Steeped in Ceylon
Tea in Sri Lanka, it turns out, grows on slopes that seem personally offended by gravity.
These photos capture hte steep green waves of the highlands- and the remarkable women who pluck leaf by leaf with far more neck strength and balance than I can imagine. Consider this visual proof that your morning cuppa could easily begin somewhere wildly vertical. Enjoy.
Gary climbing the hill on the small road through the middle of a tea plantation
Leaf bags hang from the foreheads of the women who pick tea. Each bag full should weigh close to 20kgs before they take it for weighing at the processing plant.
Women waiting to be picked up and taken to their next picking area by the company bus.
Thomas Lipton himself and yours truly
Trees are left scattered about the tea fields to provide much needed shade for the bushes.
LIne houses where the pickers live
The day we got very muddy and very wet.
No beverage is more important to Sri Lanka or our UK friends than tea. See what we learned and how all this exposure to tea has impacted me and Gary. Enjoy!