Drinking Orange Pickles in Sri Lanka

We had a short day and an even shorter tour in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Since we were only here a little while, we took a tour of a tea and rubber plantation.

The drive out from the pier took almost two hours - traffic in Colombo is almost as bad as Bangkok. The countryside is beautiful and the smaller towns we passed through have that same southeast Asia vibe we found in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia. I must have had a tough evening the previous night because Bonnie says I napped for over an hour on the way out…and I never nap in a bus or plane.

We wound our way up into the foothills of the Sri Lanka central mountain range to the Ravigam Plantation. This was one of the old plantations that has been bought up by a multi-national many years ago and now offers a place for many Sri Lankans to make a decent living, but one requiring hard work.

As we proceeded to the main factory building, we passed a number of women plucking tea leaves from the bushes that grow to waist height. They only take two leaves and two buds from each plant at one time so as not to damage the plant and to allow for it to regenerate. Many of the tea bushes are decades old. I never thought to ask if waist-high is the natural height or if they are pruned that way. 

We also passed a weighing station where the large leaf bags are weighed to determine the payment for that load. The women are paid by weight rather than by the hour; similar to our migrant workers in the US, but the company provides permanent housing, food and uniforms for all factory workers and pickers (the pickers do not get uniforms).


The weighing process.

Each of these bags represents one woman's production for the morning. They will go back out and do the same in the afternoon.

The women pickers (and they are all women) wear either a special-made harness contraption into which they throw the plucked leaves and buds or a cloth “basket” that is cleverly designed from a single piece of cloth and then even more cleverly tied around the crown of their heads to allow the leaves and buds to be thrown in and, when full, weighed.

When we got to the factory building we were greeted by several ladies who placed large, heavy tea-leaf leis around our necks (later collected for use by the next group of tourists). We were then told, much to the chagrin of many of us, that no pictures are permitted inside the factory building. Bummer! 

We then entered the building and were shown the various steps it takes to go from the fresh-plucked leaves and buds to the finished product – the tea in the bag that you get in the store. Several of our fellow travelers were taking “stealth” photos, but I was uncomfortable doing so because I didn’t want anyone to get in trouble if I was found out. There was a small group of women at one of the drying or sorting machines that were very friendly and asked to have their pictures taken – so I did.

Bonnie with her tea-leaf lei - that thing weighed about four or five pounds...

Although I could not get pix of the actual machinery, I did take a shot of the flow diagram at the main entrance.

These are the delightful ladies that wanted their picture taken.

The tea tasting bench where the master tasters check for quality, taste, and purity.

The entire operation was quite interesting, especially the machinery. Much of the machinery dates from the early 20th Century and has been in constant use. It all appears to be exceptionally well-maintained. I also noticed that not all the machinery is used at one time and I suspect that they rotate the use of the equipment to assure that they can preserve it, Any repairs or spare parts must be custom made.

The entire process consists of the following steps:

• Plucking the upper two leaves and buds from each bush
• Weighing the individual loads to determine the pay for that load
• Drying the leaves and buds in bulk for about eight hours on large screen with fans underneath blowing hot air through the leaves
• Moving the leaves and buds to the rolling machines to begin the process of transforming the raw material into drinkable tea
• After rolling, the particles are sieved into various sizes with the larger particles going back into the rolling machines for further processing
• Fermentation for about two hours. This is a natural process where the fine rolled particles are left to ferment in the open air to begin to develop the tea flavor of that distinctive leaf
• Then there is further drying in another smaller set of machines
• After the second drying process, the tea leaves and buds are now indistinguishable from the original form and are sent to the bulk packing room
• The tea is packed in bulk – about 50 kilos (110 pounds) per bag – for shipment to Colombo and the auction rooms
• In Colombo, the tea auction is where the large bags are sold to the highest bidder for further re-packaging into the smaller bulk packages or cans or teabags with which we are most familiar in the supermarket

During our ride through the plantation we also saw a number of rubber trees that were set up to tap the liquid latex. Unfortunately, we did not have time to see a demonstration of the rubber collection or rubber making process.

This is one of the trees with a tap and a small coconut cup to catch the liquid latex.

 

After our tour of the tea factory we were treated to a tasting, and a bite of sweet orange cake, on the lawn of the “bungalow.” The bungalow was the main house at one time and now serves as a respite for weary and heated visitors. When I watched the tea being poured, I thought ”Oops, we are getting coffee instead of tea.” It was the best tea I had ever tasted and was not bitter or overly tannic.

By the way, that tea was the "Orange Pickles" that I refer to in the title of this post. Our very friendly guide, Joh, was telling us on the drive out that we would be drinking some “orange pickles” later in the day. We had to really think about that for a few minutes to realize that what he had said in his heavy Sri Lankan accent was “Orange Pekoe” tea!

 

Another two-hour ride back to the ship and we were done for the day. Tomorrow we have another short stop in Kochi (new spelling and pronunciation) or if you like, =Cochin (old spelling and pronunciation), India.

 

Stay tuned…