The Araksa Tea Plantation Tour was wonderfully well-executed. The location, hand-off of speakers, guided activities with information, and well-designed main building all echoed the peaceful surroundings. With transportation, the tour was more expensive than many of the other activities we embarked on in Thailand. Even with this higher price point, I found the tour to be educational, picturesque, and completely enjoyable. During the tour, we geared up with basket backpacks, picked tea leaves, learned the process for roasting tea leaves, then enjoyed some iced and warm tea. I love to drink tea, so learning the difference between the teas and what goes into the different types of teas was a major highlight…. As was wearing the basket backpack, but I think that’s just me.
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Thailand Tea Plantation
Picking Tea Leaves
We arrived at the Araksa Tea Plantation a little early. While we waited for the tour, we admired the peaceful landscape and design of the main building. The design was minimal with a few decorative historical items. There were women raking leaves as we went to sit on an outdoor patio set in the garden. This was one of the few places we received a formal greeting “Sawasdee ka” with prayer hands and bow. All the guests were gathered and Charlie kicked off the tour by introducing himself. Charlie is an elderly gentleman with a lot of enthusiasm and knowledge of tea. He would also be our guide for the picking of the tea leaves. We went over to an area where we put our possessions in lockers and received our basket backpacks. I thought the basket backpacks were super cute and I didn’t want to take it off.
We took a short walk over to some tea plants, which look like large bushes. Charlie told us what to look for to pick green tea – the bud with one leaf is ideal. The leaf bud would give it the flavor, the leaf would give it the color, and the stem would give it the caffeine. If we were going to make white tea, we would only pick the bud. If we were going to make black tea, we would pick lower on the stem to include two leaves and more stem for more caffeine. Charlie then sent us to pick leaves.
I suppose it takes a little practice
Picking the leaves is not difficult, but also takes practice to find the perfect bud + leaf combination. I wanted to get photos and enjoy the process, so our total amount picked was a little embarrassing. Perhaps I had a few leaves, but we did have a lot of laughs. Luckily no one in our group picked that many, except a professional tea leaf picker from Myanmar, who helped us out and demonstrated the roasting process in the next step.
At a Glance:
- Rating: 4 (out of 4) stars, would definitely go again
- Intensity: Casual Clothes and stable sandals
- Location: About 1 hour outside Chiang Mai
- Cost: $1,700 Baht for a morning tour with a transfer, $850 Baht without the transfer
- Restrooms: In the main entrance building
- Timing: 4.5 hours with transfer
Highlights:
- Wearing the basket backpack
- Picking the tea leaves
- Watching and learning about the roasting process
- Drinking tea
- Enjoying the quiet and well-designed environment
Learning the Roasting Process
Charlie gathered the group to walk over to an outdoor patio area, where we all piled our picked leaves. An intern spoke to us about the prepping and roasting process. Step zero was looking through the tea leaves and taking out any that had more than one leaf or were too large. Then, the professional tea picker from Myanmar kneaded the leaves to break down the leaf structure, while Charlie held down a round woven placemat. Next to the placemat was a large metal wok over a heated chimney. Then, the woman transferred the leaves over to the wok-type pot to remove moisture. The woman used her hands and a wooden stick to control the temperature and keep the leaves moving. The intern explained that they needed to remove a certain amount of moisture before they laid the leaves out to finish drying.
While the tea leaves were being stir-fried, the Araksa Intern (who had nearly perfect English) spoke to us about planting tea plants and what affects the flavor of the tea. One flavor factor is at what point during the day they pick the leaves. Sunrise or sunset are ideal times for picking, so leaf harvesting takes place early and late at Araksa Their plants are many decades old and usually grown by seed, instead of grafting.
The Production Facility
After more information and questions, we got to see one of their production buildings. In the rooms, there were mounds of drying leaves. It takes many days to dry and roast the tea, so we were not going to taste the tea we picked that day. There were also cleaners in one of the rooms and the entire place looked spotless. A professional tea roaster spoke to us about what each machine does and what percent of moisture they were looking for at each step. I cannot remember these figures any longer, but like a winemaker, it takes a combination of science and doing it for many years to know when the leaves are ready for the next step. We then headed back to the main building to drink tea.
Wear this to the Tea Plantation 🙂
Drinking Tea
At the main building, the dining table and chairs were set for tea with rice cakes on the tables. It was very warm the day we went to Araksa Tea Plantation, so we looked forward to the iced tea. Even the iced tea was stylish, with exactly one large ice cube. Teapots were also put on the tables for us to serve ourselves warm tea. We chatted with the other people at our table – it was an international crowd. Everyone we talked seemed relaxed and also enjoyed the tour. After tasting the green tea (not the one we picked), we were free to shop in the store and head out whenever. The loose-leaf tea comes in beautiful packaging and would be an excellent souvenir for any tea-drinker in your life.
Arriving at Araksa Tea Plantation
The Araksa Tea Plantation is about an hour outside Chiang Mai, which is why we opted for the tour including transportation. The day before our tour, the resort next to Araksa that must handle their transportation reached out to confirm the location. Our driver was a couple of minutes early and we had a sedan to ourselves. It was luxury compared to the open-back truck that we rode back from the Elephant Tour we had the next day.
You could get a private driver and just buy the tour from Araksa. I looked into the private driver briefly but decided it was about the same price for two people. If you have a larger group, it might be more cost efficient to do the private driver. Or if you are very brave, rent a motor-bike the day before. Having never really been on a motorbike before, I am glad we did not attempt to ride on in a city-type area and left it for quiet island roads on Koh Lanta.
Overall Thoughts: Araksa Tea Plantation Tour
There was something about the way they organized the tour and the tea plantation environment that made the entire experience feel calm and not at all rushed. Charlie, the Myanmar woman, the intern, and professional tea roaster were all friendly, knowledgeable, and thoughtful with their words. I am not sure if it was the subject matter, price point, or instructors, but our group was also relatively quiet and calm, with interesting questions. If you’re interested in the tour, head over to Araska’s website.
Also, the interior design and decor of the main building was beautiful and I couldn’t help but enjoy being in the space. And lastly, I wanted to mention how much I learned from the experience. I love tea but have not gone full into loose-leaf. Now that I know more about the process, I am more curious about loose-leaf and traveling to other tea plantations.
Have you gone on at tea tour before? If so, where? Please let me know in the comments as I would love to explore other tea regions of the world.
Happy Travels,
Hanna
