Asia > Sri Lanka > Sri Lanka Hills > Nuwara Eliya > Articles > High Tea

A delicate fragrance tickles my nose as I wake to a cup of freshly-brewed Ceylon tea. Dawn is breaking over the hills, ridge after ridge unfolding through the mist towards the horizon. A hamlet stirs in a hollow, a cockerel greets the rising sun and soon the plantations start to glow, draping every fold of the land in velvety shades of emerald and jade. The first tea pickers shuffle along the winding trails, their red and gold saris splashing colour in an ocean of green.

Plucking begins, two leaves and a bud swiftly tossed into the basket strapped to the women’s back. Men prune and tend the fields where among the bushes, trees scatter a little shade and replenish the soil. Most workers are of Tamil origin, lured from India during British rule by the promise of year round work.

Discovered long ago, according to legend, by a Chinese Emperor who accidentally dropped a few leaves in his pot of boiling water, tea arrived in Sri Lanka in the 19th century through another act of serendipity. When disease destroyed the coffee crops in colonial days, Scotsman and plantation manager James Taylor decided to try tea, planting just 80 hectares in 1867. Little did he know this would grow eventually to 200 000 hectares and turn the island into the world’s largest exporter.

Today ‘Chinese camellia’ is found in the southern foothills and Central Highlands at various altitudes but most sought after is the ‘High Grown’ for above 1200 metres, dry winds, cold damp nights and plenty of sunshine during the day provide the best conditions. Depending on weather and soil, like wine or whisky, each brand has its own characteristics, mellow or strong, golden or rose-tinted, light or rich, dark or bright.

Relaxing for a few days on the outskirts of Nuwara Eliya, at the very heart of tea country, we couldn’t have dreamed of a better place to enjoy the famous brew. Our luxury hotel was a beautifully converted tea factory which stood proudly on a hilltop, gleaming white, pierced by myriad windows where the view stretched for miles over plantations and hills. The old machinery has long been silent but it is lovingly preserved, bringing back all the flavour of bygone days, just like the tea which has retained its original English name. We slept in the old drying loft and hardly noticed the thunderstorm raging until the early hours across the mountains.

Tucked in the shadow of Pidurutalagala, the island’s highest peak, Nuwara Eliya is a nostalgic place sprinkled with quaint colonial dwellings, English lawns and flower gardens. In 1819, a British hunting party stumbled upon this secret paradise and before long, it was a popular summer retreat where the gentry came to rest and breathe the fresh mountain air. Early visitor Samuel Baker went one step further, importing vegetables and strawberries and even Hereford cattle to give the hill station an air of ‘Little England’.

Today, new lodges and stalls jostle along the highway, roaring trucks mingle with cycles, but the vegetable plots remain and visitors continue to come, eager to leave the heat and bustle of the beach for a round of golf, a flower show or a picnic on Lake Gregory.

Nature lovers are at ease in the Highlands for there are wonderful walks strung with stunning vistas and waterfalls, dizzying mountain passes and nature reserves teeming with wild life, from herds of elks or elusive leopards to bear monkeys, horned lizards and brightly-coloured birds twittering along the trails. You may spot a scarlet minivet, a sun bird, a yellow wagtail, a green tree warbler. Serious hikers explore the Knuckles Range or the windswept Horton Plains, gasping at the vertiginous gorge of the World’s End and its 1000 metre drop. Others scale the sacred Adam’s Peak to gaze at the Buddha’s footprint and the lovely butterflies which migrate here in the spring, in spectacular fashion, as if to pay their respect alongside the pilgrims.

Or you could settle for a leisurely stroll in the Hakgala Botanical Gardens dotted with lilies and ferns, conifers and rhododendrons. To the north, beyond Nuwara Eliya, the road winds down to the lovely hill town of Kandy and the Royal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya which claim over 4000 species of plants. Cocooned by lush hills, the ancient capital lures visitors with a long history and rich traditions while on the lake shore, the Temple of the Tooth welcomes pilgrims from all over the island. Everyone enjoys the local tea, ‘Medium Grown’, but distinctive and bright.

Meanwhile in the neat white factories sprinkled across the hills, work starts in earnest. The fresh leaves have arrived, as much as 30 kg per plucker, and no time must be wasted to ensure top quality. Leaves are dried in troughs, dropped into rolling machines to release juices and enzymes, spread out to ferment until they turn coppery brown then ‘fired’ in a hot air chamber. When they come out, fragrant and black, they have shed over ¾ of their original bulk. Finally, sifting sorts out the tea into grades according to particle size. Weighed and packaged, it is speedily dispatched to the Colombo Tea Auction where buyers and blenders rely on the skills of professional tasters to assess quality and price.

One sunny morning, we visited a factory to watch the process and inspect the different grades, from Orange Peckoe and Flowery with gold or silver tips to Fannings, and Dusts for tea bags, and we learned about the fruit and spice which may be used to add individual flavour and the many health benefits of both black and green tea.

‘If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are hot, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you,’ said British Prime Minister Gladstone in the 19th century. Bewitched by the promise of good health and the scent of roasting leaves lingering in the hills, we soon ordered another pot of delicious Ceylon tea.

Articles

• More from Solange Hando