Launch of Ceylon Cinnamon with Green and Black Tea

By Thulasi MUTTULINGAM

For as long as Sri Lanka has been famous for its twin crops of tea and cinnamon, one would think that someone would have thought of combining the two before now. Cinnamon tea after all is not a very new concept. Boil some sticks of cinnamon with water and make 'cinnamon tea'.

The recipe is especially popular in the west, not only for its aroma and flavour but also for health reasons.

cinnamon tea

Tea has long been considered good for health.

And the health effects of cinnamon are receiving widespread attention in scientific circles just now. It has long been known in indigenous medicine. Scientific studies in the west have recently established that cinnamon is effective in curing or controlling ailments such as gastritis, diabetes, cancer and arthritis. So apparently, while many people have drunk cinnamon tea, this is the first time a company has thought of combining the two products and patenting it.

International Business Galaxy Limited, Sri Lanka, which was incorporated last year as a public limited liability company, will be launching its main product - Ceylon Cinnamon with Green and Black Tea on October 17. Its founder and CEO, Ajintha Wickramanayake says he founded the company to introduce "creative and innovative" products into the market as, given the economic context, those are the products that will take off and earn a niche.

"This is a superlative product to be marketed to everybody but we are not in competition with other tea marketing companies", he said.

According to Operations Manager, Ishaq Muzzamil, the company is out to earn a niche and name for itself on organic health products, not the tea market.

Another of the founder's innovative ideas is to give dividends to shareholders from gross profits, not net profits.

"We already have a lot of orders in place from overseas.

We are sure that this will be a very successful product and we intend to thank all our shareholders by paying out dividends from our gross profits," said Wickramanayake.

According to Wickramanayake, while other companies have marketed cinnamon flavoured tea, this is the first time a company has incorporated actual cinnamon into tea and marketed it as a health product.

He had worked with researchers from the University of Ruhuna for three and a half years before perfecting his product.

Asked why people should buy his product instead of just boiling cinnamon and water to make tea as they have in the past, he noted "We have conducted a lot of laboratory tests to get the mix just right.

This is our product, we do not urge anyone to use it too much. A scoop comes with each packet so that you can get the measurement just right and there are instructions on the packet, warning you against having it more than four times a day."