A Taste of Ceylon Tea

Meena grew up in the hills with her father who was a tea plucker. Now he is paralysed and spends his life on the mat. Meena is in her twenties and has started her career as a tea plucker for the sake of surviving. Unfortunately she has to face more difficulties with her pay as she has to take care of her father as well. But she enjoys doing this job. The first tea plants were brought to Sri Lanka by the British in 1824; in 1860 the tea industry launched commercial cultivation. Sri Lankan tea is in high demand on the international market and is until today one of Sri Lanka’s largest sources of income. In the early days Sri Lankan tea cultivation relied on Indian labourers. They established themselves in shanties in the hills and even their children had to cultivate tea rather than going to school. Since then, they have worked for low daily payments in conditions similar to slavery. This documentary was created to depict the real situation behind the tea industry in Sri Lanka and to raise the tea pluckers’ daily wages by bringing it to the attention of the government and the authorised parties.