Tea Factory Tour from Nuwara Eliya

Follow Nuwara Eliya tea from the bush to the cup on this tour from your hotel: a plantation walk, a tea factory, a guided tasting and Ramboda Falls. Grown slowly at high altitude in cool air, this is the palest of the regional styles of Ceylon Tea, with a delicate, fragrant cup. You are collected from your hotel in Nuwara Eliya and driven down the A5 through the tea estates of the central highlands.

You visit either the Damro Tea Factory at Labookellie or the Blue Field Tea Factory at Ramboda, depending on availability on the day. The visit starts outdoors, with a guide walking you through the plantation to explain how high-grown tea is cultivated. You then try picking for yourself, using the hand-plucking technique of the tea pluckers who work these slopes.

Your entrance ticket takes you inside the factory, where you follow the leaf through withering, rolling, oxidation, drying, grading and packing. Your guide explains how traditional methods and modern machinery together shape its flavour and aroma. A guided tasting of freshly produced teas comes next, so you can compare them and learn what sets one apart from another.

The last stop before the drive back is Ramboda Falls, a waterfall of about 109 metres close to the A5, with time for the view and photographs. All the stops lie along this one road, as the route map on this page shows, though you visit only one of the two factories. The tour suits anyone with an interest in tea, walking, photography or the history of Sri Lanka's tea industry.

With more time in the hills, you can add a Ceylon Tea tasting, the tea trails by bicycle or the Horton Plains hike, each also starting from Nuwara Eliya.

Includes

• Hotel pick-up and drop-off in Nuwara Eliya
• Visit to the Damro Tea Factory or the Blue Field Tea Factory, subject to availability
• Tea factory entrance ticket
• Guided tea factory tour
• Tea picking experience
• Guided walk through the tea plantation
• Tea tasting
• Visit to Ramboda Falls

Excludes

• Expenses of a personal nature
• Gratuities
• Food and drinks