About 2 km from Munnar, the Kannan Devan Tea Museum, formally called as Tata Tea Museum is one of the most famous Tea Museums across the country. Situated at Kanan Devan Hill Plantation’s Nullatanni Estate, this Tea Museum was established by Tata Tea Ltd in 2005. The main objective of the Tea Museum is to represent the interesting journey of Munnar's Tea Plantation. From the simple tea roller to the current, fully automated tea factory at Madupatty, here tourists will get original knowledge about tea processing and the operations that come into the making of black tea.
It’s believed that the Munnar sightseeing excursion remains incomplete if travelers don’t visit the famous Munnar Tea Museum. So, on your trip to Munnar, if you also want to explore the legacy of the tea plantation at its best, then you must watch a 30-minute documentary (short film) in the Museum. Yes, through just a half an hour documentary you will learn almost everything. From the ancient history of Tea Plantation to how the British came to Munnar and brought Tea culture and cultivation in the region, the toil and hard work of the people who experienced during those days, the types of machinery and tools, etc.
Apart from the historical aspects, there is too much to explore within this world-famous Kannan Devan Tea Museum Munnar. Yes, the Museum houses many old types of equipment like original tea roller of 1905, the Pelton wheel used in power generation in the 1920s, rotor vane (the old-time CTC type tea processing machine) and a rail engine wheel of the Kundala Valley Light Railway that transported men and material between Munnar and Top Station. The main among these items is the burial urn from the 2nd century BC. In addition to a variety of antiquities, here you can also watch 20th-century royal furniture like magneto phone, cash safe, wooden bathtub, iron oven and typewriters which have been very useful tools during the ancient days.
Of all the above things to do in Tata Tea Museum Munnar, the most prominent is to visit the tea-manufacturing unit where you can see different steps of tea processing like a crush, tear, and curl. And last but not least, a tea tasting room that offers a great variety of tea to choose from black tea to green tea will surely take your tea experience to another level.
Tea Museum Munnar Timings: Opens from 9 A.M till 5 P.M on all the days of the week, except Monday
Tea Museum Entrance Fee: INR 75 for Adults and INR 35 for Children
Tea Museum Camera Fees: INR 20