Tea Country

Tea  Country

One of the most beautiful parts of the country is in the mountains where the tea plantations flourish. It is not far from where we live on the coast, but it requires a 5 to 6 hour bus ride, so we have only visited a few times, and each time we are in awe of the stunning views.

Our friends took us to Lipton's Seat perched on the tip top of a mountain with a 360 view of tea plantations in every direction. The narrow little road was filled with hairpin switchbacks that were so sharp the van had to do a forward-back maneuver at every turn. This was further complicated by the other cars and vans going up and down, so there was a lot of jockeying just to reach the top where the tiny parking lot had vehicles jammed in to the point I was sure no one could get out.  But after tea and treats and several peeks at peaks through the parting clouds, we managed to squeeze though and make our way back down the mountain.

Our host family and friends

From Bundelawala we traveled with our friends in a van to Nuarwela or Little England where we spent the night before boarding the train to take my sister to the airport. This town is filled with European architecture and flowers everywhere that were in full bloom. The town bustled with vacationing families from Colombo and Galle enjoying the cool, almost cold weather.

Families enjoying the park on their holiday

Children in the park all dressed up for New Year's

Victoria Gardens

We spent most of the day in the beautiful Victoria Gardens which was such a welcome refuge from all the roads jammed with traffic and sidewalks crammed with shoppers. It was filled with vacationing families who wanted to have their pictures taken with us. Such fun to interact with the children who are sure we are from another planet.

Before we got on the train we decided to tour a tea factory that was just 3km out of town. The view of the women picking tea in the waist high bushes was great. They pick only the top two leaves of each branch and after they have gathered a handful drop it into the bag that is strapped around their head and hangs on their back. The bag is emptied every two hours and they each pick 20 to 30 kilos a day. Very hard work on very steep terrain wearing only flip flops. The tea is picked every 15 days so you can imagine how many pickers that requires... Millions!

Tea factory

The tea is processed within 24 hours to make sure the flavor and smell is retained. There are four types of tea... Orange pekoe, broken orange pekoe, broken orange pekoe fine and dust or tea bag tea. The price and the quality go down until you get to the most bitter which is the dust.

Women picking tea with bags on their heads

Sampling the good tea

250,000 to 500,000 kilos of tea is processed at each factory every year and that is after it is dry. Where does it all go?

Tea wilting process, one of many long bins.