MY TEA TOUR & THE PRESENT SITUATION IN THE ISLAND:

I understand that there is some concern about the safety of travelling to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) at present with a number of reports that have been appearing in the press. I can only say that we have continued to travel to the island since 1991 and a large number of tourists who know the island keep returning to the island for their holidays. In all the years that this dispute has been going on to-date there has never been a direct threat to tourists and to date the Tamil attacks from the North & East have been directed at the forces, politicians and occasionally at public transport. On the tour that I have listed below we have our own transport in the form of private cars & the odd mini bus where it is required with drivers who are known to us.
It is my opinion that the island has no more of a threat level to tourists than there is in some European cities where the local population & tourists have been attacked.
Our own policy is to avoid any public meeting places, military, police or political rallies. The tour does not go anywhere near the A12 Puttalam - Trincomalee road which the Foreign office is concerned people should not venture above and we do not visit the Eastern area of the island or Yala. We are only in Colombo for a very short stay and then only to visit two buildings related to tea. Certainly it would be sensible to avoid travelling on the local public transport system as a precaution and that includes the trains. As I have already stated we shall be providing everybody with with vehicles and excellent drivers who know the areas to be avoided.
The rest of the tour is in the hills except for our visit to Polonnaruwa & Sigiriya which are both well below the A12 route in the North.
We are in close touch with our office in the island and we shall use that local ear on the ground to decide whether the tour goes ahead or not.
For those who have never visited the island it is a fascinating & very beautiful place with an extremely welcoming mixed ethnic population which includes Tamils.
I believe that the above is a balanced assessment based on our knowledge of the area and will help those wrestling with making a decision.

ESTATES - THEIR  TEAS  and  DISTRICTS

2006 LONDON INTERNATIONAL TASTE AWARDS:

It has been another great year for our teas - We have been awarded 2 GOLDS - 3 SILVERS - 1 BRONZE

Our special clone White Tea - Termed Silver Tips in Ceylon or Silver Needles was awarded a GOLD

Our Uva Seasonal Best Light - Was awarded a GOLD

Our Earl Grey Loose tea - Was awarded a SILVER

Our Earl Grey Tea bag tea - Was awarded a SILVER

Our Tippy Assam Loose tea - Was awarded a SILVER

Our Breakfast Single Estate tea bags - Awarded a BRONZE

WESTERN SEASON 2007:

This year has again been a particularly difficult one. This year we had good dry weather which lasted into April but unfortunately no wind of any consequence was experienced in February/ March when my colleague tested the initial manufacture runs. However late into the season some wind appeared and we were able to obtain a reasonable differential reading on the hygrometers.
Our policy has been to market special single estate teas from the season but we are increasingly seeing those estate names are appearing on standards from estates rather than using an estate name with some pride to declare a seasonal quality tea. The so called English teas will be struggling to maintain any quality at all.
In our opinion lower quality standards will be sold as estate teas this year at high prices which is likely to totally confuse the picture for consumers who are seeking the seasonal really top quality teas. The problem will be that even those top quality teas will have a little less flavour this year. Discerning consumers are going to have to very wary and selective when buying their teas.
Such dramatic weather changes in different parts of the world are going to create huge problems for several years after the event. We have already moved from a tea surplus situation in the limited number of countries that are able to produce high character teas to a tea deficit and that will be reflected in the price structure for more than one year. We shall be using all our experience to obtain the very best quality that is possible.


LATEST -- SPECIAL INDIVIDUAL TEA TOUR & HIGHLIGHTS OF SRI LANKA (CEYLON) 2009:

Below 5 * Taj Samudra Hotel
My colleague Manthi Delwita and I shall accompany the tour and be available at all times for any questions that you may wish to raise. We shall also provide a number of gifts for presentation at the various important stops at the estates and the Tea Research Institute (TRI) which we will ask a member of the group to present in appreciation of their visit. We will supply you with a number of information sheets relating to the tea industry, the history of the island and various places that you will be visiting. The TOUR IS A VERY COMPREHENSIVE BUT INDIVIDUAL LOOK AT TEA, SOME LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTS AND THE ISLAND WITH ITS LONG HISTORY AS THE CENTRE OF THERAVADA BUDDHISM.

The tour is scheduled to start on the 08th. February. 2009 from Heathrow, London for arrival in Colombo on Monday morning. Anybody traveling from another country who wishes to join the tour may do so so long as they are able to arrange to arrive in Colombo in time to book into the hotel where their reservation will be held and ready for a mid-day visit to the brokers on the Monday.
This particular time of year is ideal for the weather which should be dry and there are calmer seas. It is also the season for exceptional South/Western quality tea production which covers all the districts except Uva.

