From a grandfather who gambled away a thousand acres on the roll of a dice, to a man who built the world’s most antioxidant-rich tea from the shores of the Indian Ocean — this is the story of Malinga Herman Gunaratne: third-generation tea planter, author, connoisseur, and one of the most singular figures in the history of Ceylon tea.

There is a particular kind of person who builds something extraordinary not from a position of privilege and ease, but from the opposite — from loss, from near-nothing, from an inheritance of misfortune transformed by sheer will, deep knowledge, and a refusal to be defined by what was taken away.

Herman Gunaratne is that kind of person. Lonely Planet, one of the world’s most trusted travel authorities, describes him simply as “one of the legends of the island’s tea industry.” The Daily FT of Sri Lanka calls his life “a true riches to rags to riches story of a self-made man who overcomes the circumstances of fate and triumphs in life.” The BBC’s best-selling travel writer Steve Davey called his autobiography “a page turner.” The Bureau Chief of the UK Independent, Andrew Buncombe, said you could “literally smell the tea it’s so vivid.”

But beyond the literary accolades and the international press, Herman Gunaratne is, above all, a tea man. A man who has spent over 45 years walking tea fields, running factories, managing some of the most celebrated plantations in Sri Lanka, and ultimately building — from a small coastal estate that others might have overlooked — one of the most recognised artisanal luxury tea brands in the world.

This is his full story.

Herman Gunaratne: At a Glance

About Herman Gunaratne
Full name	Malinga Herman Gunaratne
Profession	Tea planter, tea connoisseur, author, estate proprietor
Generation	Third-generation tea planter
Estate	Handunugoda Tea Estate, Tittagalla, Ahangama, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
Brand	Herman Teas
Years in plantation management	Over 45 years
Career scope	British-era plantations; state-owned plantations; sole proprietor of Handunugoda Estate
Peak management role	Regional Manager of over 100,000 acres of premier tea land in Nuwara Eliya
Signature achievement	Creating Virgin White Tea — the world’s most antioxidant-rich beverage (SGS Switzerland: 10.11%)
International recognition	Mariage Frères Paris; Anuga Most Innovative Tea (Cologne); World Tea Expo (Las Vegas); Best Small Scale Exporter, Sri Lanka; Dilmah Signature Selection
Literary awards	Gratiaen Prize nominee (Sri Lanka’s most prestigious literary award for English writing)
Books authored	4: The Plantation Raj, For a Sovereign State, The Suicide Club, Tortured Island
Most reprinted book	The Suicide Club (6th reprint); For a Sovereign State (7th reprint)
Described by	Lonely Planet: “One of the legends of the island’s tea industry”

Three Generations: A Family Shaped by Tea and Fate

To understand Herman Gunaratne, you must begin not with him, but with his grandfather — a man whose philosophy of risk cast a long shadow over three generations of his family, and ultimately gave Herman both his greatest challenge and his deepest inspiration.

The Grandfather: President of the Suicide Club

At the turn of the 20th century, the Gunaratne family were among the prosperous landowning class of Ceylon, holding a plantation that — at its greatest extent — encompassed some 2,200 acres of productive land. Herman’s grandfather was a man of standing, a member of an exclusive and informal association of the wealthy known as the Suicide Club: a gathering of the island’s elite, where the ethos was absolute — you have to risk all to gain anything.

His grandfather’s motto was not merely philosophical. It was practical. He was the President of the Suicide Club, and he embraced its philosophy with total commitment. In a series of card games and throws of the dice, he gambled away approximately 1,000 acres of the family’s land. It was an extraordinary loss — and one that would define everything that followed.

“You have to risk all to gain anything.”— The Gunaratne family motto — motto of the Suicide Club, inherited by Herman Gunaratne

The Father: Member of the Same Club

Herman’s father was also a member of the Suicide Club — and carried the same spirit of risk through his own life. By the time Herman came of age, the family’s landholding had been dramatically reduced from its colonial-era peak. The inheritance was one of potential and pride, but also of diminishment — a family that had once commanded thousands of acres now holding a fraction of what had been lost.

