Nuwara Eliya
The best known of Sri Lanka’s tea-growing districts, Nuwara Eliya is the most rugged and mountainous with the highest average elevation at 1,868m (6,128ft). The air cool and bracing has winds scented with eucalyptus and wild mint. With moderate rainfall during the dry season, cold and frosty nights make for its unique climate and its terrain ensures a tea recognized by connoisseurs as among the finest – if not the finest – in the world.
Nuwara Eliya enjoys two’quality seasons’the eastern and western. The balance between the two varies from estate to estate where a short drive from one to another can see a complete change of weather. The tea has a rarefied and refined quality that easily sets it apart from low-growns. High altitude and year-round low temperatures produce a very slow- growing bush with unusually small leaves that take on an orange hue – only a hint against the blackness – after withering. The infused leaf is greenish-yellow and the infusion in the cup is the palest with a subtle golden hue and a delicate yet fragrant bouquet. The most sought after whole-leaf orange pekoe (OP), and the slightly less costly yet still expensive broken orange pekoe (BOP) make up Nuwara Eliya teas which are stronger and less subtle.