SRI LANKA - KING RAVANA

Sri Lanka – King Ravana

Extremely limited | Rare lost Origin | Shade Grown

Before tea defined the island’s global reputation, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was a major player in the coffee world. In the early 1800s, its lush highlands produced some of the most sought-after beans in Europe, and by the 1860s, Ceylon had become one of the top coffee-exporting countries on the planet. But in the late 19th century, a devastating outbreak of coffee leaf rust swept through the island, destroying nearly all its coffee trees and pushing farmers to convert their fields to tea, a shift that would reshape the island’s agricultural legacy for generations.

Over 100 years later, coffee is quietly returning to its ancestral soil. In regions like Walapane, located in Sri Lanka’s mist-shrouded central highlands, smallholder farmers are reviving this lost tradition, cultivating shade-grown coffee at elevations of 1,200 to 1,400 meters and embracing modern specialty processing methods. This lot features S9 and Catimor varieties and is honey-processed, meaning the fruit’s mucilage is left on the bean during drying, creating a coffee with layered sweetness and a rich, structured character.

Sri Lanka remains one of the most uncommon origins in the specialty world, and annual production is still extremely limited. Many farms produce only small amounts each year, and much of that coffee never leaves the island. Exporting coffee from Sri Lanka can also be logistically complex and costly, requiring careful storage, handling, and transit through limited infrastructure.

This is a once-forgotten origin in the middle of a revival, rare, distinctive, and deeply tied to place. More than just a coffee, it represents a country rebuilding its coffee identity and reclaiming a piece of its agricultural history.

Notes: Black Pepper, Brown Sugar, Honey

Process: Honey

Variety: S79, Catimor

Region: Walapane Region

Altitude: 1,000 - 1,500 MASL

Roast: Medium