Took this picture from a car when driving one of narrow roads in the southern Sri Lanka and noticed two wild peacocks showing off to a female, quite a show.
Tea plantation in the central Sri Lanka
Hills in central Sri Lanka are covered with tea bushes. Some of the most well know tea growing regions in the Central Sri Lanka are Kandy, Hatton, Nuwara Eliya.
Nuwara Eliya is also a city in the Central Sri Lanka and its name means “city of light”.
Women tea pluckers in the mountains of Sri Lanka
Most tea pluckers collecting young tea leaves at Sri Lankan plantations are women of Tamil origin, many brought by British from India at the end of 19th century to work on tea plantations.
Tea Pluckers of Sri Lanka
People working to collect tea leaves from the tea bushes in Sri Lanka are called pluckers, from the plucking activity, typically taking the bud and the next two leaves. Most of tea pluckers in Sri Lanka are women but I was able to find a man plucker at the Pedro Estate, Nuwara Eliya, Central District.
Ceylon Tea Grades in Sri Lanka – OP, BOP, FBOP,..
Ceylon black tea from Sri Lanka follows the official grading system, from the large, wirely leaves, to small broken pieces. Tea leaves actually follow the same production process and grading takes place at the very end.
Most popular grade are:
OP – Orange Pekoe
PE – Pekoe
BOP – Broken Orange Pekoe
FBOP = Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe
The lowest grade, with the smallest particles is called Dust, typically used in teabags.
To try these teas, check the website of TEAPLUSUS
Tea plucking in Sri Lanka
Plucking of tea leaves in the Sri Lanka plantation is done by hand, not a machinery, is typically done by women and the rule is ‘bud plus two leaves’. History of Sri Lanka Tea.
High-rise in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Lots of new construction taking place in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. Many of these are real high-rise building. Here on the picture the luxury hotel in Colombo, Shangri-La and in the most right corner of the picture, a new high-rise construction.
On the second picture below, the Colombo downtown and several new high-rise building visible in the back of the parking lot.
Sri Lanka Tea Board
Sri Lanka Tea Board is the government body, based in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. It is responsible for the quality of tea exported from Sri Lanka and controls both the tea exporters and tea exported. To be a tea exporter in Sri Lanka, one must have a licence issued by the Tea Board. Read more on the history of Ceylon tea.
Vegetables growing region of Sri Lanka
The Nuwara Eliya region of Sri Lanka, besides being the tea country, is known for growing vegetables. This due to its cooler climate. The main city of the region, having the same name, has the elevation of 6,129 ft (1,868) and average high temperature in February of 70 deg. F (21 deg.C), whereas in the country’s capital, Colombo it is 89 def.F.(31.7 deg.C).
These pictures was taken from a side of the road stand, on the road leaving Nuwara Eliya city.
Banana trees in Sri Lanka
It is easy to get a banana in Sri Lanka – they can grow next to your house, at least if you live in the countryside.
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