We have several people who have intimated that they wish to join us on tour but we shall be looking to achieve a group number of about 15 people in order to make this trip worthwhile for the estates and the TRI as these are all very busy people. Contact me direct if you wish to book places on the tour in order that I may supply you with a booking form, terms and conditions and sheets about the various hotels you will be staying at. We shall require a deposit on booking and the balance will be called for two months prior to leaving the U.K. We do not use a large coach for transport but provide the option of either a personal car or a mini bus with a driver where this is required. Both types of transport have air conditioning but the system can be turned off when required.

Picture above is of the rubber factory

I must emphasize at this point that this is a very special opportunity to be allowed into three totally different types of estate where the management will show you all aspects of estate life, including the ability to see the excellent provision that all estates make for the welfare of their workers as well as the economics and production of tea. These estates are extremely busy places these days and therefore the visits have to be timed well ahead and we try to take in groups that make it worthwhile for the estates to give us so much of their time and effort as I have mentioned above. There are many roadside estates where you can call in off the roadside but these are mainly set up for tourist visits with shops on site to sell their tea. The estates we visit are more off track and do not advertise visits.

The invitation to meet with the Tea Research Institute (the largest in the world for tea) is again a wonderful opportunity for those who are interested to see the work that they do and to ask questions of the scientists. Each day of the tour is not just about tea but mixed up with the beautiful scenery in the mountains and other activities such as the opportunity to climb 'Adam's Peak' at night to observe the break of dawn on the East coast. later in the tour we take you to shops for silk, wood craft and a well known family who mine the gem stones in this island. Finally we also cover the cultural aspects and history of the island by visiting several World Heritage sites including the second most important city in the development of the Singhalese culture, which reaches back to at least 450 BC and now thought to reach back another 500 years before that. This is not meant to be a cheap tourist package but an informative and enjoyable experience with a specialized access to the tea industry. The hotels vary from Colonial to very modern 5 * and are all on half board. The cost includes your flight and all transfers.

The three tours undertaken so far have all been a huge success and the groups seem to flourish when we get together each evening and reflect on the days events. You have the use of personal cars or where required a luxury mini van so that you can be have some independence to do other things, the main visits in the programme are timed visits and we need to be at these visits on time for the enjoyment of all.

Programme:

Day 1 (08th February): arrive Heathrow to board 10.25 a.m. flight.

Day 2:
Non stop flight to Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Arrive early morning. You will be met by your drivers and transferred to your Colombo 5 * hotel - Taj Samudra. At about 1.30 p.m. your drivers will arrive at the hotel to take you to the Colombo Tea Brokers who will show you the teas received from the many estates and districts for the auction the following day. They will talk about the characters, marketing and general economics followed by a session of tea tasting & questions. Back to your hotel at leisure until dinner in the evening or you may tour the city. Meet in the lounge/bar before dinner to discuss the trip ahead. Your stay is on half board here and at all the hotels on the tour.

Day 3:
After an early breakfast your drivers will arrive to convey you to the Tea auction where we will silently observe the dealing for a short period before setting off on the drive across the Southern part of the island to reach the Uva hills where your hotel is situated. The drive will take us until late afternoon with several stops on the way. You are invited to visit a well managed rubber estate, those who wish to, may visit a gem mine en route and we shall stop for drinks at mid-day at a suitable restaurant. You will be travelling through a low lying area immediately below the central highlands.

Day 4:
After breakfast we shall drive a short distance down a road that on a fine day has amazing views out over the rolling Uva hills out to the Eastern coastline and visit an extremely interesting community owned estate which under a management structure practices Biodynamic cultivation certified by Demeter and also Organic cultivation certified by IMO. We always receive a very warm welcome here and the management are keen to show us as much of their operation as possible. The estate is run for the benefit of the community who have a committee which decides on investment projects. After this visit we shall drive on our way to Nuwara Eliya to our next invitation which is the Tea Research Institute (TRI) where the Director has very kindly laid aside time for us to meet some of the scientists who will explain some of the projects which have made Ceylon teas some of the most sought after teas in the world and some of the developments that are in the pipeline for the future. Then drive to book into your hotel which dates from the British period and still retains something of a Colonial atmosphere up at 6,000 feet in elevation at the far end of Nuwara Eliya town which is known as Little Scotland'.

-- The picture above is of St. Andrews Hotel

Day 5:
After breakfast we shall drive to an extremely well managed estate in the famous Dimbula district where you be met by the Superintendent and given a comprehensive viewing of all the operations, including all aspects of worker welfare. You may visit the local Planters Club for a drinks break if you wish or else slowly return to your hotel in Nuwara Eliya for the night and take any photographs you wish travelling through some really beautiful scenery along the way.
Those who elect to climb Adam's Peak will remain in the area and be taken to a bungalow that the Directors have very kindly put at our disposal. You will be able to rest and eat there before being called at midnight to start the climb so that you arrive at the peak as dawn is about to break. This is an amazing experience that is only available at this time of year when the weather is suitable. You will need to discuss with me whether it would be advisable for you to undertake the climb as it will not suit everybody.

