Sabaragamuwa, Sri Lanka’s largest tea-growing region, is renowned for its exceptional teas. Nestled between the Sinharaja Forest and Adam’s Peak wilderness, this region produces low-grown teas with unique flavors and characteristics. The lush, hilly terrain and the diverse microclimates create an ideal environment for cultivating tea plants that yield leaves with a rich, complex taste. Sabaragamuwa tea is distinguished by its dark yellow-brown liquor with a reddish tint and a subtle hint of sweet caramel in its aroma. This tea captures the essence of the province’s natural beauty and cultural heritage, making it a prized choice among tea connoisseurs worldwide.
Sabaragamuwa Tea: Exceptionally Stylish
Sabaragamuwa’s Tea Industry and Unique Climate
Sabaragamuwa’s importance in the tea industry has increased since the expansion of markets for Ceylon Tea in the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. The highest estates lie just below the boundaries of the Sinharaja and Peak Wilderness nature reserves, sharing the microclimatic conditions produced by the rainforests, cloud forests, and high grassy plains endemic to this region. As a result, they produce tea with a somewhat different character from that grown at lower elevations in the district. Some of these estates receive the highest rainfall of any in the plantation districts.
Other upper Sabaragamuwa estates receive weather influences from the nearby Uva climatic system, affecting the character of the tea they produce in an entirely different way.
The Sabaragamuwa tea-growing district covers most of the western and southwestern faces of the central mountains of Sri Lanka. The terrain is hilly, with numerous small valleys cut into the hillsides by streams and rivers draining the upper massif. Copiously watered by the southwest monsoon, it features climatic conditions typical of tropical rainforest: hot and humid in the open, moist, and cool where tree cover is thick. Despite being thickly populated, it remains a green and pleasant land, rich in natural beauty. The most famous of its many places of interest is Adam’s Peak or Sri Pada, a 2,200-meter (7,000-foot) conical and symmetrical mountain peak. At the summit, a giant, intricately decorated, and detailed footprint has been carved into the rock. Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims all venerate this relic, whose origins are lost in the mists of antiquity. Adam’s Peak has been a place of pilgrimage and visitation for longer than anyone can remember, even though the climb is steep and was formerly very dangerous.
A Land of Rich History and Legend
Adam’s Peak is only the most prominent attraction of a land rich in history and legend. Indeed, the earliest traces of human settlement in Sri Lanka, dating back 34,000 years or more, were found not far from Ratnapura. Various legends relating to the ancient Hindu epic, the Ramayana, have been attached to places in Sabaragamuwa. The region also has many important associations in history and folklore and was the scene of much warfare and intrigue during the Portuguese period (1505-1658). Tea from the estates of Sabaragamuwa seems to distill the essence of this rich and varied culture, belying the district’s twentieth-century rise to prominence in the industry.
