Ingiriya Ceylon Tea Plantation

On Saturday, while still in Colombo, Sri Lanka, we took an excursion to a Ceylon Tea Plantation. Our trip involved a 2-hour drive from Colombo to the Ingiriya Tea Plantation. Our tour guide’s name was Don. Along the way, he shared some information with us about the city of Colombo and the country of Sri Lanka.

Unlike India where the main religion is Hindu, Sri Lanka's main religion is Buddhism. Sri Lanka is 72% Buddhist, 12% Hindu, and 5% Muslim. Don told us that Sri Lanka is “very rich with the water”, explaining why it is so green and lush. Between the rivers and the monsoons, there is much water to keep the country beautiful.

 

Don told us that the national tree of Sri Lanka is the Ironwood tree. Ironwood is the second hardest tree in the world. And of course, we still are seeing many of the beautiful Banyon trees that were so plenteous in nearby India.

Elephants are abundant here. Don said that there are 12,800 elephants in Sri Lanka (I wonder whose job it was to count them). He said that jackals and leopards are also very common. And there are 52 snake species in Sri Lanka, but only four are venomous.

In Sri Lanka, there are lowlands and highlands. Colombo and the coastal areas, of course, constitute the lowlands. A staple of the lowlands is rice and we passed many rice fields along our drive. 

Don said that it is very common for the people of Sri Lanka to eat rice three times a day. They eat curry rice for breakfast, some type of rice dish for lunch, and rice with vegetables for dinner. Sri Lanka is very rich agriculturally. Along with the rice fields, there are also lots mango and banana trees, and also cinnamon.

The staple of the highlands, which is a little further north and inland, is tea. There are many tea plantations in the highlands, where the tea is grown in the fields, picked, and manufactured, all right on the plantation. Sri Lanka tea is considered to be some of the world’s finest and is exported all over the world.

Along the drive to the tea plantation, we passed through a few small towns. These towns were very vibrant and bustling with activity. We drove through the main street, and the businesses – fruit stands, shops, cafes, clothing stands, etc. – were located right off the highway, where you could almost reach out and touch them. We also passed a few temples.

 

When we got closer to the tea plantations, the scenery changed dramatically. No longer were we in the low-lying flat coastal lands. We were now in the highlands, surrounded by beautiful green hills.

 

When we got close to the plantation, we turned off onto a narrow, rutted, one-lane road. A bus on this narrow road was interesting enough, without any drama. But then we came to a very narrow hairpin curve, where the bus had to back up a few times to complete the turn. A little further up the road, our progress was halted when the bus in front of us got stuck on the road which had now turned to dirt. We backed up and managed to turn around on a small side road. We headed back down to the main highway, negotiating our way around the hairpin curve again, this time going downhill. Once on the main highway, we drove a few miles further down the road and then pulled over. It was obvious that we were lost. Our tour guide and bus driver were on their phones and soon we headed back in the opposite direction until we took a turnoff that did not involve the aforementioned narrow road with the hairpin curve. As soon as we turned off the main highway, there was a man waving at us, and then he got into a black sedan, and headed up a road motioning for us to follow him. The plantation apparently had to send someone to find and guide us to the right place.

Once we reached the top of the hill upon which the tea plantation sits, we stopped at the Bungalow office to be treated to some tea and refreshments. We were served something that resembles pound cake, only a little sweeter, and our choice of different flavored teas. All the tea here is black tea. When I inquired about green tea, which is my favorite, I was told that the green tea making process is entirely different and because of that they don’t make any green tea here. There are different plantations for that. The pound cake and the tea, fresh from the factory, was delicious.  

 

As we sat under the trees enjoying our refreshments, there was a light breeze and the weather was very pleasant. We were told that we were sitting under a cannonball tree. Now if you’ve never heard of a cannonball tree, there’s probably a good reason for that. They’re not really good for anything much, according to Don. They bear a large, round, woody fruit which resembles a rusty cannonball, hence the name. But you can’t eat the fruit. The wood of the tree can’t even be burned because it just smokes but doesn’t burn up. We were also told that the tree that Buddha sat under when he sought enlightenment was a cannonball tree. So apparently it is good for something; it’s good for enlightenment, especially if you’re enlightened to not sit under one of the cannonball fruits in the breeze so as not to get hit on the head should one drop.

 

Incoming!!!

After our refreshment stop, we travelled a little further along the road to the tea factory, which we toured. Along the way, we drove through the fields where the tea was grown.

When we arrived at the factory, we were met at the gate by a couple of ladies who gave each of us a garland made of tea leaves. Then we proceeded into the factory where we viewed the different steps of the tea making process.

 

We were told that each worker must pick 21 kilos a day. They start at 6 in the morning and stop at noon. They bring the tea they’ve picked in large sacks to the factory, where they dump them for weighing. If they don’t have 21 kilos, they don’t get paid. At all. Not even proportionally. Someone asked Don how much the workers get paid for their 21 kilos that they pick, and he said, in US dollars it comes to about $5.

As soon as we stepped into the factory, we were met with an extremely strong smell of tea leaves (an explosion of the sense of smell!!!) 

When we entered one part of the factory, we were told that no pictures were allowed in that part. Don explained that in the past, people had taken pictures, and upon showing them to friends and family upon their return home, somehow word got out that proper labor laws were not being followed. So now they don’t allow photos. Joe’s translation of this: pay no attention to the slave labor.

The leaves that were brought into the factory by the tea pickers are left to dry out. After this, they go through a machine that separates the larger twig-like particles from the smaller parts. The smaller parts are then processed so that they become even finer. At this point, flavorings such as orange or cinnamon are added and then it is ready for the tea cup. The whole process of the tea crop being plucked, weighed, graded, tasted, bagged, and packed was very educational and enjoyable to watch.

 

After our visit to the factory, we walked down the road a short distance where we were treated to a tea-leaves picking demonstration. Two ladies who were field workers showed us how the tea crop is plucked, how they decide which leaves to pick and which to leave, etc. They then proceeded to pick them so swiftly that their hands were a blur of activity. When they had a handful of leaves, they threw them over their shoulder into the container they carried on their back.

 

After the tea-picking demonstration, we returned to the bus and enjoyed the scenery on the way back to the ship, this time without getting lost! We had a very enjoyable day both viewing the scenery of this lovely country and touring a tea plantation to learn more about the tea process, from field to table.