Tea Trek: South India
The Nilgiris and Beyond
Story and photo by Aparna Datta

In the mind's eye, red rhododendrons flash across blue mountains, and elephants roam free through evergreen forests. These are the spectacular Western Ghats, the majestic mountain range that runs for over a thousand miles along the west coast of South India. One of the world's treasure troves of biological diversity, the mountains are home to the Malabar Whistling Schoolboy, a thrush whose appearance delights birders, the Nilgiri tahr, an elusive ibex and the Southern Bird Wing, India's largest butterfly.
   It is also home to teas as diverse as their origin.
In fact, it is this biological richness that produces such distinctive teas. "South India has diverse agro-climatic zones, each differentiated by divergent mean altitude above sea level, divergent soil and climatic conditions," says N. Dharmaraj, vice president of plantations for Harrisons Malayalam Limited, a company with significant planting interests in the Western Ghats. "The diversity manifests in a different type of tea from each region, each with unique and distinctive quality attributes."
   Many know of the Nilgiris as one of the most imposing ranges in the Western Ghats and the origin of Nilgiri teas. But there's more to South India and its products. There are five major planting districts in the Western Ghats, and three smaller ones, spanning the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Taken together, the teas from this area make up a quarter of India's total production.
   South India is steeped in tea history, with century-old estates that recall the pioneering labors of Scottish and English founders, and a tapestry of cultures and religions bound by the leaf in a common destiny. But it is also a region of competing interests struggling to modernize and survive in a global economy of shifting markets and technological change.

Sourcing South India
While "fragrant" and "brisk" are the broad qualities associated with teas from South India, the elevation, soil type, plant material, amount of rainfall, norms of cultivation and of manufacture can all make a difference in the cup. For example, this region is exposed to both the southwest and the northeast monsoons, which impart distinct flavors at different times of the year.
   Another factor influencing taste and quality is the status of the growers. The Indian tea industry is dominated by extremely large corporations consisting of many estates. Tata Tea has over 11,645 hectares under cultivation in South India, but about 40 percent of South Indian tea comes from small growers concentrated in the Nilgiri region. What is more, the region is home to many different ethnic groups, many of which participate in the tea industry. In Tamil Nadu, the workers are mostly Tamilian, from the plains, and many of their families have been working on the same estate for three generations. In Kerala, tea workers are Malayalis. The ownership may be Tamilian or Malayali, or even Marwari, a business class from Rajasthan. This economic and cultural diversity complements and intensifies the biological and climatic diversity, producing an astounding variation in taste profiles.

The Tea Trail
The heart of plantation country in South India is the Nilgiri Hills in the state of Tamil Nadu, where tea carpets elevations ranging from 4000 to 7500 feet. Coonoor is an excellent jumping-off place for an exploration of tea country. Here is located the southern regional office of the Tea Board of India and the headquarters of the United Planters' Association of Southern India (UPASI), the representative body of planters in South India, established in 1893.
   Blessed by high altitude and plentiful rainfall, Nilgiri tea is something of a revelation, an unusually bright, fragrant and mild tea that contains fewer tannins than most other varieties. Considered a well-kept secret, Nilgiri tea is now acquiring a growing international fan-base, best expressed in the U.S. Nilgiri Tea Society, the creation of tea author James Norwood Pratt and Nilgiri native Devan Shah of Chado Tea and India Tea Importers in Los Angeles, Calif.
   Estates in South India are a fascinating blend of continuity with the past and adaptation to the demands of the future. The first tea seeds were planted in an experimental farm at Ketti in 1835, though on a commercial scale, the first tea estates were established at Thiashola and Dunsandle in 1859. Now owned by Hindustan Lever Limited, Thiashola acquired organic certification in 2003. Further up is the Korakundah tea estate, which dates back to 1930. A unit of the United Nilgiri Tea Estates Co., this estate was the first in the region to be certified organic, and has now become the first to acquire the ISO 14001:1996 certification (May 2004), which governs standards of environmental management.
   During the early 19th century, individual growers, many from Scotland, pioneered tea-planting here, competing with the elements, the landscape, the authorities and big-name corporate entities such as the East India Company. Today, their legacy is reflected in the names of the estates they began--Glenmorgan, Glenburn, Glenvans, Glendale and Rob Roy--which co-exist comfortably with the likes of Chamraj, Devarshola and Kotada.
   Rooted in history, the Nilgiris are catching on to modern marketing. The Tea Board has introduced a logo to distinguish genuine Nilgiri tea. Further, the Nilgiri Planters' Association plans to launch a certification trademark by December 2004 for the 16 million kilograms of orthodox tea produced in 36 gardens in the Nilgiris.

