Pepper is grown in red soil rich in natural gems in Sri Lanka mainly intercropped with tea and new pepper varieties which were introduced 20 years to 30 years back. This region pepper wines grown in tea gardens get sunshine throughout the year without any disruption from the shade of other wines as the distance to the next wine is quite far. This helps pepper maturity period to shorten to 6 to 7 months as compared to other regions being 9 months. From April to May, South-West monsoon rains begin in Rathapura help flowering and pollination followed by harvesting in October onwards.

This black gem offers the definitive characteristic of fully Black, Big uniform sized, medium to average pungent with a strong aroma. Traders who look for whole pepper for its appearance of bold (5mm) have very good trust in Rathnapura Black Gem.

Ratnapura

The gem-mining center of Sri Lanka is also a major crossroad between the southern plains and the hill country to the east. Many of the prominent gem dealers in Sri Lanka operate from this town. Ratnapura is a city in South-Western Sri Lanka, known as the ‘City of Gems’. Ratnapura lies at the foot of Adam’s Peak and close to Sinharaja Rain Forest.

Throughout history, Sri Lanka has been known as a land of gems. King Solomon was said to have procured a great ruby for the queen of Sheba from Serendip (Sri Lanka’s former name). Marco Polo (1293 AD) wrote about the ruby that once graced the Ruwanweliseya Dagoba at Anuradhapura…”a flawless ruby a span-long and quite as thick as a man’s fist”. It is believed that Sinbad’s visit to the mountains of Serendib refers to Ratnapura in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has produced three of the world’s largest blue sapphires, including the “Blue Belle of Asia”‘ (which adorned the British crown and holds the world record for any Sapphire sold at an auction); as well as the ‘Star of India’, displayed at the New York Museum of Natural History.

A visit to one of the museums or many gem workshops will give you the opportunity to see a variety of precious stones, such as rubies, sapphires, cat’s eyes, alexandrites, aquamarines, tourmalines, spinels, topaz, garnets, amethyst, zircons etc. You could also visit one of the gem mines.