One of Sri Lanka’s leading tea brands have teamed up with a Chinese partner to take Ceylon tea into the huge Chinese market.

The Heladiv tea brand founded in 1996, together with a top Chinese partner, opened three exclusive tea boutiques in the Fujian Province and Beijing earlier this month with a fourth outlet almost ready for launch.

Mr. Rohan Fernando, Chairman of the HVA group said that they have teamed up with the Huichen group in China in a joint venture pushing a specialty tea brand, "Infini-T" to service top-of-the-line customers in China.

Fernando said that the Huichen group partnering them in this venture is a leading industrial and construction giant with businesses around the world was looking at 100 tea shops in China within two years.

``A speciality brand called "Infini- T" has been innovated under the Heladiv brand family to suit this top-of-the line customer base in China. "Infini- T" which is best quality tea from Sri Lanka will be served and sold at these new tea boutiques,’’ Fernando said.

The tea boutiques were ceremonially opened under the patronage of Ambassador Karunatileka Amunugama, Sri Lanka’s envoy in China, numerous celebrities and top Chinese government officials.

President of the Huichen Group, Mr. Hwang Ping, and the Chairman of HVA Group, Mr. Rohan Fernando, were present.

This was the very first time a chain of exclusive tea boutiques has been opened with such hype in China. Sources confirmed that from the opening day sales have been very good and the demand for quality tea from Sri Lanka is high as the discerning Chinese tea drinkers see Sri Lanka as the best in the world. The long years of friendship between the two nations also form a great bedrock upon which this commercial venture is expected to thrive.

With the ceremonial opening of "Infini- T" exclusive tea boutiques in China, both Beijing Pure Ceylon Tea Company and Heladiv hope to open 20 more such boutiques in China by the end of the year leading up to 100 boutiques in the coming two years.