By Shobha Rao Smilemaker

Nov 29: Chikkamagaluru has always been associated with excellent coffee plantations, but did you know there is also a sprawling tea estate at a place called Kelagur?

We were surprised to see miles and miles of tea plantations as we drove towards our homestay right in the middle of the hills which was heavily covered with mist. It was an adventure to drive through low visibility on very narrow muddy roads.

Early next morning at the break of dawn, we decided to take a walk among the tea gardens, we almost lost our way and landed behind the factory in the midst of the living quarters of the workers.

There is is Rs 25 entrance charges to visit the factory premises for a very interesting tour of how the tea is processed from the tea shrub to the tea packet.

The leaves were collected in baskets, placed on revolving lifts and taken first to the upper floors.

It undergoes 70% drying here and is then taken to a huge crushing machine on the lower floor. We tasted this crushed leaves that were still a bit moist.

We saw the huge furnace that gives hot air to another set of machines, through which the leaves get completed dried.

The leaves are then sorted through nine (yes nine) types of sieves and accordingly they are segregated to different levels of quality. We looked, touched and tasted the variety of tea in front of us. The powdered tea dust, the tea bag variety, the type supplied to hotels for bulk use, the strong tea variety, the leaf tea variety, the exclusive silver leaf tea variety made only from the tips of the leaves etc.

We were allowed to buy only 5 Kg packets so we preferred to visit the Kelagur tea outlet on the main road that would sell the same tea in smaller quantities.

I saw two busts of the owners from the Mathias family. I was told that Kelagur Estate was acquired by S L Mathias in 1927and in the midst of the entire coffee region he became the first Indian to open up a tea estate in the region. His son, E J Mathias had progressively improved the social welfare for the workers and the next generations still continue what is essentially a family run business.

The ambience, the location, the hills, the rains, the clouds, the mist, the expansive greenery around us, the sight of both tea and coffee plantations next to each other, made the whole experience a treat to the senses.

Do visit this ancient yet simple factory that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere and create more smiles.

Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.