Tea in the Cameron Highlands
Malaysia's cool highland resort is the fruit bowl of the nation
Oct 20, 2007
Colonial England has forever left its mark on the Cameron Highlands, three and a half hours drive from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur.
Tea and scones in the Cameron Highlands is a tradition as well entrenched as traditional cuisine. There is much competition among tea houses in the local town of Tanah Rata and surrounding guesthouses to produce the perfect afternoon tea.
Tea tasting and sampling the baked goodies, visiting beautiful fragrant gardens and colourful markets is a popular and indulgent Malaysian weekend excursion.
Known as the garden of Malaysia, flowers, vegetables and tea are cultivated for the nation. High rainfall, long sunshine hours and ideal growing temperatures keep the highlands lush and fertile. At an altitude of 1300m to 1829m the temperature rarely drops below 10ºC or climbs above 21°C.
The area takes its name from William Cameron who surveyed it in 1885 He was soon followed by tea planters, farmers, wealthy colonists and eventually tourists escaping the heat of the lowlands.
The Tour
Without private transport cheap popular half- day tours are the best way to see the highland’s attractions. Tours visit a flower garden, hydroponics strawberry farm, butterfly farm, apiaries and the markets. Here you can buy mangos, tamarillos and guavas before visiting the tea plantation.
The road to the tea estate winds up a hill. Looking down, the plantation stretches out towards the mountains; the neatly uniformly clipped bushes separated by curving access paths for plucking.
The English sipped tea and ate scones while immigrant Indian labour picked on the plantations. The area is reminiscent of a Somerset Maughan novel when tea and rubber plantations boomed in the colonial era.
The days of hand plucking leaves into a sack carried on the back are well gone. Pickers harvest 200kgs of leaves per day using handheld machines. Two days later, after the processes of withering, rolling, fermenting, firing and sorting, 45kgs of manufactured black tea emerge.
The tour takes you through the factory explaining the various stages of tea production and onto the shop, where a huge range of teas and teapots are on sale.
The highlight is, of course, sampling the teas on the delightful garden balcony overlooking the plantation. Not to mention the fruit loaf, hot toasted English muffins, or traditional scones.
Teas to Try
The tea menu is bewilderingly extensive.
There are health teas, wake-you-up teas, and nightcap teas. Some are taken with milk and other with lemon. Teas can be caffeine-free, blended, unblended taken hot, cold or iced.
Ordinary black tea is flavoured with lemon, mandarin, lime, ginger or mango. Herb and fruit infusions blend flowers, dried fruit and peel with essences like banana cherry, red orange or peach apricot flavours.
Jasmine green tea, camomile or peppermint teas are for relaxing while iced teas are refreshing in Malaysia’s hot climate.
The maharajah teapunch is the house cocktail, a mix of earl grey with tangerine tea, fresh orange juice, lemon squash, and a dash of honey over crushed ice.
How to Get There
- Rental cars are available in KL from major rental companies like Avis, Budget, Hertz and the local company Mayflower.
- Accommodation ranges from budget guesthouses to top end hotels with English colonial charm.
- There are walking trails through jungle and climbs to mountain peaks. Many trails are well marked but some require guides, which are available from guesthouses.
- Tickets for half day tours of a tea estate, strawberry farm, Sam Poh Temple, butterfly farm and a rose garden are available in Tanah Rata at CS Travel & Tours or at souvenir shops.
