OUR STORY
Whilst it may seem that GURUNG tea was founded by chance, perhaps it was just waiting to be discovered.
Tiffany Soong and Manching Lee, two long-time friends, took a trip together to the Nepalese region to discover the country’s deep cultural traditions. One of their stops, to visit Bhishima Subedi, a fellow classmate of theirs from Yale, who had settled in the Nawalparasi district. He had been working with local organic farmers supporting them in growing and selling high margin crops; herbs, grains, and vegetables typical of the Nepali agriculture. As the executive director of ANSAB, his work empowers the local community’s efforts to manage their environment’s natural resources, and strengthen its biodiversity and conservation whilst also ensuring economic prosperity.
In one single plantation, Tiffany and Manching found a complete expression of Nepalese agriculture. Here grew powerful herbal ingredients with a taste intensity that they knew could surpass the flavour experience currently available on the market.
With passionate confidence and their complimenting business skills, the two friends founded GURUNG tea and established a new channel of opportunity for the local farmers, one in fact wholly inspired by their land. Gurung, a common surname among the farmers in Nepal, was chosen by the brand in honour of their families.
Our mission is to connect ingredients of the finest nature
and work of the highest honor with the rest of the world.
We are now working on extending our original intention beyond the Nepalese region and have begun researching and working with farmers within and around China.
Finest
Ingredients
Community
Integrity
Our Founders
Tiffany Soong
Tiffany Soong has been part of the art and media industry for over 25 years. A Yale Business School Graduate, she chose to focus her experience on non-profit management working on projects that sit at the intersection of art, culture, and people.
She co-founded GURUNG tea with the intention to connect social and environmental sustainability with artistry.
Manching Lee
A graduate of Yale School of the Environment, Manching is an environmentalist, passionate about wildlife conservation and sustainable development.
Through her work as co-founder of GURUNG she endeavours to substantiate an eco-conscious lifestyle. Her career experience has included work for the US-Asia Environmental Partnership Program. She currently manages three companies in Shanghai.