Adam's Peak

Day 6:
The Adam's peak climbers will return to their bungalow for breakfast and a rest before driving up to Nuwara Eliya town known as 'Little Scotland' where you will be able to visit the town and the surrounding sights or play golf if you can still swing a club! The other group will walk the Horton Plains. We shall hope to visit the Horton Plains National Park in the afternoon but the weather will determine the actual timing. Until 1988 this was just a wild area of grass plains and old jungle (rain forest) . Half way round there is a precipice (Worlds End) where the plain drops over 3,500 feet to tea estates below. The plains support a wide variety of Fauna with large Sambhur deer, leopard and many other species. This very high expanse of plains is an area that collects large quantities of water and then feeds various rivers flowing West, South, North and East. The largest river being the Mahaweli which sweeps down and around Kandy and then strikes North-East to Trincomalee where it reaches the sea. It was this major river that the early Singhalese culture some 2,500 to 3,000 years ago diverted inland with a series of canals to a huge complex of storage tanks or reservoirs all over the arid Northern area where they first settled. Notes on this will be provided on tour. We shall then make our way back down towards the hotel and you will be at leisure until dinner. The road crosses an amazing feat of British railway engineering where the railway runs to Badulla in Uva at a height of over 6,000 feet. Dinner at your hotel.

Day 7:
After breakfast leave the high mountains and drive down to Kandy (a World Heritage site) along a beautiful area via a winding road dropping fast from over 6,000 feet down to 1,700 feet to the town of Kandy which was the last capital of the King of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) when the British first arrived in 1796. Before entering Kandy we shall visit a family with a smallholding where they prepare a natural brown sugar called Jaggery obtained from the Kithul palm and you will be able to purchase this product if you wish. Next we will visit a small specialist estate which concentrates on green teas of various types. Kandy is a beautifully situated town with many facilities and places to visit. The tour also includes a visit to a silk store and a family business which mines, cuts and sells a large range of local gems. You will be staying at the 5 * Earl's Regency hotel which has an excellent swimming pool.

The Hotel above is the 5 * Earl's Regency at Kandy

Day 8:
After breakfast visit the world famous Royal Botanical gardens which were once an early form of research station for tea and then the headquarters for the Far Eastern Command during the 2nd. World War. In the evening there will be a visit to the 'Maligawa' temple of the tooth and a cultural dancing programme in the cultural centre. During your spare time you may visit the town where the King's palace was situated behind the temple and later converted to the use of the Governor and his staff, there is a large British church and nearby a fountain built with proceeds from the British planters for the use of the temple's and other visiting elephants. The town has two very good book shops. Craft & Batik shops, an interesting market and refresh yourselves in the Queen's hotel where many of the old planting families held their wedding receptions. Dinner at Earl's Regency.

Day 09:
You will have a free day so that you can visit the town, the surrounding area or just relax by the swimming pool. Your vehicles will stand by for your use or you can release your driver for the day. We will be able to arrange a visit to two significant temples outside the town called Gadaldeniya ( Circa 1344 AD) and Ambekke ( of interest for it's architecture) for those who wish to see them. The famous Trinity boarding school in Kandy has recently erected a Church of England church for it's students using the architectural features seen at these two temples. Dinner at Earl's Regency Hotel.

Day 10:
After breakfast we shall leave Kandy and head for the cultural triangle in the North where there are several World Heritage sites including the ancient cities that were the cradle of the Singhalese culture and Buddhism. On the way along the route we will visit a 2nd. Cent B.C. Buddhist rock temple where some ancient scriptures were written by monks and preserved for posterity. The present day monks will show you how they prepared the special type of leaf to write on. A visit to a major spice growing area where we will stop and you can enter a local smallholding. Then to Dambulla and a world heritage complex of caves from 1st. Cent BC with profuse frescoes and a large number of statues where a Singhalese king retreated to and sought sanctuary. You will be staying at the Chaya Village Hotel Habarana which is situated in the surrounding arid jungle country with small cottages laid out in the surrounding trees. The hotel has an excellent swimming pool and the last tour group were most complimentary about their stay here.

The picture above is of the Chaya Village Hotel complex

Day 11:
After an early breakfast visit the World Heritage site of Sigiriya where you can climb to the top or half way up this fascinating rock palace, visit the frescoes. The runaway King Kasappa resided here with his army and created an extensive complex of
gardens below the rock with water fountains laid along a long pathway. We will stop for refreshments at a restaurant that is known to us for a break and then proceed in jeeps into the Minneriya National Park to observe wildlife and in particular wild elephants. Here you will also be able to observe the largest tank or reservoir (Minneriya) which is part of a huge complex that once encompassed some 400 + tanks to irrigate and provide drinking water. This system was mentioned in the section on the Horton plains visit.

