Highlights
- Walk the tea covered hills and learn how tea is made
- Tea bushes are pruned to about 1.5 metres
- Only the bud and young leaves are picked for the factory
- See leaves dried, rolled, fermented and graded
- Finished tea is packed and stored for shipping
Overview
Tea is the defining crop of Sri Lanka's hill country. Around Nuwara Eliya, Hatton, Haputale, Bandarawela and Kandy, neat rows of tea bushes cover the slopes, and many estates welcome visitors to see how Ceylon tea is grown and made.
A short history
Coffee was the main plantation crop under British rule until a leaf disease destroyed the plantations in the 1870s. Tea was planted at the Peradeniya botanical gardens in the 1820s, and in 1867 James Taylor started the first commercial tea plantation at Loolecondera estate, near Kandy. Planting spread quickly across the hills, and Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, became one of the world's leading tea producers, a position it still holds.
In the plantation
Tea bushes are pruned to about waist height, forming a flat "plucking table". Pluckers, mostly women, pick the two youngest leaves and a bud by hand, filling baskets carried on their backs. The finest young leaves have a silvery down, which gives the word "pekoe", from a Chinese word for fine hair. Some tours let you try plucking alongside the pickers and learn about their lives.
In the factory
- Withering: fresh leaves are spread in long troughs while fans blow air through them for many hours, removing moisture and softening the leaves.
- Rolling: machines roll and break the leaves, releasing their juices.
- Fermentation (oxidation): the broken leaf rests in cool, humid air, turning coppery and developing flavour and aroma. Timing is carefully controlled.
- Drying: hot-air dryers stop the oxidation and turn the leaf black, giving black tea.
- Sorting and grading: stems are removed, and the tea is sieved into grades by size, from whole leaf grades to fannings and dust.
- Packing: the tea is packed in bulk for auction and export.
Visits usually end with a tasting and a shop.
High-grown tea
Tea from the highest areas, such as Nuwara Eliya, is light and delicate, while lower-grown teas are stronger and darker.
How long it takes
About an hour for a factory tour; half a day with a plantation walk.
When to go
Factories work all year, but processing is often most active in the morning. Some close on certain days; check locally.
Practical tips
- Some factories limit photography inside.
- Ask before photographing tea pluckers.
- Wear shoes with grip on estate paths.
See the Nuwara Eliya city tour or a tea factory near Galle. Join our Kandy to Nuwara Eliya day tour, or see things to do in Nuwara Eliya and Nuwara Eliya hotels.
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