1974: The Nationalisation — Another Thousand Acres Gone

Then came 1974. The Sri Lankan government, under its programme of nationalising British-owned and large private plantations, took over approximately 1,000 acres of what remained of the Gunaratne land. What had once been 2,200 acres — already halved by his grandfather’s gambling — was now reduced to the 200-acre Handunugoda Estate in Tittagalla, Ahangama.

Two generations of loss. A family estate reduced to a tenth of its original size by a combination of dice, cards, and government decree. For many people, this would be the end of the story.

For Herman Gunaratne, it was the beginning.

45 Years in Tea: From Field Supervisor to Manager of 100,000 Acres

Herman Gunaratne left school early — earlier, perhaps, than circumstances might have demanded, and under circumstances that, as he notes in his autobiography, have not been made fully public. What he lacked in formal academic credentials, he more than compensated for in determination, practical intelligence, and an extraordinary capacity for the work of tea planting.

Starting at the Bottom: The British Plantation Raj

He began his career working in the British-owned tea plantations of Ceylon — starting, as he has described it, as “a failure” at the very bottom of the plantation workforce. The world of British plantation management in Ceylon was one of rigid hierarchy, unwritten rules, and the kind of social stratification that the colonial era had embedded into every level of the industry. For a Sri Lankan man without connections or credentials, advancement was neither easy nor quick.

But Herman Gunaratne advanced. Through the quality of his work, the depth of his knowledge, and what those who knew him describe as an irresistible combination of charm, wit, and practical capability, he worked his way through the ranks of British-managed plantation life. He learned the industry from the inside — from soil to cup, from field labour to management decision, from the tea tasting room to the negotiating table.

The State Plantation Era: Managing 100,000 Acres of Ceylon’s Best Tea Land

When the Sri Lankan government nationalised the British plantations in the early 1970s, Herman Gunaratne transitioned into the state-managed plantation sector. Here, his career reached its remarkable zenith. He rose to become Regional Manager of plantations covering over 100,000 acres of the country’s most prestigious tea lands — concentrated in the district of Nuwara Eliya, the highest and most celebrated tea-growing region in Sri Lanka, home to what connoisseurs call the “champagne of Ceylon teas.”

To put this in context: 100,000 acres of tea land is not merely a plantation. It is an empire. Managing it requires expertise across agronomy, factory operations, labour relations, government liaison, logistics, and the complex market relationships of the global tea trade. Herman Gunaratne managed it not for a season or two, but across a career of more than four decades.

Career at a Glance• Started: Field supervisor in British-owned Ceylon tea plantations• Rose through: Multiple levels of plantation management during the British Raj era• Post-nationalisation: Regional Manager for Sri Lanka’s state-owned plantation sector• Peak role: Manager of over 100,000 acres of premier tea land in Nuwara Eliya — Sri Lanka’s most celebrated tea district• Total years in plantation management: Over 45 years• Returned to: Handunugoda family estate as sole proprietor — transforming a 200-acre coastal estate into a globally recognised luxury tea brand

The Return: Sole Proprietor of Handunugoda

After more than four decades managing other people’s tea land — first for the British, then for the Sri Lankan state — Herman Gunaratne turned to what remained of his family’s own estate. The 200-acre Handunugoda plantation at Tittagalla, Ahangama had survived nationalisations, family misfortunes, and the turbulent post-colonial restructuring of Sri Lanka’s tea industry. It was small. It was coastal — an unusual and commercially unconventional location for tea production. It was all that remained of what had once been 2,200 acres.

He made it into the most internationally recognised artisanal tea estate in Sri Lanka — and the home of the world’s most antioxidant-rich beverage.

The Creation of a Legend: Virgin White Tea

The achievement for which Herman Gunaratne is best known internationally is not his management of 100,000 acres, nor his books, nor his four decades of plantation service. It is the creation — or rather, the revival — of something that had been lost for centuries.

