Handunugoda the virgin white tea estate near the beach is the story true

Low country tea man so I can separate the theatre from the truth and respect both The real parts Handunugoda is a genuine working low grown estate tea rubber cinnamon and coconut interplanted in the old mixed plantation style and low grown tea is not inferior tea it is different tea the strong bright liquoring leaf that dominates Gulf and Middle East markets commands premium auction prices and rebukes the altitude snobbery weekly The virgin white tea ritual is also real the silver tips the unopened buds are cut at dawn with scissors into receptacles untouched by hand the practice descends from a marketing legend about Chinese emperors but the operational fact stands the buds oxidise from skin contact and the untouched protocol plus pure sun withering produces a genuinely delicate high antioxidant white tea The tour free guided walk through the fields and the wonderfully Victorian little factory the vintage machinery still works then the planters bungalow tasting on the verandah a generous lineup of the estate range and yes the slab of chocolate cake which has its own fan club the whole visit costs nothing with no purchase pressure though most visitors leave carrying something The price question virgin white runs into hundreds of dollars per kilo at the top grade my honest framing buy 50 grams as the experience of drinking something made with that much ceremony the everyday revelation is actually their low grown black and the cinnamon from the same soil Go morning the scissors crews work early and the verandah breeze beats the afternoon heat