02 October 2009

Tea Factory


Sri Lanka is famous for tea. Most of the tea come from the hill country of Sri Lanka as the geography and climate is ideal to produce the best in quality tea leaves. The tea was introduced by the British in the 19th century and it is popularly known as Ceylon Tea even nowadays. You can read more about Ceylon Tea in this link.

Tea estates and tea factories are common sights in the hill country and most of the hiking routes run through these tea estates. If you are lucky you can always hitch a ride in a tea truck rather than walking. It is interesting to stay a couple of days in a tea estate and learn the entire process of preparing tea for exports starting from plucking leaves.

The above picture of a tea factory was captured in Watawala area.

You can read more about the life of a tea planter here (written by Cerno) and some interesting memoirs of a tea planter in this link (written by Sigma).

21 comments:

Unknown said...

Greetings to Sri Lanka and have a nice weekend, Kirigalpoththa!
Steven from Germany

Always wonderful pictures of a mysterious country.

Bhavesh Chhatbar said...

Sri Lanka is amazing, and you have the art of expressing Sri Lanka.

I loved the photo and the information. Something new for me.

Photos from Kas Plateau

Anonymous said...

I love the photo and the links, too. Will use some in my next post about the factory tour. Fascinating, as I love tea (most new yorkers drink coffee. maybe americans, too). Am drinking some now! Thanks for the link. ~Anastasia

rainfield61 said...

Ceylon tea is so famous, older generation over here do call tea as Ceylon tea.

Prospero said...

This is such a beautiful property.

George said...

Thanks for all the interesting information about Ceylon tea and tea plantations of Sri Lanka. As a tea drinker I know how good your tea is.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Neat K.... I had no idea that Sri Lanka was famoous for their tea. George and I drink alot of different hot teas. We love them ---and know that the green teas are really good for us.
Betsy

Janith said...

great post K! I just love all those upcountry tea estates! :)

Sharodindu said...

Sri lanka is a great place. I love tea gardens very much...the pic in your post reminds me my visit to shiliguri tea garden ....
We have so much similarity...

betchai said...

i love tea, and that's a beautiful and peaceful picture.

poefusion said...

a post after my own heart. i love tea. i drink so much these days that i'm unable to sleep at night. i think it would be interesting to watch the tea process unfold from beginning to end. have a great night.

Salitype said...

ah yes, Sri Lanka is famous for its Ceylon tea! I haven't actually seen how tea plant looks like.

thanks for dropping by the salitype page! have a lovely day!

Tes said...

Are you kidding me, CEYLON tea is my favorite -especially Peach and mango tea! Yum!

This is a lovely shot. How nice to be working in a building that high above the ground. Work would feel like a vacation!

Good capture! :)

Kirigalpoththa said...

Steven D,
Greetings to Germany and have a great week!

Bhavesh,
Glad you like the photo and the information.
I went to some more interesting places recently. I will update them during next few weeks.

Anastasia,
Glad you find the links interesting. Read your post about the factory visit with great interest.

Rainfield,
Yes it is always better to go with the brand that is registered in people’s mind. That is why we still go with Ceylon tea :)

Prospero,
All tea estates are like that. They all are beautiful properties!

George,
Glad you like the post and good to know that you are a tea drinker like all sri lankans :)

Betsy,
Green tea is very healthy drink. A lot of people here drink green tea to stay slim. In fact what I’ve head is that It works for most of the people!

Chavie,
Yep, I just love the color of tea estates. You can’t beat the ‘green’ of a tea estate!

Sharodindu,
Glad to hear that you find similar area there too. I have heard Darjeeling is famous for tea and scenery is quite similar to Sri Lankan hill country.

Betchai,
Glad you like the picture!

Michelle,
I will try to bring a detailed version of tea process soon. Didn’t know tea is good for sleeplessness. But usually it is good to keep you awake!

Salitype,
You are welcome and I will try to bring a close-up picture of tea plant soon :)

Tes,
Yes tea is now cming with various flavors. I like iced tea too.

Thanks all for your wonderful comments!

Anonymous said...

Hey, not fair !!! Low grown tea is pretty good too. Have you a chance to savour the tea from Kuruwita, Rathnapura or from down south ? Usually the flavoured teas are the low grown variety and not the high grown.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Anonymous,
You have a valid point and thanks for reminding me that. I'll do the necessary changes :)

eileeninmd said...

Great post and photo of the tea factory. I am a tea drinker too and appreciate good and different teas. Thanks for the links and for sharing your scenic Sunday.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Eileeninmd,
You are welcome and thanks a lot for your comments!

Quilt Works said...

Thanks for sharing. Ceylon tea is definitely my favorite, so this was very interesting!

Kirigalpoththa said...

Quilt Works,
You are welcome and thanks a lot for your comments!

Anonymous said...

Guter Beitrag, nur Absatz zwei muss ich widersprechen!