Little Red Cup Tea Co.

This tea is an easy-drinker, and thirst-quenching. Feels fairly springy, but it doesn’t jump out at you. Not sharply grassy or hay-like, but rather a softer subtle grassiness – I think this is the “meadow”/“light forest scent” quality from the vendor’s description. Feels very clean, a light but solid brew. I’m not really finding an X-factor here that would make this an exceptional tea, but it is a good basic brew.

I was on the fence about ordering teas from Little Red Cup, but was delighted to find that they offer free samples. I picked out 7 teas I was interested in and they sent some samples out to me free of charge! How cool.

I’m falling head over heels for green tea lately. I guess I’ve mostly only tried gunpowder-style and supermarket green teas in the past, but never experienced the good stuff.

I was hesitant to order from a company like Little Red Cup, because all of their teas are certified fair trade and certified organic. Well, I certainly don’t have a problem with fair trade teas, but I am concerned about the organic part, as organic teas have a reputation for frequently being the inferior tea. In theory, though, I would like to support organically produced teas if they do have some benefits to the environment and/or my health.

This organic green mao feng is very pleasant, with a touch of that spring-picked freshness “je nais se quois” which I love, and I can agree with the described notes of honey and peaches. It has a nice sweet aroma as well. There is also a touch of grassiness in this light-bodied tea.

Definitely not as strong in flavor and “freshness” as my current favorite, Foojoy Gold’s Before the Rain Tippy Green Tea, however this one is in the same ballpark and is roughly half the price ounce-for-ounce. This is something I will definitely consider stocking up on for the office.

Clearing up samples. boiling, Brita filtered tap, 3.1g in 80 mL shibo, 20s steeps, 4×. 5th was a kill steep (4th was already weak) that just tasted like leaf water. Mainly malty notes, some honey, not sure I agree with grapes. Very classic hongcha profile. 1 and 2 had a decent Chinese rock/cube sugar like aftertaste you get with some hongcha. 3rd steep had some bitterness; nothing unbearable. Tiny bit of dryness, but forget which steeps. Wouldn’t repurchase, and I’m guessing they gave me a little extra in my sample, so the $/g of .143 for me isn’t quite accurate based on recently checking the site, but if that was the true price, you could do much worse. Had this late though, and the caffeine took a hit on me. I only slept for 2ish hours before waking back up, and going back to sleep some 4 hours later.

From SkySamurai a while ago, thanks very much!  I keep trying this, but the flavor always seems a bit muted for my ideal Yunnan, so I haven’t written a note.  I tried to overleaf this time.  It was still very light on the first steep, but I went for a long steep that second steep and it was much deeper and delicious with a sweet smoky note.  Sweet potato & squash.  The second steep: THAT’S the Yunnan profile I’m looking for.  It was a satisfying tea today.  Maybe the trick with this tea is to steep it only once, but very long.  I will try that next time. 

White Peony
Little Red Cup tea
3.1 g, 130mL

180f brita filtered water

Dry leaves have a light basic white tea smell. Agreed with the reviewer who noted that the leaves were not of the best quality. Broken, crumbled, sort of dull and rather sad looking, which is disappointing for the price.

5s initial steep: wet leaves smell of smoke and hay, sort of dry
Tastes like a slightly medicinal white tea
Pleasantly slight sweet and refreshing aftertaste

11s: kind of bland. Getting a strong aftertaste reminiscent of celery but I had lunch before so not sure if that’s just that. (I had chicken quesadillas though and there was no celery involved)

18s: similar to before. Celery note still present.

1 min: all in on timing since I decided this was my last gongfu steep. Not much difference from previous steeps.

Tossed the rest of the leaves and rest of sample pack (1g) into a bottle to cold brew overnight.
Cold brew was refreshing and drinkable, which is just about any cold brew, so I’m not sure that says much.

