About
During your visit to a tea factory, you can learn about the complete journey of tea, starting from freshly plucked green leaves and ending with the final packaged product.
1. Explore the Tea Gardens
The experience usually begins with the beautiful tea plantations surrounding Ooty. The neatly arranged tea bushes covering the rolling hills create one of the most attractive landscapes in the Nilgiris.
Take a leisurely walk around the plantation, enjoy the cool mountain breeze and capture beautiful photographs of the green surroundings.
2. Learn About Tea Plucking
Tea leaves are carefully plucked from the tea plants, generally selecting the young and tender leaves and buds. During the visit, you can learn about traditional tea-plucking practices and understand why the quality of the leaves plays an important role in the final taste of the tea.
3. Visit the Tea Processing Area
Inside the factory, visitors can learn about the different stages involved in processing tea.
The major stages generally include:
Leaf collection
Withering
Rolling
Fermentation/oxidation
Drying
Sorting
Grading
Packaging
The exact process can vary depending on the type of tea being produced.
4. Understand the Withering Process
After the tea leaves are collected, they are spread out and allowed to lose some of their moisture. This process is known as withering.
It is an important stage because it prepares the leaves for further processing and helps develop the characteristics of the finished tea.
5. See the Rolling Process
After withering, tea leaves are rolled using specialised machinery. Rolling helps break down the leaf structure and allows the juices and enzymes inside the leaves to interact with oxygen.
Visitors can observe the machinery and understand how traditional tea production has evolved with modern technology.
6. Learn About Oxidation
One of the most important stages in tea production is oxidation. The leaves undergo controlled oxidation, which influences their colour, aroma and flavour.
Your factory guide can explain how processing methods affect different types of tea.
7. Tea Drying
After the required processing, the tea leaves are dried at controlled temperatures. Drying stops further oxidation and reduces moisture so that the tea can be stored properly.
This is also the stage when the tea develops much of its characteristic aroma.
8. Tea Sorting and Grading
Once the tea has been processed and dried, it is sorted and graded according to different characteristics such as leaf size and quality.
This helps ensure that different varieties and grades of tea are separated before packaging.
9. Tea Tasting
One of the most enjoyable parts of the experience is tasting freshly prepared Nilgiri tea.
You can experience the distinctive aroma and flavour of locally produced tea while learning about the differences between various tea varieties.
10. Shop for Nilgiri Tea
Most popular tea factory and museum visits also provide opportunities to purchase locally produced tea.
You can take home:
Nilgiri tea
Green tea
Flavoured tea
Herbal tea
Tea gift packs
Locally produced tea products
These make excellent souvenirs from your Ooty holiday.
