Exploring the Ruhunu region of Sri Lanka is an incredible adventure. As your car

winds into the hills a veritable riot of scenery passes by your window.

Women in brightly colored saris hoisting large baskets of fruit and vegetables

fresh from the jungle, religious processions, music blasting from loudspeakers,

brightly painted roadside stalls overflowing with bananas, mangos and papayas,

vehicles of every shape and size, streams of livestock, neatly dressed school children

pouring out of roadside school houses, everything blending together into a cacophony

of sight, sound and smell. Contrasting with this world of excitement and chaos are the

neatly planted fields of tea you will find scattered throughout the countryside with their

ordered rows and stately white-washed shade trees. Although most of the better-known

 Sri Lankan teas are produced farther "up-country" in the Uva and Dimbula growing

districts, many fabulous teas are grown at Ruhunus comparatively lower elevations.

 Most plantations in the area are situated at roughly 2000 feet.  Teas grown in the

Ruhunu tend to be full bodied and thick, with an arguably more robust