Picture above is of the Sigiriya Rock fortress

Day 12:
After breakfast visit the World Heritage site of Polonnaruwa City which was the kings' capital from the 11th. C. This covers a huge area with audience halls, hospital, large baths, huge statues carved from rock, the palace with surrounding stupas, shrines, an excellent museum etc. Having lost the ancient city of Anuradhapura which was the original cradle of the Singhalese culture to invading Chola tribes, they retreated and built Polonnaruwa along the lines of the old city but as a larger city with an even more impressive form. After the visit you will be at leisure until the evening. The hotel has an excellent swimming pool laid out amongst the an area of what is termed arid jungle which is less dense than the rain forest type. nearby there is also a small tank (reservoir for irrigation) which attracts surrounding wildlife.
Your hotel will still be the Chaya Village Hotel.
The picture above is of the King's Audience hall at Polonnaruwa

Day 13 to 17:
After breakfast leave the area and drive down to the Pinnawela elephant orphanage where orphaned elephants, rescued elephants from gem pits or elephants damaged by land mines are cared for. We aim to arrive in time for the feeding and the bathing routines. After this your drivers will take you down to Galle to your superb beach hotel which is the 5 * Lighthouse. You will be booked in by your drivers and they will depart to leave you to rest before the tour ends. Any further transport you may require whilst at the hotel can be booked through the hotel. The hotel has two swimming pools and a spa. Nearby is the town of Galle believed to be named as Tarshish in the Old Testament of the Christian bible. Situated on one side of the town on a promontory is the Portuguese/Dutch fort extending to some 90 acres, a massively imposing structure that you can visit.
Whilst you are at the hotel we will arrange a special tea tasting session when you will be able to taste latest teas that we shall obtain from the different districts to show you how the special season quality develops at this time of year. Several of the hotels in the island now provide our special seasonal quality loose teas as part of your half board deal.
You will be collected on the morning of the 17th. day (24th. February) and transferred to the airport for your flight home at 1.30 p.m.

The picture above is the 5 * Lighthouse Hotel at Galle

THE TOUR INCLUDES:
Your flight inclusive of all airport taxes and transfers from the airport in the island and back again.
Accommodation on half board basis at all hotels.
Transport in a private car or luxury mini van with the services of an English speaking driver/guide (Many of the drivers speak several languages).
Entrance fees to the places mentioned in the tour programme above including jeeps for the safari trip.

THE TOUR DOES NOT INCLUDE:
Lunches on tour ( lunches and snacks during the day will be provided at the bungalows as part of your full board stay).
The visit to the Galadeniya & Embekke temples.
Camera & Video permits at the cultural sights.
Expenses of a personal nature including tipping.
Adam's Peak climb which has an optional £25 charge.

Please remember that is not a normal commercial tour but one with a very individual format to it. Both my colleague and myself will be touring with you and available to give you a very detailed insight to everything that you see and do. The accommodation has also been carefully selected to give you a variety of experiences in where you stay.
£2,125 per person in an air conditioned mini bus
£2,190 per person travelling in an air conditioned private car for 2 persons.


Please note that it very important to receive early decisions on numbers as booking a group into accommodation and keeping it together can present definite difficulties. We have found from experience that keeping the group together does increase the enjoyment for all.

Please note that there is an extra payment required for single people occupying a room details available on application

Booking form plus terms & conditions will be supplied on application.

ESTATES AND THEIR DISTRICTS:

We have identified the different Districts by colour coding the packaging as in the table below:
Click on an Estate name to find out more information.

Two teas in the above table which come from two estates rather than a single estate:

BREAKFAST - This has been newly developed by us to try and present a heavier bodied Ceylon tea that has become popular in the U.K. We have aimed to retain some quality in spite of colour and body taking over.

KANDYAN  BLOOMS: - This is a new GREEN tea from a single estate that has been developed from a special plucking of the 'young bud and single next leaf'. The manufacture has been carried out in order to produce as little maceration as possible and retain both intact as much as possible. When brewed in water of 90 to 95 ^o F, the bud and leaf open like the bloom of a flower and produces a fairly soft. slightly sweet, light liquor. As with most specialist teas the process costs more than usual, there is a loss in yield and pluckers have to be compensated for lower plucking weights. 

AWARDS: (Guild of Fine Food Retailers Taste Awards - London)

1999 ( 1st year entered)
ELPITIYA G.P. 1 Spl Green Gunpowder Won a SILVER Award at the 1999 Awards.

2000
EARL  GREY  Won a GOLD Award at the Guild of Fine Food Retailers' Great Taste Awards 2000, held in London.
THOTULAGALA ORGANIC  Won a SILVER Award at the above event 2000.
IDDALGASHINNE ORGANIC O.P. 1 Spl Biodynamic Green. Won a BRONZE Award at the above event 2000.

