Experience Overview

Tea tourism has been long-established in Sri Lanka and almost every tea factory offers a tea tour of some sort. The tours don’t take too long and can be done en route whilst you are travelling through the tea country. Your guide can help you pick out a suitable tea factory based on your route or preferences. Once in the tea factory, you would generally start out in the plantation itself to learn about how tea is cultivated, then visit the factory where ancient machines pre-dating the industrial revolution wither, roll and dry the tea. There is normally a little time at the end of the tour for a tea tasting, either of one specific type of tea or occasionally of the various specialties of that particular factory. Much like a wine tasting, a traditional tea tasting would involve drinking tea (without milk), swilling it around the mouth to get the taste, and then spitting it out into a spittoon. A few tea factories stick to these traditional methods, although the spittoon method is not so popular these days! Some of the larger tea factories can get extremely crowded with tourists so do be prepared for the fact that this is a very touristic experience, but entrance costs are usually nominal or free, and it’s definitely worth your time to pay a visit, even if only to get a chance to see the antique machines at work. If you would prefer a slightly more private tailored experience, this can be arranged by your travel consultant.