Ella Enchanting

The Lonely Planet Guidebook on Sri Lanka promotes the tiny town of Ella as a destination for tea and hiking. With a couple of days to spend in this mountain retreat, we hoped to mix a bit of these activities with some relaxation and homework catch-up for the kids.  

Now finding a tea plantation is not a challenge at all here - they seem to cover the hills all around central Sri Lanka, but not all operations are open to the public. Our tuk-tuk driver knew where to take us, though. 

But the going was steep, and it was touch and go for a while as to whether the little machine would get us up those hills. At one point I thought I would need to get out and push, but a quick photo break to capture the view gave the little engine some time to cool down and we eventually arrived at the tea factory.

The Uva Halpewatte tea company is one of the larger operations in the area, churning out over 10 million kg of tea annually, and it welcomes the public for tours of their factory. 

At least someone out there is passionately committed to fulfilling my desires.

The factory tour was very interesting, and the most memorable feature was definitely the smell - an incredible aroma of tea permeates the entire facility. Unfortunately they do not allow photography during the visit, so I could only sneak this one picture of the actual process.

We were walked through the entire 5 stages of production: withering, rolling, fermenting/oxidation, drying, and packaging. And not once during the entire manufacturing is anything added. It's just tea, pure and simple.

Throughout these various steps, our tour guide would grab bunches of tea leaves to let us smell them and feel their texture. After which, to our surprise, he would just toss them back along the conveyor belts and sorting bins. I don't recall us washing our hands when we arrived, so some lucky customers may notice a slightly different flavour when the batch from April 10th makes it into their cup!

Back at the gift shop. So far in our travels Anne and Owen have added two 'must have' items to their Christmas wishlists: massage chairs and a tuk tuk. Those are pretty tough orders to fill, kids. But secretly I would love to have a tuk tuk back home - it would be fun to zoom around the North Shore in one of those.

The tasting room allowed us to sample some of the company's finest back tea. I would like to say that it had the most amazing flavour, given that it came directly from downstairs, but it tasted like any normal cup of tea. But the view of the surrounding hills made it a bit more special.

Back to town for a quick bite to eat. We'll need some energy if we're going to tackle any hikes. Food here in Sri Lanka is great - a little spicy for the kids, but there are always some milder options.

....hey, wait a minute! How many Adam's Peaks are there?

A pleasant stroll through the tea plants inspired me to try my hand at picking. Not sure this is my calling. In reality the work is backbreaking and poorly paid. The pickers, almost always women, earn only about $5 per day for their labours, and have to deal with leeches and poisonous snakes. Sounds like an intern job at a law firm!

This is the fertilization process. Watcha looking at, buddy?

There better be an ice cream at the end of this hike, Daddy!

We made it - while not as incredible as the big climb from a few days before, it was still a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. Now it's time for ice cream.

Back at Sunnyside it was time to say goodbye to a new friend....

....play a bit of tennis....

...and finish the day with, what else? a good strong cuppa.

We'll post again when we can, but we may be out of internet range for a bit. Tomorrow we head to Udawalawe National Park for a safari, and then it's down to the southern coast for some beach time. Bye for now!