Tea Shopping

[MattJohnson]

I've been a big coffee fan for years, but lately, I've been drinking more tea.

Where do you get your tea? Do you have an importer you like? An online store you frequent. I've been buying tea from Rishi at stores in the Milwaukee area (they are located in the area too) and have been very happy.

One of my favorites so far is the Earl Green. Very tasty.

.... sorry if there is a thread like this already, I did a quick search but didn't see anything....

Edited April 18, 2007 by MattJohnson (log)

[baroness]

TeaSource in the Twin Cities is phenomenal; also available at www.teasource.com

Their Prairie Passion blend of black and green teas with passion fruit and other goodies is wonderful

They also stock collectible teapots, organic & biodynamic teas, and 'serious' estate teas......

[Naftal]

The best internet site I know is: imperialtea.com/

Edited April 18, 2007 by Naftal (log)

[Catew]

We love Harney Tea and buy a pound of their Palm Court blend every month. We've liked all of their teas, but we always come back to Palm Court.

I have also ordered from Adagio Tea. Their tea is very good, and you can get very small canisters to sample from. And their "Ingenui-tea" brewer is a godsend to office workers. It goes in the microwave, can use loose tea, and then strains the tea into your mug.

[KatieLoeb]

I buy my teas from House of Tea, which is conveniently located all of about two blocks from my house. They have a great selection and high enough turnover that the teas are always fresh and fragrant. Owner Jessica Litt is very knowledgeable about tea and helpful with brewing advice and choosing flavors. My perennial favorites are the Earl Grey Imperial #2 with Violets and the Four Red Fruits for summer iced tea. Delicious stuff.

[lastmika]

I must say that my experiences with Golden Teahouse have been really wonderful and I've been picking up something new on almost a monthly basis. Plus they've always added in a sample of this or that which lets me greatly expand my tea-horizons! If someone had told me I would have been addicted to 'Qidan' last year I would have laughed and laughed 'addicted to what???'

the Longjing is great too, but pretty much anything that they have described to me as Wu yi tea I have been very impressed with

[jpr54_]

there r many good tea sites

if u enjoy earl grey try

www.lepalaisdesthes.com

www.mariagefreres.com

www.uptontea.com

Edited April 21, 2007 by jpr54_ (log)

[ghostrider]

As I've said on many threads, Upton, cited immediately above, is my long-time favorite. I've checked out just about every tea merchant there is.

I am not fond of scented/flavored teas & generally prefer single-estate blacks.

I've come to favor Assams, Ceylons & Darjeelings, so can vouch for Upton's variety & quality in these areas. I'd expect that their Chinese offerings are equally good.

[cdh]

I've always had good luck ordering from the opposite side of the planet- http://www.gray-seddon-tea.com does a great selection of Chinese teas, and the cost, shipping included, is totally reasonable for the quality of tea offered.

[Beebs]

I mentioned this company, T Tea Company, on another thread -- I get my tea exclusively from them. It helps that they're a local Vancouver company, but they've got online ordering too. I like how they do all their tea blending in-house (as opposed to relabelling blends from a large distributer). They do killer Earl Greys (at least 8 kinds!), and a phenomenal Vanilla Rooibos (herbal). I also like how they supply to up-scale hotels to places as far as Dubai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Prices are a little higher than some companies (eg, Harney, Upton), but well worth the price; the quality is impeccable!

[Catew]

Forgot to mention another favorite Ten Ren Tea, whom we first found about 5 years ago on a trip to Chinatown in NYC. Their Jasmine teas are marvelous, and my husband really likes one of their Lapsang Souchon varieties.

It's really worth going to their shop, because they have big jars of each tea and will let you look at and smell each one. And there's a tea for every budget here.

[ghostrider]

Forgot to mention another favorite Ten Ren Tea, whom we first found about 5 years ago on a trip to Chinatown in NYC. . . .

And there's a tea for every budget here.

←

I was going to say "That's a joke, right?" but then remembered how long it's been since I was at their NYC shop & took a look at their website.

You're right, they have expanded their offerings & price range. I think they've also moved; I seem to recall that their original shop was a narrow storefront on Canal St.

When I first knew them - 25-30 years ago was it? - they specialized in high-end oolongs & seemed to have little else. The selection & quality were marvelous, & it was always a special treat to walk into the shop & get one or two precious little packets, but I wondered whether they were going to get enough trade on that level to stay in business. Apparently they have adapted & evolved & thrived. Good on them.