Reviving a 4,000-Year-Old Imperial Tradition

Ancient Chinese imperial records describe a tea of extraordinary purity: harvested only at dawn by virgins wearing silk gloves, cut with golden scissors into golden bowls, and dried only by the sun and wind. No bare human skin ever touched the leaf. The tea was reserved exclusively for the Emperor’s court. Its health properties were considered unmatched. And then, over the centuries, the tradition faded — until it existed only in historical texts, a beautiful ritual of an era long past.

Herman Gunaratne read those texts. And he asked: what if this was done again? Not as a historical recreation. Not as a heritage display. But as a genuine commercial product, produced on a real working estate, with the same absolute purity that the ancient Chinese imperial court had demanded.

At Handunugoda, where the Sinharaja Rainforest meets the Indian Ocean and creates a microclimate unlike any other tea-growing environment on earth, he built the answer. Workers wearing soft gloves, using scissors to harvest only the finest, most select unopened silver buds at dawn. Sun-drying on black flannel. No rolling, no firing, no oxidation, no human skin contact from bush to cup. Virgin White Tea.

The World Record: 10.11% Antioxidant Content

The result, when tested by SGS of Switzerland — one of the world’s most authoritative independent testing and certification bodies — was extraordinary: an antioxidant content of 10.11%, certified as the highest naturally occurring level in any known beverage on earth. No other tea — from any country, at any price point — has matched this figure in independent testing.

This is the direct and measurable consequence of producing a tea with total purity. No chemical contamination. No processing that degrades polyphenols. No contact with bare skin. Just a silver bud, the morning sun, and the most delicate growing microclimate in the world of tea.

Paris Took Notice: The Mariage Frères Partnership

When Mariage Frères — the legendary Parisian tea salon founded in 1854, operating from the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, with a catalogue of over 1,000 teas from 36 countries — chose to stock Herman Gunaratne’s Virgin White Tea as the only tea of its kind in its exclusive collection, the world’s most prestigious tea institution made its verdict clear: this tea belonged among the finest on earth.

The annual global supply of Virgin White Tea is approximately 180 kilograms. Mariage Frères receives a small allocation of this each year. When it is gone, it is gone. There is no other source, no alternative supply, no compromise available. This is the only Virgin White Tea in the world, and it comes from one man’s estate in southern Sri Lanka.

A Life in Tea: Key Moments in Herman Gunaratne’s Story

Era / Year	Key Moment
Early 1900s	Gunaratne family holds ~2,200 acres of plantation land in Ceylon; Herman’s grandfather is President of the Suicide Club
Early 1900s	Grandfather gambles ~1,000 acres of family land — first great loss; Herman’s father inherits a reduced estate
1950s–60s	Herman Gunaratne leaves school early and begins his career at the bottom of the workforce in British-managed Ceylon tea plantations
1960s–70s	Rises through the ranks of British plantation management; gains deep expertise across all aspects of Ceylon tea production
1974	Sri Lankan government nationalises British and large private plantations — a further ~1,000 acres of Gunaratne land is taken; the 200-acre Handunugoda Estate is all that remains
1974–2000s	Transitions to state-owned plantation management; rises to Regional Manager of over 100,000 acres of prime tea land in Nuwara Eliya — Sri Lanka’s most celebrated tea district
1990s–2000s	Becomes sole proprietor of Handunugoda Tea Estate; begins building Herman Teas as a global luxury artisanal tea brand
Early 2000s	Revives the 4,000-year-old Chinese imperial tradition of Virgin White Tea at Handunugoda — the first and only commercial producer of this tea in the world
2000s	SGS Switzerland certifies Virgin White Tea at 10.11% antioxidant content — the highest in any known beverage on earth
2000s	Mariage Frères, Paris, selects Herman Virgin White Tea for its exclusive rare collection — the most prestigious single-estate endorsement in world tea
2000s–10s	Anuga Food Fair, Cologne: Most Innovative Tea award for Ceylon Souchong, Sapphire Oolong, and Flowery Camellia (presented by Dilmah)
2010	Publication of The Suicide Club — autobiography receives critical acclaim; reaches 6th reprint; Gratiaen Prize nomination
2010s	Three Herman Teas products included in Dilmah’s Superior Presentation Packs; Virgin White Tea presented by Jane Pettigrew at the World Tea Expo, Las Vegas
2010s	National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka: Best Small Scale Exporter award
Present	Sole proprietor of Handunugoda Estate; all teas handcrafted personally by Herman Gunaratne; over 25 varieties in the collection; estate open to visitors daily

