The business of Tea

It was a relatively comfortable start this morning, and the bus drove up into the mountains to a Tea plantation in Ambagasthenna village.  As we left Kandy, there was a beautiful view of the man made lake and a great overview of the hillside town.  

I have had visions of Ceylon Tea Plantations in my head for years….picturing something like the Dilmah Tea vision…..steep hills, low bushes, women picking in a misty setting.    

On our way, it officially clicked over into the Sinhalese New Year at 9.10 am….(see here) we were on the bus.  As we arrived at the Tea Plantation, fire cracker were going off…signalling the new year, and the different activities that happen - meals, gift giving etc.  

Back to my image of Ceylonese Tea plantations……This plantation was a disappointment….don't get me wrong, it was interesting but it was not the image I had in my head.  It was more jungle like, and in fact we were asked to wear leach socks to walk around as the ground and undergrowth is full of leaches!   It was not a fashion statement!

We arrived and were greeted by Mr Thilina - a man in perhaps in his early 40s wearing a ‘school old boys polo - with the neck turned up’.  He had inherited the plantation from his parents and advised it was 3rd or 4th generation.  When I asked what he had changed, he said very little - it was still run as it always had been however he had added vanilla harvesting to the mix.  

We walked up hill past workers cottages.  He explained that many of the houses have useful trees planted around them - they call nutmeg the pension tree….even when not working any more they can pick nutmeg and take it to the market to sell - the mace to perfumeries and the nutmeg to spice markets.   He showed us pepper trees, clove trees, Jack Fruit trees, coco trees and coffee trees and explained that there were planted in and around the tea bushes as they believe the flavours infuse the tea as well as providing some light filtering so that the tea bushes are not burnt.  It is the top of the bush that is bright green that is the most valuable an harvested - the tip, and the top two leaves only.  It can be harvested every seven days, and every four years they do a hard prune, and the bushes must be replaced every 7 years…with a crop of lemon grass in between being pulled out and replanted.  It was an extremely interesting few hours.  We received lovely hospitality with a cup of fresh black tea, and then for lunch we were served 34 dishes…all various curries of vegetables, fish, chicken, banana leaf, loofah, soy beans - it was really delicious.  

The afternoon was back at the hotel for free time…many indulging in a swim.  The firecrackers went on all afternoon and into the evening as the locals celebrated.  It did mean again that there was little open for us to do, so it was a sundowner by the pool helped relax me while watching the sunset and then it was an early night for me…I think the month of travel is starting to take its toll on my energy levels, so I left the young ones to it!