2001
EARL GREY TEA BAGS won a silver award in the tea bag sector
St. JAMES F.B.O.P. won a silver award in the black loose tea sector
SPECIALIST GREEN KANDYAN BLOOMS won a bronze award
BRUNSWICK B.O.P. won a bronze award in the black loose tea sector
CHRYSTLER'S FARM O.P. 1 won a bronze award
No Gold award was awarded this year by the judges

2002
UVA HIGHLANDS F.P. Won a Silver award in the black loose tea sector
BREAKFAST BLEND B.O.P. won a broze award in the Blended tea sector

2003
MAHAGASTOTA (LOVER'S LEAP) F.B.O.P. won a silver award in the black loose tea sector
WESTERN NEW SEASON B.O.P. won a bronze award

Please note: Names vary, depending on whether the old or new names are used - Mahagastotte (old) is called Mahagastota to-day, gala at the end of an estate name is galla in old names and gala in modern spelling.  Gala  or galla means rock. The old names were used by the British and usually relate to a Tamil influence, or British spelling of the Sinhalese.

The Major districts are listed above but within each of these main titles there are a large number of sub Districts. Kandy is the largest and contains many of the early plantation districts such as Dolosbage,Kadugannawa,Hantane,Nilambe, Matale and Pussellawa. Dimbula includes Maskeliya. Like wine from vineyards. Teas will exhibit clear District characteristics.

The two paragraphs below marked with * or ** refer to the details about each individual estate on the estates pages where asterisks are shown:

* = Tamils , originally encouraged to settle here from S. India, where there was little work. In the coffee period before 1870 many came for the harvest in November and returned again. When tea arrived after the great disease crash, the need for settled and constant workers was created and the families began to stay and settle on the estates.

** = Resident workers = The worker, husbands on field works (some are pluckers), and wives as pluckers, plus working children of employable age, dependent young children and grandparents, all cared for from the cradle to their grave, including the cost of a coffin. The estate maintains living accommodation, and main services e.g. water from estate springs, schools, hospital, creches etc. Each estate contains a number of divisions, each division is like an English Parish village with surrounding lands.

What is an ESTATE?
A simple comparison that I often use, is to liken an estate to four or six English Parishes (villages). The estate land is equated to the farms in 4 - 6 parishes but are of course one whole estate. The village is the central housing for workers, supervisors and others in one division of an estate (an estate may have 3 to 6 divisions). The roads equate to village roads with supervisory paths in the tea being equated to village footpaths, that a motor bike can travel on. The estate manager is in charge of every aspect of those four or five villages.

Robert Wilson the second, in his planting days

Present day estates are often amalgamations of several old coffee estates. The estate may be known as say Le Vallon. However within Le Vallon are six separate divisions. Le Vallon is the main division and has a large factory for the manufacture of tea. It also has the main manager’s bungalow (used in the filming of ‘Elephant walk’), with the head office nearby with several clerks (preparation of the annual estimates that used to go to London but now to Colombo, records of works completed, records of expenditure, the montly calculation of each workers wages which we used to collect from the nearest bank which was often many miles away, once collected the wages were paid to each worker in Tamil by the S.D's (Junior managers). To-day most of the payments are made to worker accounts and avoid the carrying of huge sums of cash. There are many instances of where planters were waylaid by the felling of trees across the roads and attempts by villagers to snatch the cash. We used two routes to Kandy with three vehicles and each vehicle carried firearms. The senior division usually houses schools, Maternity ward, Dispensary (medical examinations and dispensation of medicines). It will also house the main stores for spares, stocks of timber for building, tools, foodstuffs for workers etc. It will have it’s own area of housing for the Tea-maker, division supervisors for field works and plucking and of course line houses or cottages for worker families. Situated around the main division will often be another one to six divisions. On le Vallon further down the government road is New Forest Division, (once a coffee estate in it’s own right). New Forest used to have another factory, now disbanded. Here again would be a junior manager’s bungalow, plus tea-makers bungalow, Supervisors bungalows, worker accommodation and some stores.

What is a DISTRICT?:

A district is an area defined over time rather like an English county. Morawak Korale is an ancient district and covers a large low country area from the foothills in the South to the sea. Nuwara Eliya is an area that would be described as akin to the highlands of Scotland. The tea is at high elevation with the town at 6,000 feet in a high plateau. Each district is at a different mean elevation and that is mirrored in it’s teas.

What is a QUALITY TEA?:

The very highest quality teas will have been made in special seasons. e.g the ‘first flush’ of Indian Darjeeling teas. Or the Western quality season for Ceylon Dimbulas, Maskeliyas,Dickoyas, and high Pussellawas. The Nuwara Eliya season. The Uva season with a special wind. All other districts of Ceylon teas need to be made in a long dry spell for the highest quality. Some 4 weeks of continuous dry weather produces teas of exceptional quality. The leaf is picked each week but by the fourth week the bushes are sufficiently dessicated to give a concentrated and very brisk tea liquour or infusion. In the specialist seasons other factors play their part as well such as hot winds which again add that extra fascinating 'something' sometimes called 'je ne sais quoi'.