The Author: Four Books That Capture a Vanishing World

If the tea is Herman Gunaratne’s most celebrated creation, his books are his most enduring legacy — and the one that has surprised people most. Here was a man who, by his own account, left school early and came to the tea industry not through academic distinction but through necessity and ambition. And yet he has produced four books that have been reprinted multiple times, nominated for Sri Lanka’s most prestigious literary prize, and praised by international journalists and critics as vivid, indispensable accounts of a world that no longer exists.

The Books

📖 The Plantation RajHerman’s first book — an account of the plantation industry during the British colonial era, told from the inside by a man who lived and worked within it. One of the first books to chronicle the daily reality of Ceylon’s plantation world from a Sri Lankan perspective rather than a colonial one.

📖 For a Sovereign State (7th Reprint)One of Herman’s most reprinted works — now in its seventh edition, a testament to its continued relevance and readership. Explores the political and economic history of post-colonial Sri Lanka through the lens of the plantation industry that defined the nation’s economy for over a century.

📖 The Suicide Club: A Virgin Tea Planter’s Journey (6th Reprint)Herman’s most celebrated book and his autobiography. Named after the exclusive gambling club of which his grandfather was President — the Suicide Club, where the elite of colonial Ceylon wagered fortunes on the roll of a dice. The book charts Herman’s life from his early days as a field supervisor through his rise to managing 100,000 acres of Ceylon’s finest tea land, his personal life (including the great love of his life, a French woman named Hugette), and his transformation of the Handunugoda estate. Lonely Planet recommends it as “a remarkably entertaining and insightful read about his life, tea and Sri Lanka, from the waning days of the British Raj to today.” The BBC’s Steve Davey called it “a page turner.” Andrew Buncombe of the UK Independent said “you can literally smell the tea it’s so vivid.” Now in its sixth reprint. Gratiaen Prize nominee.

📖 Tortured IslandHerman’s fourth book — a broader political and historical account of Sri Lanka’s turbulent post-independence era, drawing on his decades of experience at the intersection of the plantation industry and national politics. Characteristically honest, characteristically vivid, and characteristically willing to go where most writers would not.

The Gratiaen Prize: Sri Lanka’s Highest Literary Honour

The Gratiaen Prize is Sri Lanka’s most prestigious literary award for creative writing in English — established by Michael Ondaatje, the internationally celebrated Sri Lankan-Canadian author of The English Patient, using proceeds from that novel’s Booker Prize. A Gratiaen Prize nomination places a writer in the company of Sri Lanka’s finest English-language literary voices. Herman Gunaratne’s nomination is a recognition that his work is not merely a historical record or a commercial autobiography — it is literature.

The Philosophy: Buying Back What Was Lost

There is a thread that runs through Herman Gunaratne’s entire life — through the gambling grandfather, the nationalised acres, the long career in other people’s tea fields, the artisanal estate built from what remained — and it is best expressed in the framing his publisher Juliet Coombe gave to his story:

“From writing it, to shooting the pictures, Herman went back to every plantation he ever worked in before he began his own one. It is only through this that he is able to see the colossal changes that have now taken place.”— Juliet Coombe, Publisher of The Suicide Club, Sri Serendipity

What Herman Gunaratne has done with Handunugoda is not merely build a successful tea brand. He has, in a very real sense, reclaimed his family’s inheritance. Not by recovering the 2,000 lost acres — those are gone, the victims of dice and decree. But by transforming the 200 acres that remained into something more valuable, more internationally recognised, and more enduring than anything the original 2,200 acres produced in their commercial heyday.

