If you’re in Ooty, there are a few things that instantaneously pop up in one’s mind: chai (tea) and chocolates top the list of must-buy in this lovely hill station of Tamilnadu, dubbed as the queen of the hills.  Ooty was once the summer capital of the British, and it continued to remain so until independence in 1947. It has a delightfully salubrious weather that the English camp enjoyed to escape from the torrid heat of Chennai (formerly Madras or the Madras presidency).  The lush green grassy pines dotted with the medicinally valuable eucalyptus trees and the heritage of the British Raj made Ooty a highly popular tourist destination since the days of the colonial empire.

The strikingly scenic beauty of the place apart, Ooty remains a shopper’s destination for tea leaves and dust and chocolates. Surprised, or not yet? Ooty lies at a height of 2214m above sea level and its climate is always warm and temperate, with an annual temperature of around 14°C. The rainfall is much less in winter than summer which makes it highly conducive for growing tea and making hand-crafted chocolates. 

In fact, there are a lot of shops in Ooty and other nearby hill stations like Coonor and Cuddalore that sell both tea and home-made chocolates all at one place. The English camp is believed to be the first tea growers and produced the finest tea including green, black and white in the region.  To get a first-hand feel of sprawling tea estates, Ooty is where you should head; thanks to our erstwhile colonial imperialists. The Doddabetta Tea Museum and Factory is a must-visit place if you’re a tea lover.  And finally, gifting a few boxes of Ooty handmade chocolates will definitely bring a smile to your partner or spouse’s face.  Check out all the chocolate varieties available as every confectionery in Ooty has more than 40 delicious flavours (including free samples to make an informed buying decision).