Little red cups tea is some of the best I’ve had. The Wuyuan black has big full leaves- and a rich, strong flavor. It’s my new morning tea! And I love supporting a small business that sends you a little hand written note- it’s the little things!
This tea is all it's cracked up to be! I got a small tin of it and now I save it for our weekly "tech sabbath" days, in which we put away all screens for 24 hours and focus on all the finer things in life. This tea fits in perfectly with this special weekly day. I look forward to the screen-free day, and drinking this tea, all week!
I love tea (as I'm sure most people who visit this website do) and I like a nice variety of greens, blacks, whites, oolongs and pu'ers. Golden Monkey is my go-to black tea for everyday use, saving Little Red Cup's fantastic Black Special Lot and Black Snail for weekends. Golden Monkey is one of the teas I love enough to order a whole pound of it. It's also one of the teas I give to friends who want to sample LRC's amazing line of teas.
I admit it - I am a tea "snob" in the way some people are coffee "snobs." I am particular about the tea and how it is brewed. And I know that anything Little Red Cup offers will be high quality. Yunnan Black is simply the best. No more tea bags, no more bland brews. It is rich, aromatic, and wonderful. Tea as it should be.
We most often buy the green mao jian, often form our local coop. As the teas is so good and popular, the coop is often out and I have had the great pleasure to order directly from the Little Red Tea Cup website. To my surprise I got a personal note from one of the owners with a beautiful welcome and offer to deliver my tea purchase to my house in Portland when possible in their schedule. This extra touch, felt so warm and neighborly and made me enjoy their excellent tea all the more! My son who suffers from Lyme disease, feels that this tea helps energize him and get him through some very tough days. I can only think it is the warm hearts behind the tea that help make it extra special and healing.
I'm new to drinking fine tea. After a lifetime of dust-in-the-bag Lipton, Little Red's Golden Monkey created an awareness of tea's calming effect that I didn't know was possible. It did take a bit of journey to appreciate Golden Monkey, but I feel I have arrived.
After decades of grandma's budget tea with evaporated milk and 2 teaspoons of sugar, the idea of drinking black pekoe straight was a first step. I couldnt do it at first, so tried supermarket Earl Grey and parted ways with milk and sugar. My son advised trying a Harney & Son blend using a cup strainer and I parted ways with the ittle paper bag. The blend was enjoyable but still seemed a like candy-like. The bewed tea leaves were mash-like so I tried Little Red's Yunnan Black and was surprised to see the brewed leaves unfurl.
The experience was like discovering that milk comes from cows. My cuppa went to two cups and I made the great leap of digging out a gift tea pot. To my good fortune, the pot was well designed with strainer holes in the spout so the unfurled Yunnan leaves never ended up in my cup. A cheaper tea, even the Harney & Son, would have clogged either the spout or choked me on tiny bits.
I bought a bag of the Golden Monkey and two other teas with the advise of Little Red's Mike. I also did some tea pot shopping on eBay and found each pot uniquely affects the tea.
Of all the teas I've now tried, Golden Monkey seems to have it's own calming effect at the end of a stressful day. It finds a balance between the dark teas and the very light green teas. Mike was right.
Rich, deep flavor that leads to a mellow response. Forget coffee's caffeine frenzy! And a taste that doesn't linger or sour your mouth (and breath) for hours. This is essential tea.
I have recently switched to consuming tea on a daily basis after finally giving up coffee for good.
I have been pursuing the perfect tea and organic and free trade were a must.
Finding your small company and receiving your thoughtful note in addition to this delicious tea has definitely enhanced my life in a wonderful way.
I look forward to hopping out of bed in the morning and thoroughly enjoying a cup or two to begin my busy day and then relaxing with another cup for "happy hour" late afternoon to wind down the day.
I never realized how tea can offer such pleasant energy when needed yet be so soothing to the nervous system and mind. Not to mention how delicious served black or with a splash of cream and bit of sugar as a real treat!
Thank you for sharing your love of tea and your superior customer service. I will definitely be back for more!
This wonderful tea has gotten me through the last 2 months of sheltering at home. I have i cup every morning after waking- it is strong but subtle, refreshing and awakening. It reminds me of the wonderful tea I have whenever I am in China- which may be awhile from now. Thank you!
I have to say, Little Red Cup is the coolest company I have purchased from in a long time. They sent me a handwritten letter with suggestions on how to best prepare the tea I had purchased from them. It was very sentimental and thoughtful, but even more impressive is their tea! My goodness. I thought I was a coffee drinker until I had REAL tea. Night and day difference! Best Jasmine Tea I have ever tasted in my life.
Took a bit of time to find my preferred ratio of tea to water but once I found it I absolutely loved it
My recipe for one cup of chai:
Bring 3/4 cup of water to a boil in a pot on your highest heat.
Add 1.5 teaspoon Yunnan Black tea from the Little Red Cup Tea Company.
Add one quarter teaspoon ground cardamon.
Boil until you see the dark tea color.
Add 1/4 cup of half and half to the boiling tea ( heat is still on your highest heat ).
Stir with wooden spoon to prevent skalding.
Lift the pot off of the heat source when the chai begins to boil over with small bubbles.
