Tea for Two ... and more

Kandy is a noisy sprawling city of about 135,000 people. Yesterday we saw the highlights so today we thought we'd take it a little more sedately and check out a tea plantation & processing factory.  We checked with reception on realistic prices and headed downstairs to the footpath after breakfast looking for a driver to take us out to the factory, wait and then bring us back.  We were soon approached by a local tuk tuk driver asking if we need a ride and after some quick negotiations and we were off.  WE thought we'd been quite clear, no we don't want a tour, just the tea factory! Ok, ok,  price agreed, we go!  

It usually takes a few days for my internal compass to kick in, and having google-mapped this factory, I was a little amused when we headed off in what I suspected was the opposite direction.  OK - maybe he knows some sneeky way out of the city.  

What we ended up with was a tour, what he did not end up with was the 'new' price at the end.  Big mistake, cos he also did himself out of our fare to the train station tomorrow morning!

Our first stop on leaving the noise of Kandy behind and waiting for the little tuk tuk to completely bust a gasket up and down the steep hills was the Halloluwa Bridges over the Mahaweli river.  A road bridge and pedestrian suspension bridge sit side by side over this stretch of Sri Lanka;s longest river.  Its really quite beautiful and in the distance we could see guys on small barges dredging up shovels-full of river silt in search of sapphires.  That should have been a hint.

Back in the tuk tuk and along a fairly narrow road that flanks the river gorge below.  A quick detour to the Kandy War Cemetery.  Maintained like all commonwealth war cemeteries in pristine condition by the War Graves Commission.  No Aussies but English, Sri Lankan, Indian and South African soldiers lay at rest here as a result of WW2 fighting between the Allies & the Japanese.

  

The little tuk tuk spluttered up a hill and we stopped at the top for a spectacular view of the Mahaweli barrelling down over rocks.  No guard rails so I was very careful taking this photo.

Once again the driver mentioned sapphires … hint #2 missed.

Because our next stop was a gem museum and showroom.  Not exactly what we had in mind when we set out this morning but we figured as long as it was free we'd play along.  A sort video on the history of gem production in Sri Lanka and it was off to the museum section where a very pleasant young lady told us all about the different kinds of gems mined here and then showed us through the cutting & polishing room and the jewellers at work.  I could sense what was coming next (probably so can you!) because our next stop was the showroom.  Gleaming glass cabinets, attentive assistants and lots of other western tourists - no prizes for what was expected of us next.  How wrong they were!

A group of Russian ladies seemed to be having a lovely time and no doubt some credit cards took a battering in that room.

Finally we reached the place we really wanted to see - the Geragama Tea Estate and processing factory.  Free tours and tastings and the opportunity to purchase tea - no problem with the opportunity - its when there is an expectation that I get pissed off!

We will have the opportunity to see larger plantations in Ella so declined the offer of a walk round some of the plantation. and headed straight into the factory.  Our lovely little guide explained the difference between black tea, green tea, silver and gold tea and then showed us how black and green tea is produced.  Black & green tea is their staple product - and around 3,500kg of black tea is produced here monthly.  That 3,500kg starts life as over 7,000kg of hand picked tips.

Freshly picked shoots/tips are transported to the factory via tractor then via an overhead gantry to the drying room.  Spread out on long mesh trays the leaves are dried (gentle fans underneath) for 22hrs then turned over for another 22hrs.  

Most of the steps are heavily people orientated - women in hairnets all over the place attending to various processes.  From the initial drying racks, the tea is loaded into crates and dumped down a shoot which takes it to the rolling machines on the floor below.  

The leaves and stalks are rolled (look closely at good quality loose leaf tea and you'll see the evidence) for about 20minutes without added pressure and the small delicate tips break off the stalks.  

The next machine separates the leaves from the stalks and the larger leaves dry and break into smaller pieces.  Following this a 'modern' machine (with some kind of electromagnetic charge) picks up the stalks which are re-processed (to get 'dust' for your tea bags) and then sent out to be mulch on the tea plants on the hillsides.  Black tea is 'fermented' under heat for 20 minutes before the tea is graded, bagged and sent to the Colombo Tea Auctions.

At the auctions, companies like Dilmah (who do not actually OWN any plantations) buy the loose leaf, then blend it to get their own particular taste.  

It was then upstairs to the tasting room - nothing scientific at all, large tables laid out as if for morning tea where we were offered a cup of black Orange Pekoe tea.  Not being tea  drinkers it was probably a waste, but nice all the same.  Daughter Lauren is a tea drinker so we bought some for her.

Back in the tuk tuk, we thought we'd be heading back to town but the driver had other ideas, stopping at a Spice Garden (though that got nuked very quickly) and an attempt at a carving workshop and a suggestion for a lunch restaurant before finally getting the message.  

We spent the afternoon wandering around town, with me drooling at saris & shalwars and Tony on the hunt for a white linen shirt.

Tomorrow we're off to Ella on the train.  It supposed to be among the most scenic train trips so we should be in for a treat.