Page 65 - #53 English

Day four proceeded with the SOT Formal Sessions,
where Mr. Edwin Soon kicked off the morning proceedings
with the breakfast tea programme, where particular teas were
suggested with food pairing. Traditional spice chai were also
served that morning for participants to discover tea mixed with
local spices.
Throughout the entire formal sessions, participants
were treated to topics such as how to brew a proper cup of tea,
mixology exercises, tea and health benefits, scientific studies
and also sensory exercises.
Chef’s such as Peter Kuruvita and past winners of the
Global High Tea Challenge was also on site to inspire partici-
pants with their food pairing selections as well as a tea inspired
dinner to show students the capabilities of cooking with tea.
The Dilmah School of Tea is now endorsed and certi-
fied by the World Association of Chefs (WACS) as a recognized
culinary education that meets world standards for high skill
The participants were also placed in stellar accommo- development and continuing professional training. The school is
dations, one in particular was a former tea plantations manager truly an experience that one should not miss out on, considering
lodge, which was converted into a hotel, aging over a 100 years all that is learnt in just a short time span of 5 days.
in heritage.
The third day commenced with a short trip to Dunkeld
Estate, where participants were able to experience the process-
ing of Ceylon finest black tea and were introduced to the pro-
cesses of withering, rolling, fermentation, baking and such. The
view of the estate was nothing short of spectacular.
Roughing through the plantation hills via bus charter,
the long ride back into Wadduwa to our formal sessions was
extremely rough for some, which took a long 6 hours of swirling
through mountain terrains.
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