Put the pot back on the heat source and stir until the chai froths up again.
Remove the pot from the heat source.
Put the pot back on the heat source and stir until the chai froths up again, one last time.
The chai almost boils over three times.
Pour into a cup with a cotton cloth as a strainer.
Add maple syrup to taste.
Enjoy!
Love that the charming cup and tin of tea are both designed with celebratory red flourish! I was surprised at how fast the delivery was from Maine to the West Coast. I caught a problem indicating that my order was not filled out correctly and sent an email about it. I got a response within minutes; they had already recognized and corrected my mistake. A bit later one of the owners took the extra step of following up with a personal phone call. Kudos for the quality of both products and for the unusually high level of customer service!
The Little Red Cup Tea Co. has found a perfect namesake vessel. Feels great in the hand and holds just the right amount of tea. Nice to look at, too! Fair trade organic tea from a local business enjoyed in a cup made by a local artist -- what more can you ask for?
I'm normally a black tea drinker and didn't think I cared much for oolongs, but I was so wrong. This tea has a wonderful flavor and is an absolute treat.
This tea is like nothing I’ve ever had. My favourite is the White Peony. The first two shipments were sent to me as a gift from a dear friend. I love the personal notes from Mike. Your website is top notch. Tea is my personal indulgence and I just can’t go back to the dusty bags haha. Thank you, all the way from Newfoundland, Bev xo
We looked at a lot of teas while trying to source this, and most, frankly, did not meet our standards. A few were close. But only this tea hit all the marks. Packing the Golden Monkey tins yesterday I was amazed by the fragrance, which I would call sweet and chocolatey (your experience may vary!). And this morning when I came into the kitchen and was trying to decide on which tea I wanted for that first pot, I was inspired to reach for this tea. I've been drinking it all day and my fourth large mug is just as marvelous as the first.
There is a little bit of a paradox about this tea. Technically it is a Black Tea, in the same category as our former Keemun Black, which I described as "a classic black Chinese Restaurant tea--except good." But this tea is nothing like that, nor our WuYuan Black. Taken together with our profoundly smoky Lapsang Souchong and our Yunnan Black, this tea illustrates just how broad the category of Black Tea really is.
Despite being so unlike the more standard black teas, this tea seems familiar-- it's not the least bit strange, though it is delightful. We are *really* excited to be able to offer you the opportunity to add this tea to your cupboard or tea tray, and completely confident that if you like black teas in general that you will really enjoy this variety.
Little Red Cup has come up with two teas that are very different from the normal. First was the Rangsai Mountain green tea, which I like better with each cup I drink, and now the Special Black. This is a truly special tea. Very different for a black tea. Sweet, and mild, but with an excellent taste. Sold out now, but grab a tin if it shows up again.
I have been moving away from (artificially) flavored teas, and toward traditional teas. I never realized how many different tastes could be in one tea! I just finished a delicious third steeping of Jade Oolong, with a a bright beginning, followed by a mellow, complex flavor, and a mildly astringent (but not bitter) finish. Yet, each steeping is also a new experience. It is important to me to source Fair Trade and organic tea. Add to that great customer service, and I know I'll be ordering another tin of Jade Oolong when this one is finished.
I made a cupful one recent afternoon, brewed it three minutes, and tasted full deep flavor with not ONE HINT of bitterness. Aesthetic note: if a deep brown brew can have a pink cast to it, this cupful did. Including when I spilled a bit on the white counter.
Rich flavor and dark color but not too smokey, which is the best part. This tea has seen life and is not afraid to be who it is, yet it is not the loudest voice in a conversation. If you are into pu-erh, this is a good option. You can easily get two brews out of the same leaves.
The sweetness and delicious flavor of this oolong really surprised me. It may be my favorite of Little Red Cup teas so far.
This is my go to, quintessential oolong and I cannot wait to enjoy it again and again . Thank you! Also the rangsai green special is a personal favorite , it’s delicious and so fragrant
2 pounds in less than 3 months... need I say more? Best Lapsang I've had....
I am enjoying the camellia flower tea, but was disappointed upon receiving it when I learned that it was an herbal tea with very little caffeine. I typically drink tea with caffeine as my morning jump-start beverage, and only drink herbal teas for medicinal purposes.
It's pretty much my own fault that I didn't realize this because I didn't read the whole listing. It sounded interesting so I ordered it. I do have a suggestion: it would be nice if you used a different color or some sort of symbol in the listing right by the name of the product indicating that it's an herbal tea.
I came up with a great alternative use for it, though. I made a pitcher of iced tea using 3 T. of the camellia tea and 1.5 qts. of water, and steeped it for about 10 minutes to make it extra strong. After straining out the camellia flowers, I sweetened the tea ever so slightly with a few squirts of "Holly Honey" from a local producer in my area, Smiley Apiaries in Wewahitchka, Florida.
I refrigerated it overnight and before heading out early the next morning to an island where I do sea turtle nest surveys, I put a handful of ice cubes in an insulated water bottle and filled it with the chilled camellia tea. It was such a treat when I pulled it out of my backpack around 1 p.m. after 6 hours in the blazing sun! I will definitely do that again :)