Edited April 22, 2007 by ghostrider (log)

[finnfann]

I've been meaning to post for a while that I have ordered from SpecialTeas several times:

http://www.specialteas.com/

They have a very big selection and everything I have ordered has arrived in great shape. Shipping is super fast. I ordered 3 or 4 different teas one day last week and they arrived the next day.

[jpr54_]

www.shanshuiteas.com

www.thefragrantleaf.com

www.teaspring.com

www.jingtea.com

[Richard Kilgore]

I have been getting my teas from The Cultured Cup in Dallas, Texas. I stop by the shop for mine, but they do web sales also. It appears that only a fraction of the teas in the shop are available on-line, although they do have a toll free phone number. I recently tasted a subtle Thai green tea with ginger that was wonderful and took home a couple of ounces.

[prasantrin]

I have been getting my teas from The Cultured Cup in Dallas, Texas. I stop by the shop for mine, but they do web sales also. It appears that only a fraction of the teas in the shop are available on-line, although they do have a toll free phone number. I recently tasted a subtle Thai green tea with ginger that was wonderful and took home a couple of ounces.

←

I bought from them when I was in grad school in VT. They have great service, and are very prompt with delivery.

[spice]

A second vote for Harney. I've been to their tea shop a couple of times too and enjoy trying new flavors. Favorites are Brigitte's Blend and Queen Catherine's Blend.

Edited June 26, 2007 by spice (log)

[ASM NY]

Also worth checking out: Ito En

[dimi]

My husband's been a Harney devotee for a while, but for the past year I've been getting consistently sublime chinese specialties from Golden Teahouse and I'm finally starting to convert him. I found that some of the better darjeelings he's always been fond of has a lot of similarity to many decent Chinese oolongs, and so many of the ones I've forced into his cup from golden teahouse have truly changed his perception of tea. One of these days I'd love to see a proper place like all of these online shops in person, but maybe that's something I need to go to China for! (or China Town)

dimi

[lastmika]

My husband's been a Harney devotee for a while, but for the past year I've been getting consistently sublime chinese specialties from Golden Teahouse and I'm finally starting to convert him.  I found that some of the better darjeelings he's always been fond of has a lot of similarity to many decent Chinese oolongs, and so many of the ones I've forced into his cup from golden teahouse have truly changed his perception of tea. One of these days I'd love to see a proper place like all of these online shops in person, but maybe that's something I need to go to China for! (or China Town)

dimi

←

You must try their Wuyi oolongs! Unless of course that is what you have been drinking from them. They also just did some more comparative-style sampling like including a bit of similar guanyinwan (like tikuanying) with the specific one I had picked so I can learn and get a better idea of how it stands in terms of season and quality, so very informative! I also must say that my last order was quite a bit on the slow side, so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and hopefully on the current order everything will run smoothly and I'll find a few new samplers tossed in as "payback"!

-- they appear to be shipping from Canada each time and we should be aware of our more-than-feisty border people as maybe they are the culprit. I know my tokyo friends send me things here and there and lots of delays these days!

[s_sevilla]

I'd like to echo Imperial Tea as one of the best places in the world to get chinese teas. The reason is that the owner bought a lot of top puerh's throughout the years and properly stored them and aged them in the US while their counterparts were either lost or quickly consumed in China. They are now one of the only companies to have these top puerh's, and the prices reflect that, but you won't be able to get them anywhere else. Oh, and they have a really good selection of other teas as well.

[jpr54_]

I was at the Wegman's in Woodbridge, NJ for the first time-

They had an excellent selection of teas as well as tea accessories-

[GlorifiedRice]

http://www.teavana.com/

Most Malls here nowadays have TEAVANA, they push Rooibos alot.

They have lightly sweetened tasters at the door.

[Dolly]

I really like this site......

http://www.xiuxiantea.com/?refkey=x3s4z7k9w8

All of their teas that I have tried have been wonderful. In addiition, they have numerous accessories, such as cups with a filter insert so that you don't have to use a separate infuser.

[llc45]

I have used several of the online sites listed above with good results. Recently, I had an incredible Earl Grey at a local restaurant. Found it was made by Stash Tea. An online search shows they are based out of Oregon. Although I need to finish off some of my existing tea stash before I dare place another order anywhere, this is going to be my next online site to order from.