The Virgin White Tea that sells for USD 1,500 per kilogram at Mariage Frères in Paris. The certification from SGS Switzerland. The Anuga Award from Cologne. The Gratiaen nomination. The Lonely Planet endorsement. The Goodreads readers writing from Sri Lanka, asking everyone they meet to visit the plantation. This is a man who took the worst that fate could offer — loss, reduction, dispossession — and turned it, through 45 years of work, deep knowledge, and the courage to try something no one had tried before, into the most extraordinary artisanal tea estate in the country’s history.

The Estate as a Living Expression of His Values

Herman Gunaratne’s values are visible in every aspect of how Handunugoda is run. The estate has never used a pesticide or insecticide. The 150-year-old British machinery — still running, still producing — has never been replaced for the sake of industrial efficiency. Every tea in the Herman Teas collection is personally handcrafted by Herman himself. The tours he and his team give to visitors are not a commercial side venture — they are an act of cultural transmission, passing on the knowledge of tea, of the plantation tradition, and of Sri Lankan heritage to everyone who walks through the estate gate.

He has described the estate’s mission as “bringing fairness of business to the world” — sourcing from local tea gardens, dealing honestly with small growers, and advocating publicly for the welfare of the Sri Lankan plantation industry and its workers. This is not a CSR policy written by a communications team. It is what a man believes, expressed in how he works.

Frequently Asked Questions About Herman Gunaratne

Who is Herman Gunaratne?

Malinga Herman Gunaratne is a third-generation Sri Lankan tea planter, internationally acclaimed tea connoisseur, Gratiaen Prize-nominated author, and the sole proprietor of the Handunugoda Tea Estate in Tittagalla, Ahangama, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. He is the creator of Virgin White Tea — the world’s most antioxidant-rich beverage, certified at 10.11% by SGS Switzerland. Lonely Planet describes him as “one of the legends of the island’s tea industry.” He has worked in plantation management for over 45 years, rising to Regional Manager of over 100,000 acres of Sri Lanka’s finest tea land in Nuwara Eliya.

What is Herman Gunaratne famous for?

Herman Gunaratne is most famous internationally for creating Virgin White Tea — the most antioxidant-rich beverage ever certified, produced at the Handunugoda Estate following a 4,000-year-old Chinese imperial tradition in which the tea is never touched by bare human hands. His Virgin White Tea is stocked exclusively at Mariage Frères in Paris — the world’s most prestigious tea salon. He is also celebrated as the author of The Suicide Club, a Gratiaen Prize-nominated autobiography that is in its sixth reprint and has been praised by the BBC, the UK Independent, and Lonely Planet.

What does “third-generation tea planter” mean for Herman Gunaratne?

The Gunaratne family has been connected to the tea plantation industry in Sri Lanka for three generations. Herman’s grandfather was a wealthy landowner during the colonial era and President of the Suicide Club. His father continued the family’s connection to the plantation world. Herman himself began his career as a field supervisor in British-managed plantations and rose, over 45 years, to the highest levels of Ceylon tea management — and ultimately to sole proprietorship of the family’s Handunugoda Estate, which has been in the family for over a century.

What books has Herman Gunaratne written?

Herman Gunaratne has authored four books: The Plantation Raj (an account of the British colonial plantation era from a Sri Lankan perspective); For a Sovereign State (now in its seventh reprint — political and economic history of post-colonial Sri Lanka through the plantation lens); The Suicide Club: A Virgin Tea Planter’s Journey (his autobiography, now in its sixth reprint, nominated for the Gratiaen Prize — Sri Lanka’s highest literary award for English writing — and praised by Lonely Planet, the BBC, and the UK Independent); and Tortured Island (a political and historical account of modern Sri Lanka). His books are available at the Handunugoda Estate boutique.

What is the Gratiaen Prize and why is Herman Gunaratne nominated?

The Gratiaen Prize is Sri Lanka’s most prestigious literary award for creative writing in English, established by internationally celebrated author Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient) using proceeds from that novel’s Booker Prize. A Gratiaen Prize nomination places a writer among the finest English-language voices in Sri Lankan literature. Herman Gunaratne’s nomination — for The Suicide Club — recognises that his autobiography transcends commercial memoir to become a work of genuine literary significance: a vivid, firsthand chronicle of the plantation Raj, post-colonial Sri Lanka, and one man’s remarkable journey from field supervisor to creator of the world’s rarest tea.

