The first tea plants in Sri Lanka (known then as Ceylon) were established in 1839 at the Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya, under the supervision of The East India Company. In 1840, Chief Justice Sir Anthony Oliphant saw the establishment of the first tea plantations near Nuwara Eliya, a region that still produces some of the finest Sri Lankan teas. It was with the devastation of the island's coffee estates by 'coffee rust' in 1889, that tea came into its own as a large scale alternative crop. This superb black tea is named after the man who had the vision to plant tea on his estate in those early years.