Nuwara Eliya — Sri Lanka Tea Picker
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A Tamil tea picker working the terraced bushes of a Nuwara Eliya estate in the Sri Lanka Hill Country — the white cotton headscarf, the quick-plucking fingers, the emerald tea bush terraces extending to the misty mountain horizon.
Description
Sri Lanka’s Hill Country — centred on Nuwara Eliya at 1,868 metres altitude — produces some of the world’s finest high-grown Ceylon tea, the climate and altitude producing the characteristic brisk, bright character of the tea that made Ceylon tea famous from the 1870s onward. The tea harvest is conducted by hand-plucking — each picker harvesting only the top two leaves and a bud from each bush — at a rate of approximately 15–20 kilograms per day. The Tamil community who have been the workforce of the Ceylon tea estate system since the 19th century maintain the traditional plucking technique. This photograph was made on a working estate above Nuwara Eliya with estate management permission, in the natural diffused light of a high-altitude overcast morning that eliminates harsh shadows and renders the tea bush green at maximum saturation while resolving the fine detail of the plucking motion.
