11 August 2011
SRI LANKAN TEA
Sri Lanka’s tea growing region is lush, beautiful and is in the mountainous central region of Sri Lanka where tea grows. It’s an important crop for Sri Lanka, exported around the world.
We caught the train from the hill capital city of Kandy to Hatton. Our rickety ancient wooden carriage rattled on the narrow gauge railway as it climbed into the mountains. With tickets reserved for first class observation seats, I had visions of a glass dome that popped up above the roof. No such luck. “Observation” meant a window in our carriage at the rear of the train giving us a view back down the track as we climbed up to Sri Lanka’s important tea growing region.
In Hatton locals were holding a demonstration. That was Saturday, and by Monday the wages of thousands and thousands of tea workers had been raised from 415 to 515 rupees a day. We felt a part of their triumph, cheering the pickers out in the fields plucking the tea, as we passed en route to our hotel.
Sri Lankan tea plantations are lush and beautiful with extensive sculptured waves of bushes. We relaxed for a couple of days at Tea Trails Bungalow Norwood, one of four planter’s bungalows on adjoining estates that have been converted to luxury accommodation. Surrounded by acres of tea bushes, these comfortable homes are stately, with hospitable staff and excellent cuisine. The highlight was real High Tea with cucumber sandwiches and dainty little cakes.
Andrew Taylor, a direct descendant of James Taylor who introduced tea to Sri Lanka from China, expertly guided us through the Norwood Estate tea factory. Small green buds with the accompanying two leaves below are plucked from the bushes and within 24 hours of arriving fresh and dewy at the factory are processed and graded to become tea that’s ready to be shipped to the government-run tea auctions in Colombo. It’s a process that’s painstakingly hands on.
Nuwara Eliya, a resort town high in the hills with a distinct English feel right down to its very grand and proper Grand Hotel and adjacent manicured golf course was a welcome stop. We shopped for saris, sapphires and bargains; surplus goods and seconds from Sri Lanka’s international clothing industry are sold at unbelievably low prices in the local market. We wound up our way up a rough track, deeply pot-holed and bumpy to the cleverly converted Heritance Tea Factory Hotel for another night of luxury and blissful sleeping in the cool air of the mountains among the tea bushes.