This exquisite tea plantation in the hills above Koggala offers (free) highly informative tours of the estate.
During the tour, you'll walk through shady tea fields to a cafe for a free cuppa and a slice of very moreish homemade chocolate cake. Afterward, there's a (fairly brief) factory tour and then a visit to the tasting room where you can taste test 42 different kinds of tea. It's almost certainly the single best tea estate tour in Sri Lanka.
There's also a well-stocked shop and horse rides around the estate are available (from US$10).
Handunugoda is owned by Herman Gunaratne, one of the legends of the island's tea industry. Be sure to pick up a copy of Gunaratne's autobiography, The Suicide Club: A Virgin Tea Planter's Journey (sold in the on-site shop), which is a remarkably entertaining and insightful read about his life, tea and Sri Lanka, from the waning days of the British Raj to today.
The estate is best known for producing the fabled Virgin White tea, a delicate brew made from the tiniest and newest leaves. Where the average large plantation worker will pick 23kg of black tea in a day, the workers here manage but 150 grams of virgin white leaves.
It's 6km inland from the coastal highway; signposted from the 131km post.
