Kerala, greenness and coconut trees - India, Tamil Nadu

Kerala is the country of coconut trees. Here, the atmosphere is nicer than in Tamil Nadu. Fields to the horizon, mountains and coconut trees fill our eyes. At Neelgiri, the blue mountains ("neel": blue and "giri": mountains), the fourth tea of India is made: the Connemara. It is, in terms of quality, placed after the Darjeeling (produced in the Himalayas), the Assam, and the Kashmiri.
Bindhu and Sakundhala, respectivelly aged 30 and 38 years old, harvest the tea leaves. They work at the Connemara factory, from 8 AM to 12 PM and from 1 to 4 PM. "In total, Bindhu says, 450 people work here. The women harvest the leaves whilst the men look after the rest of the production process". They are then dried for 24h, selected through the machine, then fermented and heated at 120°C."
Did you know that the best tea comes from the flower bud? No need to explain that in the tea bags they shove what is left, that is to say the bad quality leaves. © Photography: Virginie Lebrun