Dilmah Tea Merrill J. Fernando

Welcome! Dilmah is our family tea company, established by Merrill J. Fernando on the unique philosophy of making business a matter of human service. We have a passion for tea and for ethics.

The visionary founder of Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company's greatness was in his invincible faith, his integrity and love for tea and his family. With devotion and urgency, he pursued his desire for integrity and quality with humility and kindness. His achievement in disrupting an exploitative colonial industry irrevocably changed the lives of producers around the world, introducing a paradigm shift in ethical business, long before ethics and sustainable business had the prominence they do now.

Merrill J. Fernando was a disruptor whose mission was simply for his passion for tea to make lives better for others. His humble, rural beginnings and the Christian family values with which he was brought up, defined his 93 years. He devoted his life to tea, working every day to spread the message of Pure Ceylon Tea.

We remember our Founder, Merrill J. Fernando for his humanity and his achievement in personally and passionately creating a global family rallied behind the cause he pursued every day of his life: Ceylon Tea with Taste, Goodness, Ethical Purpose.

Articles by Dilmah Tea Merrill J. Fernando