KOLUKKUMALAI TEA ESTATE, INDIA
Perched at well over 2,000m in the hills above Munnar, Kolukkumalai is home to the world’s highest tea plantations – and the views alone are worth the white-knuckle jeep ride required to reach them! A charming 1930s factory still processes tea using traditional methods, while the estate’s unique high-altitude microclimate gives Kolukkumalai’s tea a distinctively rich flavour prized by connoisseurs worldwide.
OBUCHI SASABA, JAPAN
Tucked towards the southern foot of Mount Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, Obuchi Sasaba is one of Japan’s most photographed tea plantations – and one of its most unspoiled. Its rows of tea bushes framing Fuji’s perfect cone look much as they did when Hokusai immortalised the region in his celebrated Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji — the iconic 1830s print series by one of Japan’s greatest artists, whose sweeping depictions of everyday life against Fuji’s backdrop influenced everyone from the French Impressionists to Van Gogh.
YONGFU TAIPIN CHERRY BLOSSOM TEA GARDEN, CHINA
In the rolling hills of Fujian Province, the tea gardens of Yongfu town in Zhangping offer a spectacular double attraction – tens of thousands of cherry trees in dozens of varieties blooming among the tea bushes each spring. The vision of Taiwanese farmer Xie Dongqing, who planted his first tea seedling here in 1997, the site has since grown into what many consider China’s most beautiful cherry blossom destination.
ZEALONG, AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND
Blooming from the rolling Waikato countryside near Hamilton, Zealong Tea Estate is New Zealand’s only commercial tea plantation – an unlikely but utterly charming addition to the world tea map. All teas are 100% certified organic and grown on-site, ranging from a refreshing green to a floral oolong and a bold black. Visitors can tour the plantation, take part in a traditional tea tasting ceremony, then settle in for a signature high tea or seasonal lunch, all served with sweeping views over the estate’s terraced tea fields.
