Honey Gold is the second in our personal ranking among Saras Subbha's Cooperative Teas in Barbote, Eastern Nepal. It is crispy, humble and unsophisticated like other Ilam teas, but with a distinct sour flavor that just opens up your mind and makes you wondering. It reminds me of chestnut, amaranth, red beans, or it is just the red earth of Ilam's hills that makes this tea so spicy. It is made usually of one bud and one leave. A significant portion of this tea comes from Narendra Gurung's "tea amphitheater", a spectacular tea garden of about 5 hectares planted more than 100 years ago by his grandfather. Narendra is one of our most esteemed friends in Ilam, the man who shared with us so much local history and knowledge about culture and tea. He hosted us in our many stays in the area. His Tea garden produces only high quality leaves, completely organic, surrounded by mangos, papayas, some coffee bushes, many subspecies of musa paradisiaca, plantain, sago, and it is intercropped with sweet potatoes and beans in order to create a balance of resources in the environment. Our conversations about Nepal's ethnic groups, issues and culture begin and end often over a cup of his red tea.