Sri Lanka is a bit wet in May & June
May and June is not the time of the year to travel to the western slopes of Sri Lanka. From April onwards, the Southwest monsoon is prevalent and the Western side of the island is drenched in heavy rains.
On the high-altitude estates, it is cold, especially at night, and during the day the conditions are gloomy. This year has been especially wet with landslides and the threat of landslides resulting in the Met office issuing warnings to not make unnecessary journeys to the up country.
Although it is gloomy, cold, and wet, work continues, because the excess rain means that the crop yield increases. This presents an additional challenge. It is a constant battle to pick the quantity of fresh leaf from the bushes.
Grey and gloomy, our spiritual home of Maskeliya in June
I have spoken previously about leeches and their challenges to the pickers, and it is during this time of year that leeches are rife.
However despite the adverse weather, the backbone of this industry, the tea pickers are out picking tea and selectively harvesting the top two leaves and a bud.
A leech latching on and having a feast
A fun fact to liven up any party!
It takes 200 individual top two leaves a bud to produce 1 kilo of green leaf and 1 kilo of green leaf will produce 200 -250g of made tea. Finally a spoon of tea is a two-gram serving, which is two individual hand movements. Tiring intense work for our pickers.
You are tasting more than just Tea when you taste a cup of PMD.
