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THE AKBAR BRAND
The Akbar Brothers heritage dates far back to the intial cultivation of the fine Ceylon tea on the Sri Lankan mountain slopes. The Akbarally family has been involved in its selection, blending, packaging and export. Today, the family-owned firm is Sri Lanka’s largest tea exporter, a position it has enjoyed unchallenged since 1992.
Abbas Akbarally
Inayet AkbarallyA force against time, Akbar Brothers maintains closely to principles established by its revered founders, Abbas and Inayet Akbarally: an emphasis on product quality based on exhaustive knowledge and experience of tea and the tea industry, and a business culture that places the highest value on fair dealing, integrity and reliability. To this day, every consignment of Akbar tea is personally approved by a family member before it is shipped.
In addition to being the World’s largest exporter of Ceylon Tea, Akbar Brothers' has successfully diversified into a range of sectors through strategic reinvention and expansion. Today, the Group has a firm presence in the sectors of Tea, Renewable Energy, Healthcare, Packaging, Property Development and Environmental Services.
“INTERNATIONAL
BRAND OF THE YEAR”As tea merchants owning a unique family tradition stretching back over 100 years, it was natural indeed for Akbar Brothers Limited to become the first ever Sri Lankan tea company to be awarded the internationally recognized ISO 9001 and HACCP quality certificates. Prior to that, the prestigious 'Lion' logo endorsement of Sri Lanka Tea Board for Pure Ceylon Tea was awarded as well. More wholesome and decisive acclaim came from the Sri Lanka Marketing Institute when they consistently honored 'Akbar' tea as the "International Brand of the Year". These come as further confirmation of the superiority of the overall quality of this flagship brand of finest Ceylon tea.
Stringent quality control at Akbar Brothers premises has been primarily entrusted to a workforce of dedicated, experienced and qualified personnel. Their task is aided by the high-tech state-of-the-art machinery imported from Germany, Italy and Japan and the other latest communication systems in place.
Nevertheless, since quality of tea is a time-honored tradition in Akbar brothers' family, a family member is always at hand to personally check into the quality of tea. Consistent checking for quality occurs at purchasing, storing, processing and just prior to loading for shipment.
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OZONE FRIENDLY PURE CEYLON TEA
Founded on values that benefit all, Akbar Brothers prioritizes that health and sustainability of our nature in order to ensure a life of goodwill amongst the citizens of the world at large.
Being a responsible corporate and ensuring sustainability in the tea industry is one of our foremost goals. Hence, the company adheres to practices which mitigate climate change and contribute towards a greener tomorrow. The production of ozone-friendly teas, solar powered manufacturing facilities and our tea bag manufacturing facility – Quick Tea (Pvt) Ltd – being awarded South Asia’s first Carbon-Inset Facility is a testament of our commitment towards a sustainable future.
COMMITED TO THE COMMUNITY
Akbar Brothers aims to pave the way for a sustainable Sri Lanka, pioneering the corporate sector initiatives to a greener and cleaner world. Akbar group of companies has an investment portfolio in renewable energy generation through solar, wind and hydro power plants across the country and in Pakistan, Uganda and Ukraine. Taking on the global stage, Akbar Brothers and its subsidiaries aim to work for the benefit of the environment and our entire ecosystem at all stages of the supply chain; restructuring operations towards a sustainable first approach. Working on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is now a prioritized objective, with a vision to enhance the quality of life in harmony with environmental protection.
With a well-founded record of delivery on promise and financial stability, Akbar Brothers seeks to secure a successful stance against climate change, for the betterment of the future generations and to prevent the loss of precious assets our world has.
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CEYLON TEA
By 1880, the hitherto thriving coffee industry in Ceylon had been ravaged to virtual non-existence by the blight. Nearly quarter of million acres of coffee plants were uprooted and the tea (Camellia Thea) plant was accorded its pride of place instead. Thus began the great Ceylon tea industry.
This tea saga of Ceylon begins with tea seeds and young tea plants of the Assam jat imported from the Botanical Gardens in Calcutta, being experimentally planted in the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens near Kandy in 1839. In addition, a handful of more enterprising coffee planters too had cleared the odd half acre and planted it with tea. Being chiefly concerned with lucrative coffee, planters in general had no time for tea and those experimental plots too were forgotten in time for some thirty years. However, tea did grow. Moreover, it was noted that tea grew well in the hills of Ceylon.
However, the first commercially planted tea happened in 1867 at Loolecondera estate by a Scotsman named James Taylor when coffee industry was being severely plagued by the blight. The first recorded shipment of tea came five years later in 1872 with the export of 23 pounds, valued at 58 rupees. The first vessel recorded as carrying Ceylon tea to England was the steam-ship ‘Duke Argyll’ in 1877.
Economically devastated by the coffee leaf disease by the early 1880’s, coffee planters stampeded into tea, which was then fast gathering momentum. Experienced tea makers and cultivators from China and India were freely given to planters in Ceylon. To meet the unmanageable demand for tea plants, seeds were imported from Assam , and to a lesser extent China , which were natured in tea nurseries in several suitable locations.
Ceylon tea grows from almost sea level to 7000 ft. The climate of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) varies very much according to locality, and, has a marked effect on the flavor and quality of tea.
Sri Lanka Tea Board’s famed ‘Lion’ logo is the certifying endorsement of Pure Ceylon Tea. Virtually every item in Akbar range of products carries this Lion logo, signifying the quality offered.
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A PREMISE WHERE A TIMELESS BEVERAGE FROM OUR ANCIENT PAST ENTWINES WITH FUTURISTIC TECHNOLOGY.
The behind-the-scenes of Akbar Brothers’ finest Ceylon tea export is its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located in Kelaniya expanding over 276,000 square feet, making it Sri Lanka’s largest tea manufacturing facility. It is where the finest of the Ceylon Teas are blended, processed and packaged whilst ensuring to retain maximum freshness and purity of our Ceylon Tea. Every inch of the manufacturing facility is designed and engineered to bring the most modern innovations in tea processing and ensure a consistent high-quality product. We consider everything in the manufacturing of our tea-from the sourcing of all of our ingredients, the leaves we pick, to the way we receive, wither, blend and pack our product. Every who, what and how that goes behind those functions follow internationally recognized best practices. There is no compromise to be made when producing and manufacturing the best quality tea for our consumers.
Equipped with cutting-edge machinery exclusively from Germany, Italy and Japan, the procedures are automated to minimize human contact and maintain the highest hygiene standards, to ensure only the best reaches the customer. The economic value of tea manufacturing contributes to being one of the main sources of foreign exchange for Sri Lanka. Ceylon Tea is catered to a number of foreign markets such as as the Middleeast, Australia, Europe, North America, Japan, Russia, UK and many more.
