Korakundah Tea Estate, some 60 km from Coonoor, belonging to United Nilgiri Tea Estates Co Ltd, (UNITEA) a member of Chennai-based Amalgamations group, is all set to break its own record of having planted tea at India’s highest elevation.

A few years ago, it gained entry in Limca Book of National Records as the ‘highest tea garden in the country’ with tea planted at 7,920 ft above mean sea level.

“We have now gone higher to have planted tea at 8,060 feet. Accordingly, we are working on getting a new entry in Limca Records,” Korakundah Manager Ajit Mathews told Business Line.

It has planted tea amidst thick forests at a height normally regarded unreachable, let alone cultivable.

The Elite World Records has certified Korakundah as ‘the first identified highest organic tea garden in the world’. “This throws up enough evidence for our seeking an entry in Guinness Book of Record as well. Korakundah is totally organic. Although we have 925 hectares, we have planted tea only in 275 hectares leaving undisturbed over 100 hectares as virgin shola . Substantial area is retained as unpolluted grassland and water-body”, UNITEA Director D. Hegde said.

To get organic manure, Korakundah Estate has developed its own self-sufficient input unit. The estate has 180 cows and the cow-dung is used in its vermi-compost unit. No chemical-based input is used. The estate is surrounded entirely by reserve forests and national parks of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

The factory also has Rainforest Alliance certification, Ethical Tea partnership certification and Fairtrade certification.

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