14/08/2018
Sri Lankan Tea Estates
Just drinking a few cups of tea and buying a couple of tea items on your visit to Sri Lanka, is really not the best way to get to know about this aspect of Ceylon. What you truly have to do to understand Sri Lankan Tea is to walk those estate paths and experience it for yourself.
You could walk down the lovely cold mountain road that winds its way out of the Nanuoya village, where you end up in if you wish to take a train to Nuwara Eliya town. The road, which lead to the Hatton Road is well made but has little traffic and is best traversed early in the morning. On those dim mist covered mornings it has fresh crunchy leaves with dew floating in the air. The rolling misty green vistas of tea plantations spreading out right next to your feet is an enthralling sight. If you are lucky enough to time it right, you may even pass a few colorful tea pluckers, with the large baskets on their backs fastened with a loop over the top of their heads.
Do not try to move into the tea plantations on the mountainside as they are steep and dangerous. Instead if you walk further along the road you come to a junction after which the road slopes steeply. This section is good for an exhilarating rollercoaster-like jog; though take care as there is a little more traffic after the junction. After that the road levels and if you wish you can try touching the tea leaves though you shouldn’t damage them. If you run out of water, the little green tea berries have sufficient liquid in them and are used by the locals for this purpose in an emergency.
Once you are familiar with the tea trees first hand, you can visit one of the tea estates that provide tours about tea and how it’s processed. They give you a guided tour through the factory where you see the process in detail and listen to the presentation. You can also get high quality teas at bargain prices here at these factories.
