New Delhi, Nov. 2 -- I just finished the last of my Ceylon tea stash from last year and caught myself wishing I'd had a guide to its teas and terroir. So I decided to put one together.

Like India, Sri Lanka has a colonial plantation tea story and an industry that's 150 years old and dominated by black tea. It begins with Scotsman James Taylor planting Assamica cultivars on 19 acres at the Loolecondera Estate in Kandy, Sri Lanka's first commercial tea estate.

Sri Lanka's highlands transformed from coffee to tea. After independence in 1972, when Ceylon became Sri Lanka, the tea industry continued to market itself as Ceylon Tea, so strong was the brand recall. The lion logo, added later, indicates that the tea is 100% grown, processed, and...