Name: Imperial Grade Laoshan Black
Brand: Tea Runners
SKU: 20190001
Price: 7.75 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5.0 (7 reviews)

The even higher grade version of our very popular Classic Laoshan Black. Chocolatey and sweet!

Best Seller

Pure tea

High Caffeine

🍵 This tea is currently available in this month's subscription & one-time boxes.

$7.75

Size

Small

2 oz

5 oz

In stock, ready to ship
Backordered, shipping soon

Imperial Grade Laoshan Black is the highest grade version of the already high grade Classic Laoshan Black.

This tea comes from the small family farm of the Liang family where all the growing and processing is done on site, under their strict control, to produce the highest quality result.

What separates this tea from the Classic Laoshan Black is that it's produced from the smallest tippy materials of the tea plants, which are hand selected one leaf at a time during the picking process and set aside for this small batch of tea.

This tea starts its growth under the protection of a greenhouse in the winter and early spring, then it's exposed to direct sunlight until picking season starts in late April to early May.

This tea is wonderfully sweet and thick, with notes of cane sugar and chocolate.

One of our favorites!

May 2026 Harvest

We also recommend checking out our Laoshan Village Black Needles. A similar and wonderfully delicious tea.

Origin:

Shandong, China

Ingredients:

Black tea

All U.S. orders ship via USPS Ground Advantage and usually arrive within 2–5 business days in the continental U.S.

We can usually have your order picked up by USPS and in the mail stream within 24 hours, Monday through Friday.

Subscription boxes ship via USPS First-Class Mail.

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5 stars: 7 (100%)
4 stars: 0 (0%)
3 stars: 0 (0%)
2 stars: 0 (0%)
1 star: 0 (0%)

All time favorite.

Love this much more than the classc because the flavor is so much more complex and you can really taste the chocolate flavor. Fantastic with milk and sugar

Is this the flagship tea? It deserves to be!

Complex, malty, memorable. After trying the subscription pouch, I just had to get the big bag. My only criticism is that it doesn’t really resteep into anything special, and my wish is that this has been sustainably sourced and becomes available as an organic product? That’s my only reservation about this tea — not knowing more about its origins.

Love it

The description does it justice - this is lovely rich black tea with notes of chocolate. If you tried the classic Laoshan black and weren’t keen on it don’t be put off. This one is different enough to be worth a try.

A phenomenally good, complex tea.

A rich, dark chocolate scent wafts up from the leaves even before steeping, but the steeped tea is almost potently chocolatey. A hint of unsweet cherries -- tart, but not bitter, adds to the overall complexity. This is an incredibly good tea. Earthy, robust, and delicious. Super pleased with this purchase!

Love this. Chocolatey, woodsy, one of my favorite black teas I've ever had.

Excellent tea, quite different from the classic Laoshan black

While not as robust as the classic laoshan black, this tea is very sweet with a strong dark chocolate flavor with slightly earthy nutty undertones that becomes more vegetal after a few infusions. It also has a nice thick smooth mouth feel and no bitterness or astringency. Currently one of my favorite go-to's