Taste the green gold

May 9 2008 By Mike Watson

Why Sri Lanka has Scots to thank for establishing tea plantations

Next time you pour yourself a cup of tea, drink a toast to Devastating Emily. That was the lurid nickname of a leaf virus that wiped out the coffee crop in Ceylon in the 1870s.

But a group of mainly Scottish pioneers weren't to be beaten. They were already growing tea - green gold.

The plantations they established and the bankrupt coffee estates they bought are still producing some of the best of the world's crop.

Life in Sri Lanka has hardly changed since those days. The British connection is still strong and many plantations have British names - Blair Atholl, Brookfield, Kew and Kirkoswald.

The four-hour drive from Colombo, the island's capital and site of its only international airport, can be arduous even with a friendly driver like ours.

But it's worth it. Tucked away amid the rolling, vivid green tea estates is Tea Trails, four large bungalows that were once the homes of European planters. Now tourists sample the luxurious life they once lived, complete with complementary gin and tonics, British cooking and even clotted cream high teas. And there's plenty to do. Activities include white water rafting, mountain biking, kayaking on the lake and treks and walks through the hillside tea plantations.

Here I met a descendant of the Scot who set up the first tea factory on the island. James Taylor, the son of a wheelwright from Kincardineshire, left Scotland in 1852 at the age of 16 to work on a coffee plantation. He was the man who put the country's tea on the world map.

Today Andrew Taylor is Tea Trails' planter in residence, having turned down a top trade job in Colombo to stay in the hills he loves and share his wealth of knowledge with visitors. One essential visit is to the tea factories where - in less than 24 hours - freshly picked leaves are turned into the black tea that we know so well.

Tea bushes have to be pruned regularly to produce leaves and buds throughout the year. The top two leaves and bud are picked by teams of Tamil women.

The tea is then taken to Colombo for auction and more than 90 per cent is exported. But you can buy it at one of the many factories, which welcome visitors and have their own shops.

The gateway to the tea country is Nuwara Eliya, the highest and most British of the island's towns. It's a strange mixture of modern concrete, 19th Century Scottish-influenced architecture and rose gardens. Sri Lanka has plenty of other attractions to offer visitors and we managed to cram in several in our short stay.

The island's beaches are famous and a good stop after a long flight is Negombo, just a few miles from the airport. Your driver will take you to spice gardens, jewellery merchants, silk and batik producers, and fix safaris. He'll almost certainly talk about cricket. But my lasting memory of Sri Lanka will be the dark green hillsides of the tea country.

Travel facts...

Mike Watson was a guest of Tropical Sky which offers seven night tailor-made tours to Sri Lanka from £1,099 (two sharing) in May and June 2008, including return flights ex-Heathrow with Sri Lankan Airlines, all transfers and surcharges.

Accommodation, on B&B basis, includes one night at The Beach Hotel in Colombo, one night at Heritance Kan-dalama, two nights at Earl's Regency Hotel in Kandy and two nights at The Tea Trails.

Tropical Sky reservations: 0870 907 9600 and www.tropicalski.co.uk.