For leaf, look for good ‘bloom’(sheen), good even curl or twist, a lack of dust. However tea is never simple and the really top quality well made high growns will have a brownish almost stalky appearance because of the special manufacture at that time and this is the mark of quality for those teas. This is where we see begin to see how far away special quality teas are away from the general commercial fairly low quality teas packed in appealing packaging so as to draw the consumer with the old haunting names of teas when they had their own estates, most of which merely market commercial quality these days stacked on supermarkets shelves to confuse and divide the consumer.

For Infusion, look for aroma. Brunswick made in the Western Quality season will allow you to inhale the smell of a factory rolling room if you lift the lid of a tea pot after 3 minutes brewing. Look for brightness of the brew and extreme clarity. Rainy season teas will have a muddy flat look and taste flat.

For the liquor consumed, look for brightness and briskness. Almost a bite on the tongue, the feeling of the taste buds rising and general feeling of activation on the palate. This leads to a real quenching of thirst, relaxation of self and a general feeling of comfort. A poor tea will exhibit a flat wetness, that maybe hot but little else. The average U.K. catering tea falls into this area. This sort of tea will be near the price of water but something that really lifts you and calms you is worth a lot more and cost a lot more for the estates.

As consumers accept the present trend to convenience (tea bags) and the boring convenience teas, the less ‘sexy’ or exciting tea has become. My opinion is that this is the cul de sac that the marketing fraternity have driven consumers into, in the interest of tea being more acceptable to all. Like all things there is a need to inform consumers and lift their sights and palates to experience the really ‘sexy’ teas that come from estates. Even if you buy the cheapest boring form of tea at present, I urge you to try a new quality tea, read up about where it comes from, think of the structure that has brought you that tea and then quietly play with your palate and swill the new tea around your mouth. It may shock you to start with but as you drink more, your palate will adjust and be open to other flavours. This is what happens with brand imaging, once used to a certain brand day in, day out, you will find it difficult to widen your experience. I remember visiting a tea shop, where a consumer was drinking a Darjeeling tea as it happens and remarked, ‘what is this muck, I cannot drink this’! My firm belief is, that had she given it a fair trial over say a week, she would probably seek it out as different and enjoyable. Of course some teas will never suit some people but the appreciation of tea, certainly in the U.K. is near rock bottom, except for a dedicated band of all ages who understand tea and therefore derive great pleasure from expanding their experience of it.

Tea Bags:

For tea bags, we suggest that the finest leaf is a B.O.P.F. grade. This will give a tea of excellent taste and a delicacy of balance. Please remember though that you cannot convey the flavours of quality loose teas, to tea bags, neither can you brew any grade above a B.O.P.F. successfully.

In the early days papers with chlorine chemicals were used. However most papers to-day are perfectly satisfactory and and safe. It makes no difference if the bag is silk or paper to the brewing. Neither does it make any difference as to what size or shape the tea bag is. The most successful tea bag is a glazed tea pot and loose leaf, with instantaneous contact between boiling water and the leaf. Recently we have seen the appearance of transparent tea bags for fruit and flower addition to teas. Again this is a marketing trend which undoubtedly is attractive and shows the contents. Unfortunately the contents cannot be called teas of the highest quality. For flavouring, addition of fruit pieces and flower petals fairly low quality teas are used.

Description of the DISTRICTS:

The areas associated with the estates which may help in understanding where these teas come from:

1. MORAWAK KORALE: Matara: - Relevant to * Galaboda & * Uruwela estates

Low grown tea. This area has changed considerably over the years:

* Please note that this is total area production and not just Matara and Galle.

In the 1950’s this whole area produced approx 20 % of total production, by 1985 it overtook high grown production for the first time and has continued to soar since. In 1995 the privately owned estates from this area accounted for 63 % of low grown tea marketed.

*Both the above estates are near Matara and close to the Southern coast. This represents a mushrooming of small private owners expanding to meet the increasing export demand for these large leafy black teas whose FBOB’s are very tippy. The area extends to other areas right around to Colombo, with areas such as Ratnapura.

As explained at the Galaboda Estate page, the town was important to the Dutch with two forts and a church from that time. The town is situated on the Nil ganga  (Nil = Blue,  Ganga = river) which flows into the sea four miles from Dondra head, the southern most tip of the island. It has an excellent rest house. Rest houses are a peculiar phenomena in the island. They were little bungalows built about every 10 to 12 miles along every road in the island and were for travellers, in those days usually on horseback or in carriages. Many were also used as shooting lodges. Each maintained a skeleton staff to cook and provide meals, with usually two to four bedrooms, Matara has seven. There used to be a large fence of stakes in the river to keep the crocodiles away and make it safe for swimming.

  The area is famous for lace making, a huge variety of fish and almost every conceivable product from Coconuts, paddy (rice), betel, pepper, plantains (bananas), Cinnamon , citronella and is also on the edge of the important area from Kalutara to Weligama, the next village. This area is famous for it's very high grade plumbago for the making of pencil lead and used as a lubricator. It is of interest that further in land from this area is again the world famous area of Ratnapura where a great variety of gems are mined. This whole area is mainly a lowland area. It also contains one of the best jungle and wild life reserves in the island, the Sinharaja rain forest.