Overall an aggressively mediocre tea, which is disappointing especially after seeing the packet description of a rich brew with honey and melon notes. Mouthfeel was on the thin side, felt a little thickened only when left to sit and cooled after gongfu steepings, certainly not what’d I’d describe as rich. Would not purchase again. Initially I thought I was too harsh in my review (since the 2 white teas I tried from W2T were so good), but it seems like others here have had similar experiences. This started off good and then was downhill and flatlined from there; the weird celery note did not help.

1.7g, 12 oz. 200f water grandpa. Bit of bitterness on honeyed toast (kind of like a liquified honey oat bread haha), just like the description. Pleasant, but probably wouldn’t buy more since it’s just not what i prefer.

aw yisss. this was left forgotten in my last (?) sipsby box. I had to cancel that subscription bc I was in TOO DEEP and was drowning in samples. this was another box that was brought to work, where it has been sitting in a drawer that is never opened….which is a SHAME because this is all grape-y, malty, bread-y goodness. it is exactly what I needed on this slow day, when all I want/need is to go home and nap for five hours. or however long Percy will left me sleep before she starts yelling in my face for her treats.

SPEAKING OF PERCY, since it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated here….not that anyone is particularly interested in my cat..but, I’m gonna write about her anyway. Percy started having seizures a few months back, I casually mentioned this to my sister (who I rehomed Percy from) and she was like “yeah, she had seizures here too” and like, uh, that is something that MAYBE she should have mentioned before, because I was (obviously) very concerned about what in our home/environment might have caused the seizures. and it actually made me really upset, bc the original plan for Percy, before I took her in, was that she was going to be rehomed from my sister’s place to the FARM where my brother-in-law found her two years prior (the farm belongs to his family). before Christmas. when it’s COLD outside. two vet visits later and they think she has idiopathic epilepsy, which I would need to go out of town to confirm (no one in town has the ability to do the tests required). this is something that I want to do later this year, but for now I am keeping her unmedicated and am recording any seizures in a notebook so that I can tell her vet about them. I worry about the medication because it is potentially a life-long thing and she is so young, plus it could compromise her kidneys. she would have to go in every six months to do bloodwork….for the rest of her life, basically. she doesn’t have seizures everyday or anything. it’s about 3 a month, which is on the verge of where the vet would want her to be medicated. other than the seizures, which she seems unfazed by, Percy has started to come out of her shell quite a bit and has a hilarious personality. it’s so nice to see her being so sassy, even while still being pretty skittish. I’ve been contemplating getting her a cat-friend because I think it would improve her quality of life….so we’ll see about that!

I really enjoy this tea. To me its very delicate, it again is a white tea, and acts the part as well. It also is a very forgiving brewer in my experience , giving consistent results time and time again. i like this one for a night tea, not super energizing , calming, and a good sipper. Very light in color, and in flavor, and mouth feel. It has a quality that makes you want to savor such a light tea, not drink it down, but that too is a very do-able thing. Light floral notes, and to me some woody notes in the background. This isn’t a mind blower by any means, just a good cup tea. You also can’t go wrong with the peeps at LRC. Awesome experience with all their teas, and teawares. There is a personal touch to everything they do.

This tea to me as well is responsible for waking the tea head in me. This is just a very comforting tea. I feel like it isn’t the most forgiving tea to brew. It will brew strong and dry, and I have found that brewing with a bit cooler water, helps bring out the malty, honey sweetness of the tea.

OK looseTman, I finally had this without eating something distracting. My initial thoughts in the earlier review remain pretty much intact. The dry leaf smells fresh with tobacco leaf notes. As I poured I did notice a bit of barnyard this time. It is not present in the sip. The taste is light and clean. It is a nice simple everyday shou. What stood out today without strong food accompaniment was the cooling feeling afterwards.

