Within Each Cup: Tamils of Sri Lanka's Tea Trade

Tea is a billion-dollar industry that has shaped Sri Lanka since 1867 and employs almost 5% of the country’s population. Generations of Tamil families are dependent on tea plantations for income, community, and housing.

Tea bushes on mountain slopes above the barracks-style housing each plantation provides for its workers. The majority of these are Indian Tamils, brought over by the British for plantation work, and differ from the Jaffna Tamils of Sri Lanka’s north.

A tea plucker, the majority of which are Tamil women, stands amidst tea bushes on a mountainside outside of Kandy.

A tea plucker trimming tea bushes with a curved knife. Tea buds must be plucked by hand every 7-14 days, before the leaves grow too tough, so the work can shift dramatically by location from day to day.

Two tea pluckers with typical tarpaulin bags, which have replaced heavier, traditional wicker baskets.

Tea leaves are periodically collected and weighed throughout the day. A plucker earns 600 LKR if she gathers 18 kg of leaves. If she does not meet this daily quota, around 300 LKR is paid. Some privately-owned tea plantations use different wage models, such as paying on a monthly (not weekly) basis, and offering temporary loans to employees.

Portraits of two supervisors of different rank who oversee tea pluckers in the field. There can be 4 different levels of hierarchy on a small plantation ranging from owner to tea plucker, each layer supervising the level below it.

Tea bushes grown on steep hillsides a meter apart, usually at elevation, which impacts the flavour of the resulting tea. High-grown tea imparts a more delicate flavour, which is more highly valued than robust-flavoured tea produced at lower elevations.

A view of factory operations of a tea plantation near Kandy, Sri Lanka.

A factory worker shovels fresh tea leaves for processing. Withering is the first step, requiring the blowing of dry air to extract moisture which gives each leaf a pliable texture.

A tea worker oversees a rolling machine, which twists the withered leaves and begins the fermentation process. The machinery in tea factories are typically originals and are almost 100 years old.

Finished tea is separated by leaf size and packaged in bulk bags to be sent for auction in Colombo.

The fermentation process of partially rolled tea allows the leaf to develop its distinctive flavour over time.

Sacks of finished tea sit in a factory window before being sold at auction.

A traditional tea shop in Kandy, where both restaurants and local consumers purchase a wide variety of tea in any amount.

Tea being packaged in 100g packs at a popular tea shop in downtown Kandy.

A man weighs out a kilogram of Ceylon tea for a customer at a typical shop in Kandy.

Evening light illuminates a dirt road to Tamil worker “coolie lines” (worker housing) on a tea plantation.

Colourful lines on a tea plantation in central Sri Lanka. These barracks-style houses were built by the British and have changed little since then. Families in each line co-mingle and raise children in a village setting.

Life and laundry outside at typical tea plantation lines.

Inside a typical coolie house.

A tea plucker in her home. Women are the busiest of plantation workers because their regular labor-intensive job is bookended by household duties such as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children. Additionally, workers often take extra jobs on their days off for the chance to earn additional money.

A rare television keeps a young plantation family company while they get ready for school and work. Many lines do not have electricity or running water, or these services are only offered for a few hours each day.

Portrait of a Christian Tamil widow who was married to a tea factory worker.

Portrait of a retired cook who once worked for the tourist bungalows on the estate.

A tea plucker walks to a nearby spring to bathe. Without water or electricity in most housing, many daily tasks are carried out in rivers and streams.

Children play in the afternoon in the plantation lines.

Beautiful paint colours typical of the plantation lines.

An elderly woman looks out from her living room window on a tea plantation.

A man in a typical plantation village.

A mother gets her youngest daughter ready in the morning while her father looks on. In plantation communities, children often have to walk several kilometres to school, and tea pluckers and other labourers start work at 7:30.

A display of personal and family items in a plantation house.

Spices and ingredients in an old, much-loved kitchen.

Rough callouses on the hands of a veteran tea plucker. They must collect at least 18 kg of leaves per day in order to earn their wages. This difficult work is resulting in a shortage of young tea pluckers: many daughters are choosing to work in garment factories or abroad in domestic roles rather than the fields.

Cricket paraphernalia and laundry drying in the sun next to a traditional wicker tea leaf basket.

Life in a typical plantation village.

Some plantation lines are supplied water only once every three days, meaning it must be stored in containers when it is available. The resulting rush is a community activity.

A woman stores her collected water that must last her household at least three days.

An electric tea kettle sits on a shelf under a Hindu shrine, the religion practiced by the majority of Tamil tea plantation workers.

A tea kettle sits over a wood-burning fire in a typical plantation kitchen. Without electricity, wood must be collected to cook.

A man stokes the cooking fire for tea using a blowpipe.

Tea is an essential part of Sri Lankan daily life, consumed by office workers, labourers, students, and everyone in-between. Tea is taken in the morning, midday, afternoon, and evening. A canteen worker prepares tea brewed from tea dust, milk powder, and sugar.

Tea prepared mid-morning in a residential kitchen in Kandy.

Men gather at one of hundreds of roadside shops for a quick cup of tea before going back to work.

The sun sets over worker houses on a tea plantation near Kandy.