This year for my summer vacation my family traveled to Assam, a state in Northern India. There we stayed in a bungalow on a working Tea Estate. We enjoyed "Bed Tea" each morning, a delightful take on breakfast in bed with pots of perfectly brewed piping hot English Breakfast Tea. Each afternoon we immersed ourselves in learning about a different facet of the tea estate or just wandered the land and smiled at the Assamese ladies on their breaks from picking the precious green gold.
This is how my back-to-school essay would read if I were:
a) still school age
b) had actually taken this trip
Late Summer always has me wistful for a vacation. This year, I was pining for a trip to India or Sri Lanka to visit a tea estate. I love the idea of seeing the endless fields of green, green tea bushes growing under the dappled light of the acacia tree. I've fallen in love with the photos of beautiful, dark haired women with basket of leaves balance on their heads going about their daily work of picking tea leaves that might later, much later end up in my cup.
I've actually found the perfect spot to fulfill this fantasy vacation. It is called Ceylon Tea Trails and its website (teatrails.com) boasts:
" Guests are absorbed into life on a working tea estate, whilst reveling in five-star luxury. Tea Trails will teach you everything you need to know about the perfect brew. The unique Tea Experience tour with the tea planter in residence will show you the wonders of Camellia Sinensis."
Sounds fantastic, right? Maybe next year (sigh)
Until then, I will be enjoying a bright cup of English Breakfast on the veranda overlooking my rolling hill of green, green grass.
Sharing the love of tea,
Dara
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