KANDY: Relevant to Elpitiya Green tea Gunpowder + Pussellawa.

* = Production figures for whole district not just the above sub areas.

  The above are sub districts of the large Kandy District. This was the cradle of the first plantations, especially Gampola. From this early time the soil has become less productive and eroded in areas and there has been a carving up of estates to return lands to villagers for cultivation of other crops. Thus the decline in tea. The teas of the area have good colour and redness of liquor but not much character. They are much used in the blending of teas worldwide for their colour and briskness and quality. This important area gave birth to the first coffee estates and then again tea after the demise of coffee. Dimbula is sometimes quoted as the area where tea first started but this is totally incorrect.

As we move on to the Southern edge of Kandy along the Gampola to Nuwara Eliya road the areas rises steeply at Pussellawa and passes on to the Ramboda pass. Hellbodde and Melfort are Pussellawa teas and exhibit the much sought after character that develops here, this is a depth of body in the liquor and a malty flavour, akin to Assam teas.

Gampola town is highly significant to the Sinhalese in that it was founded by one of their kings in 1347 when their kingdom was on the move from Tamil incursions and several kings moved their seat of power to new areas. The king reigned there for nine years only and there are still some remains to-day of the area he occupied. It was also significant to the British in that it is further up from Kadugannawa the main pass into the highland fortress kingdom and one of the first roads cut to communicate with Colombo. Largely why the coffee plantations started around this town, moving on into the mountains.

Kandy of course was perhaps even more significant as the highland capital, seat of the final Kings and also home to the Maligawa temple (Temple of the tooth), based exactly on the original Maligawa temples in the original cities in the north A/pura and P/nnaruwa. The great Victoria dam, built by the British stretches from Kandy down to Urugala in the East.

WESTERN Quality: Dickoya, Dimbula and Maskeliya.

Relevant to Brunswick, Christler’s Farm, St.Coombs and Mayfield estates

This area is lumped together with high grown statistics. The area has lost some acreage and is threatened by modern heavy type teas. This is an area renowned for character and quality in the Western season. Western season relates to a quality period that can run from December to March/April and is driven by the dry weather between monsoons that comes to this area at that time. Beautiful hilly countryside with flashes of bright colours
from variety of flowering plants and trees, dotted with tumbling waterfalls and the much venerated Adam's peak mountain. All this provides a spectacular back drop to many of the estates. Then there are the high Horton plains that are the source of the Mahaweli Ganga (longest river). These plains are a very large area of grassy plains & thick jungle, home to a wide variety of wildlife including Sambur (Elk) deer and leopard.

Adams Peak, lowlands to Colombo

Adam's Peak  - relevant to Brunswick estate and it's view.

12 miles in a straight line from Hatton town and railway station. The town is situated in a high plateau. Adam's Peak is highly venerated and draws a huge flow of pilgrims from many faiths. The hardest and normally used approach to the top is from the famous gem mining lowlands of Ratnapura to the S/West. The Bhuddists claim the large human like foot print at the top is that of Bhudda, the Hindu's claim it is that of Siva and the Mohammedans claim it is that of Adam (of Adam and Eve fame).

Ashreef a Persian poet, tells us that the chains fixed in the precipice section were fixed by Alexander the Great in B.C.330 when he visited the island. Marco Polo referred to them from his visit to Serendib as it was called in 13thC. On reaching the top usually during the night and awaiting the dawn for the spectacular sunrise, a huge triangular shadow of the mountain is cast out across the area below, as the first rays of the sun come up. The view spreads out for some forty miles over undulating land to Kalutara on the coast and spread from Matara in the South to Colombo in the West. the rivers appearing as cords of silver. Then round to the great circle of mountains that form the Kandyan kingdom in North and East.

Sir Emerson Tennent wrote: ‘ No other mountain presents the same unobstructed view of land and sea.’

NUWARA EIiya: 

The highest elevation teas.

Production for total High growns, includes Uvas and Western quality:

Kilos:                
1965 = 91,532,694
1994 = 118,060,000
1997 = 83.77 million
1998 = 77,390,000 = Decline.

The great ‘Champagne’ tea area, with tea ranging from 6,000 feet to over 7,000 feet in height. It borders the South western bulge of Dimbula, Maskeliya and Dickoya and takes over across the central highland mass across to Uva in the East. It’s season comes from November to January for the great quality tea.

Udapussellawa:  -  In the Nuwara Eliya main District  - relevant to Kenmare estate.

To reach Nuwara Eliya by car there is the famous Ramboda pass, a spectacular feat of engineering. To reach Nuwara Eliya by train one has to travel to Nanu Oya (oya = stream) and then travel on to the town.  Nanu Oya is the most spectacular pass of all. It was at Nanu Oya that Alexander Brown  ( already mentioned as a family member), constructed a bridge in the first place before the railway arrived. At one point the line makes an ascent of one thousand feet in six miles.

