Tata Tea Museum

The Tata Tea Museum is a tea museum on the Nallathanni Estate in Munnar, Kerala, opened by Tata Tea in 2005 and described as the first tea museum in India. Now run by Kanan Devan Hills Plantations, which took over the Munnar estates from Tata Tea, it tells the story of how the Kanan Devan Hills became one of India's great tea regions.

The Tata Tea Museum pays tribute to the British planters and the thousands of workers, many of them migrants from Tamil Nadu, who cleared the forest and built the Munnar estates from the late 19th century. Old photographs, tools, furniture and machinery show daily life on the plantations, and a short documentary film traces the region's history. The highlight is a small working factory line, where visitors watch fresh green leaf being withered, rolled, fermented, dried and sorted into black tea, followed by a tasting of the estate's teas.

What to see

• The live demonstration of black tea processing, from green leaf to graded tea
• Early rolling machines and estate equipment
• Photographs of the planters, workers and early estate life
• The documentary film on Munnar's tea history
• The tasting counter and shop selling estate teas

What to wear

Munnar is cool, often misty and sometimes wet, so a light jacket and a rain layer are useful, with comfortable walking shoes. There is no formal dress code at the Tata Tea Museum, but modest casual clothing suits a working estate. The processing room can be warm and smells strongly of tea. Kerala's traditional dress is the kasavu saree and the mundu; many estate workers wear Tamil-style sarees.

Local food to try

The tasting at the Tata Tea Museum lets you compare black, green and flavoured estate teas, and the shop sells them at estate prices. In Munnar town, a few minutes away, try puttu and kadala curry for breakfast, appam with vegetable stew, and parotta with chicken or beef fry. Munnar's homemade chocolates, sold in the town market, are the popular souvenir along with cardamom and pepper from the spice gardens. Vegetarian meals are easy to find.

Good to know

• Best time: mornings, before the tour groups; September to March for dry weather
• Open Tuesday to Sunday, about 9am to 4pm; closed Mondays
• Entry fee payable at the gate; camera and tea tasting are extra
• Allow about an hour
• On the Nallathanni Estate, about 2 km from Munnar town
• Photography may be restricted in the processing area; ask staff

Nearby places

The Tata Tea Museum sits just outside Munnar town and fits easily into a day with Eravikulam National Park in the morning and the drive out to Mattupetty Dam in the afternoon.