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Tea Shopping

MattJohnson

By MattJohnson
in Coffee & Tea

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Ted Fairhead

Ted Fairhead

Posted
Posted

As an Englishman, I drink several cups of plain ol' black tea every day. I order from www.Britishdelights.com. Their 240 bag box of PG Tips is the best price I have found.

They also stock many other uniquely British items, including "bangers", pork pies, Christmas Crackers, teapots, etc.

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Dolly

Dolly

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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.

I have purchased from Stash tea before. They do have fine products. Pretty quick shipping also.

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Dianabanana

Dianabanana

Posted
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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.

Third vote for Ten Ren. My mom works for a pharmaceutical research company, and said all the Chinese scientists there beg her to order Ten Ren for the break room. She loves it, too, and when she bought some for me, I was hooked. I really like their Dragon Well, but everything I've tried has been good.

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Dolly

Dolly

Posted
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Oh wow.....Xiu Xian just posted their new 2008 series tea cups with filters.  Thye even have them in the purple clay and stainless!  Cool.....

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

:smile: They have quite a selection

Yes, they do. I have tried several. The new ones with the little separate brewing chamber are especially good for teas that get bitter when over-steeped. I'm a big fan of their site!

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  • 2 weeks later...
tobasci

tobasci

Posted
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stash tea and republic of tea are always winners with me.the gyokuro from stash is the perfect green tea in my opinion and the earl greyer from republic of tea is the best i've ever had.plus there's always nifty new teacups and such....

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  • 3 weeks later...
haresfur

haresfur

Posted
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I like Murchie's in British Columbia, Canada. I think it is getting easier to order on line from them. Often I can manage to get someone to bring some down, though. I'm partial to their No. 10 blend, Empress Afternoon and they have a good Earl Grey. They shine most with the black/green and black tea blends IMO.

Murchie's Tea

It's almost never bad to feed someone.

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fiftydollars

fiftydollars

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I try to get my green tea from Asakichi Antiques on the ground floor of the Kinokuniya building in San Francisco's Japan Town whenever I can. It's quite a walk for me, so sometimes I've settled and have regretted it. If you go, try the Kabuse-cha Takamado, which is a brilliant, almost fluorescent, green tea that is the best I have tried.

For black, or jasmine, or any other tea besides green, I usually go to Ten Ren in Chinatown. In addition to having lots and lots of tea, they also have these awesome Jinxuan tea tomatoes for which I have developed an almost alarming fondness. I usually go in for the tomatoes feeling only vaguely that I need tea and might as well while I'm in there. Then I start talking to the salesperson behind the counter, one tin leads to another, and eventually I end up buying more tea than I can safely drink.

I've also been to Lupicia at the Westfield and, while I like their selection and, for the most part, the quality, I'm not so happy that it is a tea shop that only sells pre-packaged tea. Their extensive selection is represented by small containers of stale samples from which you're supposed to decide what tea you're going to buy. Once you actually open the small sealed package of tea (50 grams), it's pretty good, at least the black tea I tried (the jasmine tea was not so good). But buying tea there you miss out on the experience of putting your nose near a large tin of fresh tea and taking a fat sniff of goodness straight to the dome.

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  • 12 years later...
KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted (edited)

Bumping this thread.... I like to have some loose leaf jasmine tea in the morning on the weekend. I've been getting my tea at McNulty's* for years, but have never really been thrilled with the quality.  Does anyone have a good online source for this?

 

*McNulty's is a famous shop in NYC... they have a website  - https://mcnultys.com/

Edited by KennethT (log)
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cdh

cdh

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Posted (edited)

I've been rolling the dice with tea direct from China from aliexpress, dhgate and ebay... don't have a specific US based vendor I recommend.

 

e.g.  Ran across this the other day and am resisting the urge to buy it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Supreme-An-Xi-Ben-Shan-Se-Zhong-Oolong-Tea/302819616070?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D5c0eda5cc3c24464ac6afcd9a83b7402%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D222711322384%26itm%3D302819616070%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A9ba5c804-5665-11ea-a0de-74dbd180348e|parentrq%3A7330218b1700a4e922b1d8ebfffbb3fc|iid%3A1

Edited by cdh (log)
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Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

Chris Holst, Attorney-at-Lunch

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KennethT

KennethT

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45 minutes ago, cdh said:

Oh, and on the jasmine front, I've enjoyed this stuff: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Chinese-Jasmine-Flower-Tea-Jade-Ring-Girl-China-Green-Tea/202648615304?hash=item2f2ecc7988:m:mHAja09PVISsRB88vb7mVZg

wow - this has a 2 month arrival window!  They estimate from Mar 26 to May 20!  I may wind up moving in that time period so I may have to put this off till later - but it looks great.

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Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

Posted
Posted
On 2/23/2020 at 7:13 AM, KennethT said:

Bumping this thread.... I like to have some loose leaf jasmine tea in the morning on the weekend. I've been getting my tea at McNulty's* for years, but have never really been thrilled with the quality.  Does anyone have a good online source for this?

 

*McNulty's is a famous shop in NYC... they have a website  - https://mcnultys.com/

 

I would trust Aroma Tea in San Francisco.

  • Thanks 1

eGullet member #80.

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  • 3 weeks later...
heidih

heidih

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Posted
39 minutes ago, Daniel-J said:

I'm lucky, my friend often travels and sends me tea from different countries. It's a pity he can't even go home now, afraid of the virus.

 

You might look into this group on eG  

 

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  • 2 months later...
willdabo

willdabo

Posted
Posted
On 2/23/2020 at 7:13 AM, KennethT said:

Bumping this thread.... I like to have some loose leaf jasmine tea in the morning on the weekend. I've been getting my tea at McNulty's* for years, but have never really been thrilled with the quality.  Does anyone have a good online source for this?

 

*McNulty's is a famous shop in NYC... they have a website  - https://mcnultys.com/

 

I'm finding the posting about buying tea from eBay fascinating.  That would never cross my mind and I'm honestly just not that brave, but I applaud you on being adventurous!

The flip side of that is to buy tea, and specifically Jasmine green tea, from a USDA Registered Organic supplier like this:

https://www.californiateahouse.com/organic-green-tea/organic-jasmine-pearls#/

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