Into The West
To the West of the Kundah range of the Nilgiri Hills is a lower, thickly-forested broad plateau before the final descent to the plains of Malabar. This expanse of dense undulating jungle is the Nilgiri-Wynaad, in the state of Kerala. It was initially opened in 1845 by James Ouchterlony, a colorful entrepreneur. His brother had surveyed the area while in the service of the British government, and James, a publisher, leased the eastern part of the valley from the Rajah of Nilambur for a pittance. Unfortunately, he planted coffee, which soon fell victim to the bugs, borers and leaf diseases which by 1875 devastated the district. In the 1880s a brief gold rush brought hope to the region, but eventually, the locals found tea to be a more stable source of prosperity, and began producing the signature brisk variety with strong liquors.
   South of the Palghat Gap, a 20-mile-wide passage through the Western Ghats linking Kerala and Tamil Nadu is the plantation district of Nelliyampathy. In the medium range of both elevation and rainfall, the area is known for medium bodied teas with reliably good flavor. A dedicated planting district, the "Nellies" were initially opened up in the late 1870s, primarily for coffee. Some estates were planted with tea as early as the 1920s, but it was not until 1993 that a large-scale organic tea planting occurred, at the Seethargundu estate, which had been growing coffee since 1889.
   Not far are the Anamallais or "Elephant Hills," named for its herds of wild Indian elephants. Running parallel to the Nilgiris, the Anamallais merge into what is known as the High Range, in Kerala. Historically this was rugged country full of malarial jungles and primitive settlements, immortalized in the writings of the C.R.T. Congreve, a British officer who lived and worked here over a century ago.
   "When we first came to it in 1897," he wrote in The Annamalais, "there were miles and miles of evergreen forest, with a few main paths running through it made by the huge herds of elephants which roamed there in the dry weather. During the wet weather there were millions of leeches. Our dwellings were mud and grass huts, which leaked everywhere; our only tappal (mail) arrived weekly, when we were lucky..."
   Coffee was the first crop planted here, but in 1898, a trio of Ceylon planters moved in and successfully planted tea on estates that became part of the Stanmore Group. Another estate that opened around the same time was Iyerpadi, now part of Parry Agro and producing organic tea. Other plantation companies active in the area were Finlays, and the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation (BBTC), known here as the Mudis Group, opening up several thousand acres, in some cases replacing coffee with tea. Today, the Anamallais tea district is one of the largest planting districts in South India, producing an intensely full-bodied tea that is as strong as the landscape and the elephants with which it is associated. Valparai is the hub, and is also home to the UPASI Tea Research Foundation.

The High Range
   Munnar in the High Range, also known as the Kannan Devan hills in Kerala state, is quintessentially a tea town and the home of Tata Tea Limited. While Munnar is located at an altitude of 4900 feet, the surrounding areas rise to over 7000 feet, producing high-grown teas, tangy and aromatic. Towering over the district is Anaimudi. At 8841 feet, it is the highest peak in India south of the Himalayas.
   In 1877, a local prince owing allegiance to the Maharajah of Travancore leased out a tract that came to be known as the Kanan Devan Concession Land. It became the base for the Kanan Devan Hills Produce Company, established in 1897, which together with the other subsidiaries of the Glasgow-based Finlay Group opened 33 estates in the High Range. In 1964, a collaborative venture between the James Finlay Group and the Tata Group, a leading Indian conglomerate, was initiated to develop value-added teas. Later, in 1983, James Finlay sold out to the Tatas.
   The hills of southern Kerala were first opened up in the 1860s, following the trail of the missionary Henry Baker. His sons were pioneer planters in Peermade, where cool grasslands, wooded valleys and sheltered hillsides were perfect for planting. The estates were initially planted with coffee, which fell prey to leaf disease, and only then developed into tea estates. This area extends eastwards all the way into the Periyar Valley, with soil enriched by the leaf-fall of primeval forests, where tea has proved the most successful crop. At the southern tip of the Western Ghats, the Bombay Burmah Trading Company's Oothu estate in the Singampatti area of Kerala has established a reputation as one of the pioneer organic tea estates in all of South India. Organic since 1988, and with a certified organic factory since 1992, the Oothu estate is surrounded by forests. Under the leadership of M.C. Muthanna, the BBTC respected a request by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to leave 500 hectares of this forest untouched as a corridor for the lion-tailed macaque, a native species of monkey, and has left nearly two-thirds of its holdings as virgin jungle.
   It seems fitting that here, at the southern extent of the Ghats, cultivation trails off into native rainforest, symbolizing the synergy that gives to the teas from South India a distinctive and vital diversity.

Future Challenges
As any tea visitor knows, Indian plantations are worlds unto themselves, self-sustaining social units governed by the Plantation Labour Law. This legislation is supposed to ensure good wages, workers' rights and job security, as well as provide a framework for various perquisites. Plantations have a full-service social infrastructure that includes schools, hospitals, telecommunications and post offices even in remote rural locations. You could say that, in principle, fair trade is built into the system.
   But for several years now, Indian tea has been in a state of crisis, and the estates of South India have been especially hard hit. Overproduction and a shift in markets--in particular the loss of the nation's principle buyer, Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union, to Sri Lanka--have caused wholesale prices to drop by as much as one-third. In Kerala, the wholesale price has dipped below the price of production several times in recent years.
   Larger companies are able to ride out the crisis by virtue of their more diversified holdings, commitment to cutting edge technologies and stronger international marketing presence. But medium-sized and smaller farms have been having a tough time. Many workers have simply left to seek better employment elsewhere. In the Nilgiris and Tamil Nadu, many small holders have gone out of business, their farms bought up by larger corporations. In the wake of the price crisis, observance of the Plantation Labour Law has weakened on many estates in Kerala. According to the Centre for Communication and Education, a human rights organization, observed effects of the crisis are nonpayment of wages, curtailment of medical services and suspension of basic amenities such as potable water, sanitation and electricity.
   The Indian tea industry is taking serious steps to work its way out of the crisis. One strategy is to increase exports of specialty tea to the United States. For this, efforts are being made to increase quality through technological improvements. In addition, organic and biodynamic cultivation is proving effective as a means to add value to exports. While large-scale estates have been the pioneers in organic production, small holders (who account for 40 percent of all tea in South India) are now getting into the act. For example, the Peermade Development Society has set up an organic tea-processing factory to cater to both the domestic and international markets. The 1200 small growers who are associated with the project will supply the green leaf.
   With its pioneering history, diverse character and natural advantages, South India is poised to contribute significantly to India's tea renaissance.

   Aparna Datta is a communications consultant and writer based in Bangalore, India. She may be reached at aparnad@vsnl.com or via the Web site: www.penscape.net.