Capital Teas was founded by Manelle and Peter Martino of Annapolis, Maryland, in the summer of 2007 and is an extension of Manelle's family business tradition in tea that began with her great-great-grandfather, Francis Van Reyk in the 1890's. Van Reyk was a Dutch tea planter who emigrated to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and managed the well-known Diyagama Estate in the Dimbula region in the late nineteenth century. The ensuing five-generation family tradition in tea is alive and well today on multiple continents. In fact, among the 120+ types of loose tea offered by Capital Teas in its six stores is Great-Grandfather's tea, a BOP black Ceylon tea that we direct import from the very tea estate managed by Francis Van Reyk.