Broken Pekoe Souchong is the grade on this Darjeeling black tea from the Sungma Tea Estate, set in the Rung Bong Valley of the Darjeeling district. Many of the estate's gardens are certified organic, grown without synthetic fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides, across roughly 281 hectares of tea land at altitudes between 1,400 and 2,400 metres.
The dry leaf is tight and curly, with visible portions of green running through it rather than the deep black most people picture when they hear "black tea." That colour comes down to oxidation, not variety. Darjeeling teas as a category are oxidised less than a China black, and the shorter that process runs, the more green stays in the leaf. It is still classed as a black tea throughout.
In the cup it gives a light, golden liquor with a strong flavour built around the muscatel notes Darjeeling is known for, alongside lemon and vegetal character. Steep it in freshly boiled water for two to four minutes. It holds up well without milk or sugar; a slice of lemon is the one addition traditionalists tend to allow. An 8oz cup brewed this way comes in at only a couple of calories.
Darjeeling itself sits in the Indian state of West Bengal and, for all its reputation, accounts for only around 1% of India's total tea output. Much of what grows there is the Chinese varietal, Camellia sinensis var sinensis, rather than the Assamica variety more common elsewhere in India. The region has been producing tea since the mid-19th century, across roughly 80 estates, and Sungma is counted among the more renowned of them. Tea & Coffee packs this batch fresh to order at its factory in Kent.
