers would dry cherries on the road, hulling by driving over them with cars.” These and other poor cultivation practices, such as “stripping cherries from the trees all at once regardless of their ripeness” are compromising the quality of Sri Lankan coffee beans, who otherwise create “a dance of flavours in your cup”, so Lawrence. At the Hansa Coffee Factory in Nuwara Eliya only specialty grade beans are hand sorted and roasted. Women make up a big part of the business and are operating a 50 year old roaster to produce light to medium roasts, from pure Arabica to Arabica and robusta blends.

Tusker Coffee Co.

Specialty coffee farmers at ‘Tusker Coffee’ keep traditional processing methods alive. About 50 kilometers southeast of the Hansa Coffee Factory, Kenneth McAlpine is running the ‘Avaagama Organic Farm’ on 1450 meters above sea level in the hills surrounding Ella. The coffee farmer, miller and roaster is looking up to Lawrence Goldberg and considers him a “real pioneer of the industry.” He retired from the corporate world just after the financial crisis hit to redirect all his efforts towards sustainable agriculture. In 2016 he founded the specialty coffee roastery “Tusker Coffee”, after partaking in several training courses by the Specialty Coffee Association.

Kenneth has planted over 4000 trees of numerous Arabica species on 10 acres, including Typica, Bourbon, Catimor, Caturra and varietals yet to be identified. For his research he’s been collecting seeds and plants from the surroundings mountains to develop them in his nursery. “We want to start a seed bank with the most promising varietals to push the quality of Sri Lankan coffee.” Coffee processing is at the heart of this ambition. As Kenneth puts it: “We have gold on our trees and turn it into iron.”, which lead him to instal a washing station, huller and other processing machinery to produce natural, washed and honey processed coffee. Despite being well equipped, a lot of the labour is still undertaken manually with drying beds, mortar and pestle to preserve traditional Sri Lankan methods of processing. A common flavour profile of his coffee consists of notes such as grapes, pineapple and blueberries. Small-scale farms like Avaagama are leading the specialty coffee movement in Sri Lanka.“The next 20 years are going to be interesting.”, Kenneth predicts. “At the moment coffee is still just a blank page in our country.”

Discover Coffee From Sri Lanka

Soul Coffee

Intense

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Soul Coffee

Indulgence

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Soul Coffee

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Damn Fine Coffee Roasters

Premium House Blend

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Ceylon Classic

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Damn Fine Coffee Roasters

Premium Dark Roast

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Damn Fine Coffee Roasters

Ceylon Reserve

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Hansa Ceylon Coffee

Gold Blend

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Hansa Ceylon Coffee

Dark Arabica

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What’s Brewing in Sri Lanka Today?

In 2022 Sri Lanka produced 4,800–4,900 tonnes tons of green coffee on roughly 4,700–4,800 hectares of harvest land, with an expectation for modest expansion in the near future. In comparison, 251,500 tons of tea were produced the same year on 267,186 hectares. While tea is still taking the center stage, coffee has been making a sweet comeback.

Specialty coffee shops have spread from the capital Colombo to Southern beach destinations, but are still a rare find in the highlands. The majority features one of the main local specialty roasters, Tusker Coffee Co., Soul Coffee, Damn Fine Coffee Roasters, or Whight & Co., and proudly serves local beans. Even though there still isn’t a huge coffee culture in Colombo, coffee professionals see the demand for quality beans increasing.

The Rise, Fall, and Return of Coffee Production in Sri Lanka

The Rise and Fall of Coffee Production in Colonial Sri Lanka

Revival of Coffee Production in a Major Tea Producing Country

Discover Coffee From Sri Lanka

What’s Brewing in Sri Lanka Today?

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