Sri Lanka is paying some foreign debts with tea, rather than cash. But an abrupt ban on chemical fertilizers has hurt crop yields, and tea pickers are losing hours and wages as food prices double.

Sri Lanka, where tea is picked by hand for your cuppa – and eaten in a range of dishes A lot goes into a tea bag, from growing and picking the leaves to fermenting and blending them.

Sri Lanka’s drive to become the world’s first 100 per cent organic food producer is threatening its prized tea industry, and harvests of other crops, triggering fears of a crop disaster.

One of the world's leading tea-producing nations, Sri Lanka, becomes the scene for a new world record - the largest cup of tea.