specialteas.com is gone?!?!
if anyone is looking for bulk anything, let us know. We only list teas that are immediately on hand here in the Little Rock office, however, we distribute tea from many sources. If you are seeking something special, let us know which tea and the price you were paying for it at Special Teas and we will see if we can match it and get it available on hand for you. www.chioftea.com
What about the Teavana chai blend: Samurai Chai Mate & White Aruyvedic Chai? I buy this all the time; it’s my favorite chai and I haven’t found anything else I like as much. I would much rather support an independent company than (stupid) Teavana. Please PM me, I’d love to work with you. :)
I’d buy this in bulk, too, or split the order with other Steepsterites, if anyone else wants to share!
ViconyTeas is now offering oversea wholesale service.
You can check the details and download the catalogue here:
Why the heck are you looking for quality teas online?
Don’t get me wrong, I occasionally buy my teas online – it opens you up to a lot of variety, and it’s an easy way to get your stock teas, like Lapsang and Gunpowder. But you’re generally out of luck if you want to find truly fine teas.
When you’re talking about quality tea, real quality tea, you have to take the back roads.
Unless you can get yourself to Asia, the best way to find excellent tea is in a hole-in-the-wall, independent tea shop. Especially one run by an elderly Asian person, who speaks English you can hardly understand. Speaking from experience, that’s where you’ll find the real treasure. They’ll generally have a lot of crappy tea they’ll try to sell you at first, but if you hold your ground and show you know what you’re talking about, they’ll pull out the good stuff. And they’ll probably have some REAL good stuff.
And, on another important note, buying tea online…. just deprives you of the experience of buying. The examining, the smelling, the tasting; the memory. Tea delivered to your door in a cardboard box just lacks the atmosphere and the personal connection, ya know?
I purchased from Specialtes for years,it was my first big tea company.
With that said, I’ve moved on and discovered a world of smaller dedicated family tea mavens.
Try" EverythingTea", in Snohomish, Wasington. A family owned store specializing in Pu-errh teas among 200 others. I visited it when I flew out to Seattle to see my daughter
and they are dedicated tea lovers.
You’ve already mentioned the Harney family business, but have neglected Strandteas.
Jack Strand operates out of his home in Sandy, Oregon and offers an excellent selection of teas at bargain prices. The Golden Snail Yunnan is reminiscent of Specialteas,“Emporers Red”.
He is in the process of developing compact tea processing equipment so that small growers in India can do their own processing and survive somewhat indepedently
of the giant tea plantations.
Jack has some of these small plantation teas.
I’d like to thank you’all for suggesting so many sites,I’m looking forward to visiting them.
The corporate world can be ruthless but I truly believe, what goes around ,comes around.
There will be many smaller companies surviving when Teavana declares bankruptcy.
Cheers,
Rik
I have been saving the last of my Chocolate Cream tea from Specialteas. Would love to find a new source for that. Have tried a couple of mate and rooibos versions, but am really looking for a black tea. Also, I greatly miss the Cocoa Cardamom Tango. Have been buying some decent loose black at the local World Market for now.
Also, found some nice Chai (Rooibos and Black) at www.gypsytea.com.
I have had a few of SpecialTeas customers contact me about their favorite teas (especially Pi Lo Chun), I have sent them samples and they enjoyed my offerings. Feel free to go to my site www.drinkt.com or call me.
I am so bummed I just found out about special teas. I’m a little behind. My absolute favorite tea of theirs was the Earl Grey de la Creme. Has anyone found anything that tastes the same???
I also use to get the Earl Grey de la Creme from Special Teas and have recently tried this blend in their sample offering from last month at www.totallytealiciousteas.com and find it to be just as good at a much better price.
There is a specail tea store in Victoria BC that sells tea to the USA and Canada. I couldn’t find decaff Earl Grey on Teavana’s site but I did find it on the Victoria site. Prices are pretty comparable.
I am distraught over the loss of my favorite tea from Specialteas.com! I’ve been ordering their Raspberry Black tea for about 10 years and now it’s gone! I ordered some from Adagio and it’s awful – obviously has some ARTIFICIAL raspberry flavoring added to it…Gross! Does anyone know of a company that sells a good one? I feel like I’ve lost a comforting old friend :(
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