Sri Lankan tea bar opens in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines – A Sri Lankan tea producer has entered the Philippine market armed with confidence that the tea drinking culture in the country is on the rise.

The MGF Group, the maker of Dilmah Tea brand, opened its first Dilmah t-Bar in the Philippines in partnership with Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu.

“We want to bring integrity back to tea. There is much more to green and black tea. Each blend of tea serves for different purpose,” Dilhan Fernando said during the launch of the t-Bar at Radisson Blu.

Dilhan is the son of Dilmah t-Bar founder Merrill Fernando.

Dilhan said in the Philippines, he noted that the market is slowly opening up to the tea drinking lifestyle, although it is still pre-dominantly a coffee-drinking country.

Dilmah is a brand of Ceylon tea. Merril declared his commitment to tea when in the 1950s he devoted his life to tea. Four decades later he was joined by his two sons, Dilhan and Malik (after whom he named his Dilmah Tea) who share his passion. The brand is currently sold in over 90 countries.

Dilhan said the company is eyeing to open another t-Bar in Manila in the next six to eight months.

Currently, there are Dilmah t-Lounges, t-Houses and t-Bars in operation in several destinations like Poland, Belarus, Australia, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, India and the Philippines, which offer cocktails, mocktails, hot teas, shakes, as well as tea-inspired snacks and desserts.

MGF group, which owns huge heritage of tea farms in different variants in the mountains of Sri Lanka, is leading the advocacy of promoting tea drinking culture to promote health and wellness.

“We welcome the opening of the Dilmah t-Bar as a wonderful addition to the hotel. The t-Bar hopes to elevate tea drinking beyond its health benefits but look at it as a luxury,” said hotel manager Nishan Silva.

The Dilmah t-Bar will showcase 21 single-origin teas grown from low, mid and high altitudes in Sri Lanka, China, Japan and South Africa. The t-Bar will also serve “tea-inspired gastronomy” daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Silva acknowledged that while the Philippines is traditionally a coffee market, as evidenced by the mushrooming of coffee shops throughout the country, he said the hotel is making this bold move with hopes to grow the appreciation of tea drinking given its unmatched health benefits.

Dilmah is the only vertically integrated tea company with its own tea gardens, printing and packaging facilities, tea packing and investments in every segment of the industry.