This is just a cursory review for now. Woke up this morning and realized I forgot to get milk last night. So instead of a matcha/milk latte, I’m having poo. I also had a bowl of brown sugar and maple oatmeal. The oatmeal kind of overpowered the tea. What I can tell you is the leaf had no fishy or otherwise offensive odors. It smelled sweet, clean, and leafy. Once brewed I checked again and no barnyard. It does have a pleasant shou aroma. The taste was clean and mild. It was probably sweet but after the oatmeal who knows. There was a mild amount of leathery notes. All in all, this seems to be a good everyday simple tea.

I started my day with my usual matcha and cold milk. I went out on the porch to enjoy the peace of the early morning. The birds were happy. The bugs were making their sounds in the distance. Beautiful start. I finished mu tumbler and decided it was just a little chilly – mid 60’s F. Went i and prepared a big mug of Yunnan Black. I poured it into an empty RTD glass bottle (I keep some around for just such times), and went back outside. What a perfect fit for my morning!

The warmth of the tea warmed my insides until the sun began heating the air. The tea has no hint of bitterness. There is a slight dryness. Mostly this is honey and malt. Today I am catching notes I hadn’t noticed previously with this one. I’m catching warm baked dark bread flavors. This is nicely sweet but can handle a little extra added sweetness if you desire. Just a lovely little porch sitting tea.

This tea was sent to me by Little Red Cup and is the reason I have come out of tea note retirement. I love Yunnan tea. Assam is great when I need to wake up. Ceylon I like with flavors and is my base of choice for Earl Grey. Yunnan is my warm cozy slow down tea.

The leaf looks just like the picture. It is long thin light twists of gold and browns. I pretty much expect the leaf to look this way. What I did not expect, in addition to the malty, honey, scents, is a fruitiness that resembles grapes and a neat pepperiness.

I Brewed this strong (on purpose) and the cup is a deep reddish hue as opposed to the amber mentioned by LRC. The taste matches the aroma perfectly. There is a touch of dryness that may disappear if you don’t make it so strong.

It is a dreary rainy day here, and this Yunnan black is providing just the comfort I need.

It is fall already. Where did summer go? We are getting some really cool nights and some awesome warm days with very low humidity. The leaves are turning. This made me crave white peony. I don’t know if others feel this way but white peony just feels fall to me. It tastes dark but feels light. The leaf on this one is very lovely and smells like fall with touches of honey and melon thrown in. The brew is honey colored and just goes with the sunshine. The taste is pronounced for a white tea. Of course light by assam standards. It is deep woods leafy with honey drizzled lightly on top. While it has a natural sweetness it isn’t overly sweet. A really nice example of the type.

I hope all of you are experiencing the same awesomely beautiful weather we are enjoying. Not a cloud in the sky. This morning I decided to completely forget all the stuff that I am supposed to be doing. Instead I got out my gorgeous Tivelasi teapot and filled it with Little Red Cup Lapsang Souchong. Grabbed the accompanying mug and a bowl of grits and parked myself on the front porch. It was so peaceful. No traffic. The sound of faint hammering across the road – the neighbors are building a barn for their horses. The sweet pine smoke from the tea along with the gentle warm breeze simply melted the stress away. The perfect early morning porch tea. Highly recommend you start your day the same way.

Unfortunately back to reality this afternoon.

It was 53 this morning when I started outside with my cold matcha latte. Opted to stay in until it warmed up a little. Later I brewed a hot cup of lapsang souchong and began to play Kerbal Space Program. Today’s agenda was to launch a satellite to orbit Mun and look for locations on the moon with resources to build a refinery. Except, my early satellites tumbled out of control during ascent. My redesign made Mun orbit then proceeded to blow up for no good reason. Decided I was done destroying things up for the day. Grabbed the cup of LS and tried for the porch again. It was 68. Close enough. The LS was cool by this time. Didn’t care. It smells like BBQ but doesn’t taste that way. It is nicely sweet but not bacon or meat tasting. The smoke is at a stout but pleasant level. No ashes or ashtray here. Just pleasant sweet pine smoke.