The winding curves to accomplish this are the most intricate seen in the island. It passes through a steep gorge through Edinburgh estate and eventually opens onto the Nuwara Eliya plain lying at the foot of the tallest peak in the island called Pidurutallagalla at 8,280 feet. At 6 degrees North above the equator, the temperature is 57 F degrees. The area used to support large numbers of Elk and also the Leopard. The plain has four gaps. One on the N/East to Kotmale District. Next the S/East  to Uva Province. one to the West to Dimbulla district finally one to the East to Uddapussellawa and then Kandapolla. Leading out to the East is a precipitous shoulder of mount Pidurutallagalla called Lovers Leap. Legend has it that a Kandyan prince became attached to a maiden of low caste and when the King heard of it they fled, pursued by the King's soldiers.

Seeing no hope, it is said that they embraced and leapt from the precipice. The railway line used to cut  through Udapusssellawa and Kenmare estate to Kandpola at the edge of the mountains overlooking the Uva slopes at 6,316 feet it had the distinction of being the highest point reached by the Government railway but it is no longer in operation. It passed from Nuwara Eliya out through the gap past the military reserve up a steep incline sharing the carriage road for most of the distance. On the way it passed the famous estates of Pedro, Mahagastota, Lovers' Leap. The bushes enjoy the cool conditions but the pluckers of Nuwara Eliya must think that they live in a land of considerable cold, rain and mist, it has often been said that the Nuwara Eliya pluckers look miserable compared to other pluckers.

It must be said that at times they do have reason to be miserable.  They must yearn at times to be in Dimbulla or Kandy. Shortly once through the gap the temperature changes and becomes much milder almost passing into Uva. here the bushes seem to thrive as we pass Kenmare and then St.John's. Cave, recorded bushes measuring sixteen feet in diameter. Here close to St.John's and down to Brookside the line descends some 1,300 feet in four miles suddenly. In the days of coffee, packs of hounds were kept to hunt Elk deer up and down these steep rocky chasms. Here on the very edge of this mountain mass overlooking Uva and the lowlands beyond where lies the Bintenne area half way to the Eastern coast, the home of the last remnants of stone age cave dwellers of the island still live and hunt, they are called Veddahs. It is believed that up to about the 1950's pure blooded descendants could be seen but with increasing intermarriage this had been lost. Over half way to the coast is Westminster Abbey a large rock at a place called Govinda Hela.

UVA Eastern highlands
Relevant to Ambagasdowa, St. James, Uva Highlands, Iddalgashinne and Thotulagala.

The central highland mass runs from Matale in the North, through Kandy and Gampola, rising right up to the Nuwara Eliya heights and then on through the Horton plains to Balangoda, and slopes right away down to Matara , something like a central spine of hills and particularly tea growing. Out to the east lies a long deep valley that divides the central massif from the undulation hills of Uva. Uva lies in the broad bulge where the island is at it's widest and appears as if broken away from the central mass. This is an undulating area of hills and valleys almost reaching to Bibile rock and Moneragala. Within the bulge district names such as Badulla, Passara, Hali-ela, Welimada, Bandarawela, Diyatalawa, Haputale and Madulsima, make up the Uva district. A mix of Uva Province and Badulla District.

This is the world renowned Uva district. A very different area from the other tea districts. It is a champagne tea area like Nuwara Eliya (Kenmare) but it experiences a very individual wind called the 'Cachan' a drying wind coming in from the North/East. It traditionally arrives at the end of July to the middle of August. However with recent variability in weather patterns, 1997 saw the wind arrive in the first week of September. The wind has the effect of making the bush sense a state of drying and therefore the leaves close-up and the leaf chemicals concentrate into the lowered fluid levels in the cells of the leaves and when picked this concentration conveys a very concentrated high balance of flavour brought out in the rolling process. The prices of the teas at this time rise dramatically and are fought over by the Germans and Japanese. Outside this period the prices drop and flavour is very much lower in intensity. In order to produce the finest release of this flavour, the factories concentrate on BOP and BOPF grades during the high season and large grades are totally frowned upon by the estates and their management's. It takes an enormous amount of pressure to change this policy. Making FBOP grades at this time badly affects the BOP manufacture and the price of that grade, requiring alternative marketing.

 The 'Cachan' wind sweeps across Uva, then down and around the central massif expiring at Balangoda having brought it's flavour concentrating hot breath to the bushes. Evocative names such as Glen Alpin, El Teb (Captain Gordon’s estate),  Spring Valley, Kinross, Sutherland, Westmorland and Yelverton.

The above information was compiled by Robert Wilson, of  Robert Wilson's 'Ceylon' Teas.U.K. and may not be used or copied without his permission and reference to source. 1998.

home | company | estates | tea drinking |