Neel Bogahawatte
Matara
Summary
Passionate Tea Taster, Tea Buyer and Blender with over 13 years of tea industry experience.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Tea Taster / Tea Blender
Saman Tea Pvt Ltd
Kolkata
12.2023 - Current
- Professional tea taster and buyer specializing in the expert tasting, grading, and procurement of Assam, Dooars, Nilgiri, Darjeeling, and Nepal teas, covering both CTC and Orthodox varieties.
- In charge of the Tea Department.
General Manager
Tea Talk Pvt.Ltd
Wanduramba, Galle
11.2022 - 12.2023
- Tea manufacturing, grading, tasting, valuing, buying, blending, trading, and shipping.
- Independently handling all exports from A to Z.
- Building and maintaining strong relationships with clients and suppliers.
Manager
Senok Tea Ceylon Pvt.Ltd.
Kalalgoda
12.2021 - 11.2022
- Tea grading, tasting, buying, blending, and flavoring as per customer specifications and adhering to health and safety regulations.
- In charge of the Tea Department and the Tea Room's functions.
- Build and enhance a strong sales pipeline.
- Identify marketing segments, and build sales plans accordingly.
- Develop new sales channels by identifying commercial and business opportunities.
- Strong commercial acumen to understand potential business opportunities.
- Sustain long-term relationships with existing customers.
- Budget planning, utilization tracking, and visibility creation.
- Adhere to process timelines.
- Risk identification and mitigation plan in marketing.
- Focus on social media campaigns.
Assistant Manager
Senok Tea Ceylon Pvt.Ltd.
Kalalgoda
06.2017 - 11.2021
- Tea Grading, Tasting, Valuing, and Buying.
- Participating in weekly tea auctions.
- Formulating Tea Standards.
- Introducing new tea blends geographically.
- Issuing blends for production.
- Responsible for tea room operations.
- Independently handling foreign clients and local contract packers.
- Product costing.
- Market research and new product development in the flavored teas category.
- Tea Board-related documents to obtain Lion Logo, Warehouse, Packer, and Export registration renewals.
- Raising quotations and sales orders through the SAP S/4HANA platform.
- Raising and maintaining pro forma invoices for export orders.
- Member of the SAP S4-HANA implementation team.
Tea Executive
Senok Tea Ceylon Pvt.Ltd.
Kalalgoda
01.2015 - 05.2017
- Tea Grading.
- Tasting, Buying, and Blending.
- Costings.
- Flavoring.
- Making different blends for different brands, and tailor-made blends.
Tea Executive
Adam Expo
Colombo 14
10.2013 - 01.2015
- Tea Grading & Tea Tasting.
- Tea Buying & Blending.
Tea Executive
Ceylon Tenny Tea Pvt.Ltd
Peliyagoda
01.2013 - 10.2013
- Tea Grading & Tasting.
- Warehousing & Blending.
Trainee Tea Taster
Ceylon Tea Brokers PLC
Colombo
01.2012 - 01.2013
- Sample room & Warehousing
- Cataloging
- Office private sale.
- Auctioning.
- Grading.
- Tasting & Valuing.
Education
MBA - Business Administration
London Metropolitan University
09.2019
Diploma Preliminary English For Employment -
University of Ruhuna
Sri Lanka01.2015
Certificate in Computer Science -
National Institute of Business Management
Sri Lanka01.2011
Skills
- Expert knowledge in handling any given catalog
- Ability to independently handle internal and external correspondence
- Capable of independently handling costings
- Designing master cartons, inner cartons, and drawing loading plans according to CMB and buyer's requirements
Personal Information
- NIC number: 902984763V
- Date of birth: 10/24/1990
- Nationality: Sri Lankan
- Marital Status: Married
Declaration
All the information mentioned above in the resume is correct to the best of my knowledge and belief
With faithfully
Neel Bogahawatte
12-Oct-2025
Timeline
Senior Tea Taster / Tea Blender
Saman Tea Pvt Ltd
12.2023 - Current
General Manager
Tea Talk Pvt.Ltd
11.2022 - 12.2023
Manager
Senok Tea Ceylon Pvt.Ltd.
12.2021 - 11.2022
Assistant Manager
Senok Tea Ceylon Pvt.Ltd.
06.2017 - 11.2021
Tea Executive
Senok Tea Ceylon Pvt.Ltd.
01.2015 - 05.2017
Tea Executive
Adam Expo
10.2013 - 01.2015
Tea Executive
Ceylon Tenny Tea Pvt.Ltd
01.2013 - 10.2013
Trainee Tea Taster
Ceylon Tea Brokers PLC
01.2012 - 01.2013
MBA - Business Administration
London Metropolitan University
Diploma Preliminary English For Employment -
University of Ruhuna
Certificate in Computer Science -
National Institute of Business Management