The Spice Mountains - Munnar

The Coffee Blossoms

Munnar is the goldmine of plantations. You name it and Munnar has it: tea, coffee, chocolate, cardamom, nutmeg, pepper and rubber.

The image above is that of a coffee plant. The blossoms resemble varieties of tulip or jasmine. the beans are shiny and cherry like, though hard. In this season, I could not find any beans.

The Trees Above

Silver Oaks and Eucalyptuses cast their shadow on the somnolent tea beds and play. Do they know each others' existence?

Munnar- The Cup of a Mountain

The mountain has many shapes and each bend looks different. In the image above the mounds have formed in to a cup or a rosette. Form the height the depth looks inviting. The tree plants would continue to retain the shape of the mounds for ever. The foreground of the image has a close up of tea leaves.

The Tea Cup

The mounds dance down to the valley in the photo above. One could see the tea leaves clearly at the base of the image. The tea plant protects the mountains by retaining the earth with its roots. The tea roots also retain water. This is one crop which yields leaves suitable for tea every week! So that the world would always have its supply of tea.

In the tea Museum at Munnar, tea processing is shown in different stages. The history of Munnar and the tea plantation is shown in a documentary film. The smell of freshly ground tea is strong and intoxicating when the leaves are crushed and cut in to tiny granules.