
Nilgiri Blue Mountain tea
is grown on the Western Ghat Mountains of the
Karnataka Plateau (map source). The tea bushes create a beautiful carpet of green doted with
tea factories and worker housing.
Tea has been cultivated in the Nilgiri Hills
since the late 19th century, where tea is grown at about 1,000 meters. Rainfall
varies from 100 to 160 centimeters. The tea bushes on this 2,000 acre
plantation are about 45 years old and will produce for 100 years. Silver
oaks provide shade for the tea bushes which like cool and moist (fog)
weather found at these higher elevations. In the
factory, tea is dried, fermented, graded, and packaged into various kinds of
types and quality of teas. Workers receive wages, tea, housing, health care, and
education. We visited the homes of two tea worker families: their
living and sleeping rooms and kitchens. Their clothing is drying on
tea bushes.