For the Tea Connoisseur

I am a big tea lover. Love all kinds of teas. Be it short leaf, long leaf, white, green, flower, orange pekoe, black, red, CTC, Darjeeling, English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Tulsi, Chamomile, Hibiscus, Masala Chai, Mint and so many more of the other varieties. When I had recently gone to Hyderabad to apply for my Iran tourist visa, my friend’s wife recommended this tea lounge and fortunately for me it was right opposite the Iran consulate in the Banjara Hills area of Hyderabad.


The place is called Finjaan and serves close to 36 varieties of tea from around the world. I had lots of time to kill while I waited for my one day visa and hence indulged properly in some of the teas from Finjaan’s menu.


First, I tried the flowering white tea from China, which is like a small ball, but once you put hot water over it and let it steep, it blooms open like a flower. It has a very smooth taste and I felt like I could keep drinking it. It also took away all my lethargy that crept in after my Rayalseema lunch.


The next one I tried was a pink tea that is prepared with Bulgarian roses. This one has natural sweetness. It looks clear and is pretty smooth and mild, but I generally don’t like my tea to be sweet. Everything else about the tea was nice except for the sweetness.


The third and the last variety that I tried was the jade rolls green tea. This once is a very good quality green tea and hits the mark perfectly in terms of taste, flavor, aroma and mood lifting. I liked it the most. Good green tea can be such a relaxing drink.


There were many other teas that I wanted to try, but I did not have the time. One needs a lot of time to enjoy the teas available here. But, if you do enjoy them, you will end up returning home a very happy person. Finjaan has teas from China, Japan, India, Middle East and many other places. Their collect includes Red Teas, Black Teas, White Teas, Pink Teas, Green Teas and Organic Teas.


If you are in Hyderabad and wish to indulge in some good teas, then I would recommend that you try this place out. The place doesn’t come cheap (at about INR 160 to 200 for a pot of tea), but I think that tea lovers would not mind spending a bit more for these royal teas.

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Tea Estates from the Lake District of Red Hills

The Red Hills used to be the secret hill station of the British and is today, one of the most fragile areas within the Nilgiri Biosphere.


It is made up of seven lakes and this entire lake district is collectively dubbed the ‘Red Hills’ because of the reddish colour of its soil. The lake district begins at about 20 kilometres away from the popular hill station of Ooty on the Muthorai highway.


And the Muthathi National Park and the Upper Bhavani Sagar Reservoir are towards one end of it. Unlike Ooty and Coonoor, this area is very sparsely populated and hence remains untarnished and untouched to quite an extent.

 
Like most of the Nilgiris, the main source of revenue here is tea and hence most of the landscape here is dotted with tea estates. It is a very pretty sight driving around these sprawling tea estates. A typical pit stop view would include the tea estates, the lakes in the immediate background and the Nilgiri hills in the far away background making for a magical nature concoction.

 
When I was here a couple of weeks back, the entire place was drenched in fresh rain and thus all the trees and the tea gardens wore a very pleasurable fresh green. A very pristine view indeed!

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Lovely Tea Plantations of Chembra Estate

One has to cross hundreds of acres of tea plantations to reach the starting point of the Chembra trek. But, in all the excitement of the trek, you tend to just glance at the immaculate tea gardens and then respond ‘WOW’.


In fact, the Chembra estate is so beautiful that you can comfortably spend at least a couple of days exploring its large area. The Chembra estate is primarily made up of tea estates.


But, along with the tea estates are the coffee plantations at slightly lower altitude, which co-exist with betel nut trees, pepper climbers, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla climbers, turmeric and other exotic spices.


This exotic concoction of landscapes and plantations is situated in the Wayanad district of God’s Own Country – Kerala. It is located about 7 kilometres from Meppady and about 20 kilometres from Kalpetta, the district headquarters of Wayanad.

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Through the winding tea estate roads of Munnar!!

A drive through the winding tea estate roads of Munnar is pure elixir.
  
 
Every turn has something to offer. But, overall, the GREEN colours are enthralling.

 
I have been lucky to drive/ride/walk on these roads quite a few times and that too in various seasons of the year.


Each and every time, the serenity and beauty of this place make my jaws drop.

 
This tea town of Kerala nestled in the Southern half of the Western Ghats is a great place to be one with nature!!

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The Sun is shining on Munnar Tea Estate!!

One can enjoy the charming sights of the Munnar Tea gardens in multiple ways.


It can be a drive through the winding roads surrounded by tea plantations, a stroll through the tea estates or simply on horseback.


And the beauty quotient of this picture book tea town increases exponentially when the sun is shining nice and bright.


And, as my luck would have it, the day was bright and the skies were blue when I walked out of my tent pitched amidst the tea gardens.


Thus, I got treated to some heavenly views of the Munnar horizon laced with an exotic combination of clear blue skies, dreamy clouds, bright sunshine, barren hills, tall trees and lush green tea plantations.


A stroll deeper into the tea estates brought me in close proximity to the workers of the tea estate who were busy picking fresh tea leaves.


The GREENS here are so hypnotic that I lost myself in it for a good while.

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