My grandfather Hendrick Hettiarachchi owned a tea Plantation in 1948 in Galle district which is an ancient port city in the Southern coast of Sri Lanka. The bought leaf they plucked was given to a neighbouring tea factory for processing which was 45 miles away.

My father Karu Hettiarachchi, started his carrier as a banker at a leading state owned Bank and continued for 19 long years. Though he was a Banker by profession, his love for Tea pursued him to continue his father’s dream which became a reality in 1985 by building his own tea factory “Godadenikanda” where bought green leaf was processed in his own factory with a daily production capacity of 8000 kgs.

The seed of entrepreneurship which was planted at a young age in me and the exposure to the Tea culture and the love for tea that gave the world the “Golden Brew” grew stronger in me through the years and once I graduated from Richmond college Galle it was only natural for me take up and join the Tea industry to pursue the love that begun as a child … thanks to my beloved parents!

After being in the industry for almost 7 years I realized that it was time for me to venture out on my own and I took a giant step in 1999 with faith, firm determination and commitment and “Millennium Teas” was born!

In life’s journey it was a tough, difficult and a long journey with many sacrifices but two simple beliefs kept me focused … love for the product and my determination to succeed!

After almost two decades I can honestly say we have come a long way … for an individual who had a dream, to a staff of more than 30 and a worker base of 150 plus, from a single room to a fully operational office and factory with state of the art technology … products in the domestic and global markets … it’s actually a dream come true … but still the journey has not ended … the love story that that begun as a child in me is growing stronger … as our saying goes “it’s a romance of a different kind…” and the story continues!