What is The Suicide Club book about?

The Suicide Club: A Virgin Tea Planter’s Journey is Herman Gunaratne’s autobiography, named after the exclusive colonial-era gambling club of which his grandfather was President. The book charts his life from his early days as a field worker in British-managed Ceylon plantations, through his rise to managing over 100,000 acres of Sri Lanka’s finest tea land, his personal life and the great love of his life — a French woman named Hugette — and his transformation of the family’s Handunugoda Estate. It is in its sixth reprint, nominated for the Gratiaen Prize, and described by Lonely Planet as “a remarkably entertaining and insightful read about his life, tea and Sri Lanka, from the waning days of the British Raj to today.”

What happened to the Gunaratne family plantation?

The Gunaratne family’s plantation originally encompassed approximately 2,200 acres. Herman’s grandfather — President of the Suicide Club, an exclusive colonial-era gambling club — wagered and lost approximately 1,000 acres on the roll of a dice. In 1974, the Sri Lankan government’s nationalisation of British and large private plantations took a further 1,000 acres, leaving the family with the 200-acre Handunugoda Estate in Tittagalla, Ahangama. Herman Gunaratne has built this remaining estate into one of the world’s most internationally recognised artisanal tea brands.

Where can I buy Herman Gunaratne’s books?

Herman Gunaratne’s books — including The Suicide Club, For a Sovereign State, The Plantation Raj, and Tortured Island — are available at the Handunugoda Tea Estate boutique shop in Tittagalla, Ahangama, Sri Lanka (open daily, 8:00am–4:30pm). They are also available through selected online retailers. The Suicide Club is listed on Goodreads and has been widely reviewed by visitors to the estate and international readers.

Can I meet Herman Gunaratne at the estate?

The Handunugoda Tea Estate is open to visitors daily and offers guided tours of the plantation, factory, and tea museum. Herman Gunaratne personally oversees the estate and handcrafts every tea in the Herman Teas collection. While a personal meeting cannot be guaranteed, visitors to the estate are often fortunate enough to encounter him directly — particularly during morning visits. The estate’s tour guides, including the renowned Dudley, carry Herman’s knowledge and philosophy into every visitor experience.

How can I support Herman Gunaratne’s work?

The most direct way to support Herman Gunaratne’s work is to purchase Herman Teas products — available at hermanteas.com, from the estate shop in Sri Lanka, and through a small number of exclusive international retailers including Mariage Frères in Paris. Visiting the Handunugoda Tea Estate directly also supports the estate’s tourism programme and the cultural mission of preserving and transmitting the knowledge of Ceylon tea’s extraordinary heritage.

The Man Behind the Most Antioxidant-Rich Tea on Earth

There are tea planters, and there are people who change what tea can be.

Herman Gunaratne has spent a lifetime being the second kind. From the gambling debt that reduced his grandfather’s empire to the state decree that took what remained, to the 45 years of work in other people’s tea fields, to the extraordinary act of reviving an ancient Chinese imperial tradition on a coastal estate in southern Sri Lanka — his is a story of the kind of resilience that does not merely rebuild what was lost but creates something genuinely new.

The 180 kilograms of Virgin White Tea produced each year at Handunugoda. The 10.11% antioxidant certification from Geneva. The tin on the shelf at Mariage Frères on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The six reprints of The Suicide Club. The Gratiaen nomination. The over 100,000 acres managed in his long career. The 150-year-old British machinery, still running, still producing, a living monument to the standards he has always held.

This is not merely the story of a tea planter. It is the story of one of the most remarkable figures in the modern history of a country whose entire national identity has, for 150 years, been inseparable from the leaf.

Experience the tea that Herman Gunaratne created. Shop the full Herman Teas collection at hermanteas.com — or visit the Handunugoda Tea Estate in person, and meet the legend himself.