Munnar, a small hill station in Kerala, is one of the beautiful places in Kerala. The place is famous for its tea estates. The hill station hosts a Munnar Tea Museum that facilitates the tourists with information regarding some of the finest and enthralling aspects of tea production.
Munnar Tea Museum has been set up by the giant, Tata Company. Tata Tea is a major producer of packaged tea in India. The museum displays facts about the gradual progress towards the evolution and growth of tea plantations in Munnar.
The museum houses many curious photographs and machineries. These artefacts all depict and signify the turning point that led to the flourishing of the tea industry in this region. The museum set up at the Nallathanni Estate of Tata Tea in Munnar is an apt tribute to the toils and rigours of its pioneers, who showered their utmost determination in their efforts to transform Munnar into a major plantation centre of Kerala.
The tea museum at Munnar displays some of the items which include the original tea roller to the modern fully automated tea factory, the `Rotorvane,` dating back to 1905, used for CTC type tea processing; the `Pelton Wheel` used in the power generation plant that existed in the Kanniamallay estate in the 1920s; a rail engine wheel of the Kundale Valley Light Railway that shuttled men and material between Munnar and Top Station during the first half of the last century. Tourists also receive information about the production of black tea. A section of the Tea museum also houses classic bungalow furniture, typewriters, wooden bathtub, magneto phone, iron oven, manual calculators and EPABX of the1909 telephone system.
A sundial can be seen here placed on a granite block. It is an odd artefact made in 1913 by the Art Industrial School at Nazareth. It welcomes visitors to the Tea Museum. If one is curious to locate an item in the museum with some antiquity, then they can take the aid of a burial urn from the second century BC. This was found near Periakanal estate.
Another attraction of the Munnar Tea Museum is the demonstration room for tea tasting. Here one can understand the nuances of tea processing at the CTC and orthodox tea-manufacturing unit at the museum.
Thus a visit to the Munnar Tea Museum reveals information about the genesis and growth of tea plantations in Kerala`s high ranges.
