Haputale is worth a visit as the closest place to stay to start a tuk-tuk or van ride or even a hike to Lipton’s Seat (the fabulous viewpoint, although often curtained by mist, where Thomas Lipton, promoter of the tea that still bears the name, used to sit and gloat over his plantations). And for a glimpse of a stately home in the tropics, there’s the neo-gothic Adisham Hall, now a novitiate, open only on weekends or holidays.
Perhaps because Thomas Lipton grabbed so many bankrupt blight-ridden coffee plantations around Haputale in the late 1890s and converted them to successful tea plantations, the town has responded as the place to buy all kinds of tea to take home. But it’s usually ignored by tourists who prefer the artificial comfort zone of Ella, 25km further inland. Here are the top five places to have tea in Haputale.
1. Tea at Website Link Haputale
The best place to shop a lot for tea in Haputale is known familiarly as “Loga’s” but more prosaically as “Website Link” – a kiosk on Railway Station Road that leads from the station to the town. It has kept its name from the days when Loga ran a communications bureau but now stocks hundreds of packets of different teas, ranging from Silver Tips to Dust Number One, via Flowery varieties and beautifully designed packs of special single estate (and even green) teas and his own Masala blend of tea. His prices are special too, as they should be since you’re in the centre of where the tea is harvested and produced.
2. Stassen’s Organic Tea Centre retail
Before you get to Haputale by the A4 road from the west, after Haldemulla, is the amazing Idalgashinna Organic Tea Centre retail outlet. It’s amazing because this genuine organic tea is grown, harvested and created in the hills behind the shop. And organic means organic – not just an absence of chemical fertiliser but growth inspired by organic matter such as ground cow horns and dung, and planted according to the moon’s phases.
Here you can buy organic tea you know in your heart is genuine, including an orange pekoe (OP) green tea that would cost a fortune in a health shop in Europe but is only Rs1,000 for 250g. Being from the world’s first certified organic tea garden, it’s not only wholesome but a bargain too.
3. Golden Hill Tea Centre
Beside the A4 road that leads to Haputale from Beragala (and the junction to the south), there are several roadside tea counters, but tea from them may have doubtful provenance. Continue to the Golden Hill Tea Centre which used to be a real tea factory until it was abandoned in the 1990s then recently had its top floors chopped off the make a single-story tea restaurant and retail outlet for Glenanore Estate Tea.
Step inside the wooden walled retail tea shop and pass through a pastry shop into the old factory, beautifully converted into a plant-filled restaurant with chunky tables made from factory beams. It reeks of atmosphere and is a fine place for tea, lunch or home-made ice cream dotted with estate strawberries. Read Sri Lanka Holiday Guru’s feature on Golden Hill Tea Center Haputale
Location of Golden Hill Tea Center
4. “A Cuppa Tea” at Lipton’s seat
The place for village-style milky tea made with leaves produced by Lipton’s old factory of Dambatenne. But it’s not just the tea, that makes the experience so special, it’s the short walk uphill from Lipton’s Seat and tea with a view in a cool climate. Read on how to get to Lipton’s seat and 7 awesome things to do in Haputale
5. Tea in Haputale at Lettuce & Cabbage
In the shopping complex opposite the Hill Cliffe bar and guest house on the Railway Station Road, close to Loga’s, there is a fancy looking very modern cafe, were nowhere in Hapuatle is such a cafe.
It’s got huge windows overlooking the mountains, serves good tea, cakes and snacks at moderate prices, a very chilled environment and is a good place if you want to relax, sip some tea, check emails and spend a bit of time.
6. Tea for digital nomads at Olympus Plaza Hotel Glacé Cafe
If you want to have tea in the comfort of a hotel with a view, Olympus Plaza is the place. With a choice of 24 different teas, served by the pot for two people, this is the ideal way to sample different brews. The café serves cakes and pastries too. With free Wi-Fi, it’s the ideal place for digital nomads to report to their followers.
Location of Olympus Plaza Hotel Glace Cafe
How to get to Haputale
By train from Ella (or Nanu Oya, the station for Nuwara Eliya) both popular stops on the independent traveller’s route or by bus along the A4 from Colombo or Bandarawela.
Sri Lanka Holiday Guru Tip
There’s free tea tasting at Loga’s Website Link within walking distance of Haputale Railway Station (in the Urban Council Complex of small retail kiosks in Railway Station Road). You’re in luck if you meet the proprietor, a jovial chap called Loga, who is passionate about the tea he sells. He also has laptops available so you can check emails.
Have you wondered why the Sri Lankan tea tastes different from place to place, morning and evening? Here’s a detailed guide on buying tea and making that perfect cup of Sri Lanka tea for your taste and mood.
If you fancy chunky marmalade made in Haputale (or even tomato jam or mango chutney), the Adisham Hall retail outlet on the road from Haputale to Bandarawela, stocks delicious home-made products from Adisham.
