Diyagama West Estate and its timeless legacy of tea innovation and sustainability

Set amidst the vibrant, emerald hills of Sri Lanka's central highlands, where waterfalls cascade down cliffs and clouds brush against towering peaks, Diyagama West stands as a tea estate so expansive, rich in history and self-sustaining that it functions more like a hidden kingdom than a plantation where only a few places in the country so seamlessly blend colonial legacy, ecological richness and cutting-edge sustainability.

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With over 858 hectares of cultivated land, a resident population of more than 7,000 and tea bushes that date back over 125 years, Diyagama West stands as a timeless giant in Sri Lanka's central hills, a place where history, community and innovation come together to create some of the finest tea the island has ever known.

Diyagama West Estate is located directly below the southern edge of Horton Plains National Park and features lush tea plantations interspersed with patches of secondary forest and jungle, supporting a rich diversity of flora and fauna including endemic birds, hill country leopards and wildlife typical of Sri Lanka's central highlands. The estate is owned by Agarapatana Plantations PLC, a subsidiary of Lankem Developments PLC and managed by Lankem Tea & Rubber (PVT) Ltd.

The estate's roots run deep. Established in the 1870s under the name Diyagama, it began as a coffee plantation owned by the Dimbula Coffee Company Ltd. At the time, it stretched across a colossal 3,000 acres divided into five divisions. But as coffee wilted under the weight of disease in the 1880s, Diyagama transformed itself. In 1885, it began its journey into tea with a modest 100-acre plot. By 1887, it had expanded to over 1,500 acres, and by the turn of the century, Diyagama had become one of the largest tea plantations on the island. The estate eventually split into two in 1948, Diyagama West and East, with Diyagama West inheriting two-thirds of the original land.