This is a good solid everyday workhorse tea. It isn’t going to blow you away but it does the job. It appears to be very forgiving as to leafing and steep time. Perfect for early morning when you can’t be trusted with measuring or telling time. For those who like to be jolted awake, this might not be your tea. I prefer a more subtle wake up. There is no bitterness. I didn’t notice any dryness. What I got was cup that tastes dark, sweet, and leafy. I noticed some mild notes of smoke underneath (very mild). It should take milk or sugar well – though I tried neither. It should also work nicely iced. Your friends who don’t get your tea obsession would recognize this as tea.

Recommend as an everyday black

I remember when smokey teas used to freak me out a little bit, but that was quite awhile back, and I’ve grown accustomed to them, and I enjoy them. I don’t drink them often, lets just say I go through phases with them, but in an effort to drink my way through my entire cupboard once a month (it will probably never happen, LOL, but every month I start off optimistically thinking that I can), I’m making more of an effort this week to drink a cup or 2 of each of my smokey black teas, this one included.

How does this one measure up? Well, I didn’t do any kind of comparison between this one & the other 4 in my collection, so for now I’ll just say that it’s tasty. It is definitely thick with pine smoke, but also has a sweetness too it, more of a fruit taste, as opposed to the caramelized brown sugar taste that I get with some, and I’m grateful that the tea is packaged within a ziplock bag, as well as the other packaging, because it’s deeply aromatic, as a lapsang should be, & I probably should move it into one of my many empty tins, but I love the picture on the front of little red cup’s package. Maybe I’ll cut the package up & attach it to the outside of a tin…

Good morning! I probably should be out in the garden by now, there is so much to do, but I’m enjoying a good breakfast & tea first. My tea drinking habits have changed somewhat recently. It started with the sip down extravaganza, drinking up all the teas that were one cup samples (mostly from Sil, LOL). Then I started working on teas that I didn’t have much of, & teas that have been in my cupboard for awhile. In the old days I’d drink several different teas in a day, but lately I’ve been slowing down a bit, choosing one tea & drinking it all day, either steep & resteep or gongfu, or whatever. So I’ve actually been drinking this one all week, LOL. It’s not the only tea I’ve had all week, but it’s been my breakfast tea since Monday, and sometimes my afternoon tea as well. Why? I have no idea. It’s hard to pinpoint. I wanted to write a review about it, but my allergies are affecting my tastebuds & sense of smell, so it’s hard to define those elements right now. What I can say is that although it’s not a fancy tea or whatever, I’m enjoying it this week. Things I like: it has a robust quality to it, a satisfying feeling. I’ve drank it several ways. The suggestion was to use 1 tsp x 3 – 5 min. That was not very satisfying, rather bland actually. I bumped it up to 2 tsp & gave it 5 minutes, & it becomes a cup that I can really get behind in the morning. Not fancy, just solid. A hint of smoke & toasted brown sugar, a full mouth, kind of like a Qimen, but with a hint of shu thrown in, just a little of that earthy compost taste. I think I’ll finish my cup & get to work!

I had to drink this because Sil posted about it.

Thanks for the sample, Sil!

I stuffed ALL OF IT into a DavidsTea paper tea bag, and steeped 5 minutes. Haha. It tastes kinda like white tea, kinda like green tea. Spinach. Green. Paper (whoops).

I don’t think it’s terrible, but it’s not for me.

Thank you for letting me try it, Sil! :)

This company has a really affordable sampler, so I decided to try a few of its teas, and well… I’m finding this one fairly bland in a Twinings sort of way. Disappointing because I really want to like this company’s tea. I like their website and general approach, but eh… I would not buy this again.

I’ve had this one a couple times but now it’s time for it to journey off to other ppl. It falls into that category of boring water for me. there’s a bit of a sweetness here, but nothing really out there that makes me want to keep this around