At the Dilmah Tea plant in Colombo, we saw the vast varieties of tea being pro­cessed and packed for export. Thousands and thousands of little bags, and hundreds and hundreds of loose-leaf tea packets spill from the production lines each day and the company provides thousands of jobs for Sri Lankans. The most prized tea is grown at the highest altitude. Near Nuwara Eliya, an elegant resort town, we stayed in the Heritance Tea Factory Hotel, which had been furnished to provide comfortable accommodation. Despite the hotel’s proximity to the equator, the altitude meant temperatures dropped dramatically at night. As we arrived in the late afternoon, we were served glasses of fragrant spiced tea. Comforting and cosseting, tea is a drink to lift the spirits and warm the soul.