Sourenee Tea Estate, in West Bengal, India has been in operation producing highest-quality Darjeeling tea for more than 100 years.
We love the name Sourenee – a combination of the named, local hybrid (pron. ‘ser’) and the dialectic term for ‘queen of the valley’ (pron. ’renny’). Grown in the steeply-sloped and dramatically-scenic Mirik Valley region, this tea will transport you to the exotic Himalaya … right in your chair! The current goal of these tea growers is to further their established reputation for manufacturing world-class, delicious tea by the addition of organic certification (since April 2009).
During our sample tasting, we found the flavor of this 2nd Flush Sourenee to be a classic – fresh, simple, and smooth, without any harshness or astringency. Having a solid aroma that demands further investigation and a concentrated flavor that is reliable, familiar and complex, this 2nd Flush tea is stunning in its straightforward way, with the right amount of complexity to keep the most enthusiastic tea drinker interested.
This 2nd Flush tea from Sourenee is smooth and flavorful and non-assertive. We liked it so much that we purchased a sizeable lot of this tea, knowing that organic 2nd Flush Darjeeling as good as this one is hard to come by.
Chinese reds tend to be foolproof. I do love good Darjeleeng. Last couple years were not impressive. FF are very finicky.
I recently tried and bought 2.6oz of Arya Ruby FF fr Happy Earth Tea. Exceptional. They sell sample sizes.