What do you look for in an online tea retailer?

101 Replies

Thanks for the welcome SimpliciTEA. I have bought a few times from Golden Moon and have been happy with both the quality of their product and their shipping. I’ve been really impressed with the wonderful variety of tea drinkers I’ve read on this sight and the fact that everyone seems to enjoy both learning and teaching without being snobbish about it. Very refreshing.

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Ease of site navigation. It need not be fancy, but I better be able to find things.

Quality info on the teas themselves (where from, what harvest, detailed description, etc)

Reasonable price when compared to other sites selling the same tea.

Large selection of “straight” teas. I’m not looking for flavored, usually.

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This is a great thread! I just wanted to post and say that at least I, and likely many of my colleagues are keeping an eye on the discussion as we look to improve our online retail sites. You guys have made my goal for the week getting the picking date, family farm, village, (and workshop for pu’er) up on the site. Keep your expectations high and you will hopefully raise the bar across the industry.

My import business is all Chinese tea, so I do find myself in the consumer position when I crave Japanese tea. I look at the full selection on the site and try to feel out what the company is going for. Does the collection feel haphazard, or does it feel like each tea needs to be there and represents something important? If I can sense a purpose behind the collection as a whole, I am bound to try three or four teas to get to know the company. Free, fast, trackable shipping helps a lot too. I worked in the brick and mortar side of the business before getting into the online tea business, and know that stores have a lot more costs. The least an online retailer can do is pay for your shipping if you are going to trust them with your money and your hopes without even getting to see them or the tea.

Beyond that, like “Kellytravels2000” just mentioned, I look for information, blogs, pictures and videos. I want to see engagement with the industry and the culture on the part of the business. Chances are, if the owner really really loves tea, and you can see it from the articles, they probably have good tea.

Great ideas! That bit about looking at the full selection is something I have read is a good thing to do when looking at a tea retailer, but you went a little further and told me the why (I’m all about the why). I bet that whole “sense a purpose behind the collection as a whole” ability, so-to-speak, takes a while to develop, though. So I may as well start now!

A few days ago I checked out your site (after looking at the responses on Steepster regarding your contest), and it is refreshing to read the how’s and why’s that you connect with both the tea farmers and those many others who help bring the tea to market. Personally, I like background information on where the teas come from, and a little about the people who grow and process the tea. Giving me that background information makes the act of my buying the tea feel more personal, such that it makes me feel connected to everyone involved in bringing the tea to me in a way I don’t feel when I buy from some large tea company (I’ll play nice and not mention names).

When I looked at you website I remember that I liked some of the teas that you offered from a region that you said no other company has sold from before (Laoshan- I just now went to look up the name, though). That stuck with me. I am considering buying at least one of your green teas (hopefully another tea, too), possibly sometime around this holiday season (as it fits within my price range). There is something to be said about offering only a few dozen teas (or less), rather than hundreds, which seems to fit in with your ‘full selection sense’ you mentioned. It does give me the impression that you really take care in selecting those teas (it doesn’t mean you do, but it does send that message, at least to me).

I’m glad you responded. And I’d love to think others tea retailers are taking all of this in. Listening sure does make for a better world, doesn’t it?

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This is a fantastic thread – and great place to get ideas of where to look online. For me shopping online is a very hesitant decision that gets made only after painstaking research because I love nothing more than going into a beautifully decorated tea store and slowly taking my time to go over all the teas on display and browse the teawares and books if they have them. I also love when tea stores have samples of their tea made up to try and buy a lot of my directly after trying it. So to buy tea online generally means either that the tea I’m looking for isn’t available in a store I know of or if it is then it means I don’t like the store version and so am looking for something different, or have read a review of a tea buy a particular store (like from this site) or a friend/ family recommends a particular tea or tea store to try out.

When I do go looking online I look at the contact details first to make sure that the store is easy to contact, and then I a might send off an email asking questions and go from there. Customer service is very important to me so no matter how great a tea is if there’s no around to help with my questions or if they give short unhelpful responses then I feel like I shouldn’t really waste my time.

After the customer service side of things I then look at shipping rates – being from Australia the international shipping information section of a website is very important so I read through that and if it’s reasonable then I take the next step and really reasonable to me varies I’m willing to pay more if I’ve tried a tea and like it then if I’ve never tried it because that’s a bigger risk. After shipping rates I check to see if they give samples of their tea with orders because I feel like if I’m ordering something that I’m paying extra for shipping then I think it’s reasonable to expect a little thank you from the company and since I love trying new teas samples are a must for me.

Packaging is important but it’s not the most important what I mean by that is I prefer stores that offer their tea available in tins not just pouches or foil packs and sometimes it annoys me that in a lot of cases you have to buy big to get a container and really I’d rather pay for a few extra dollars for a small tin than nothing at all. I also want the brewing times to be on the packages along with a description of the tea. And continuing on the customer service theme I like it when they put a little note in with the order even if it’s just ‘enjoy’ whenever I get a note in with my tea I always go back even if the tea is only mediocre because I appreciate it when people go the extra mile to retain customers.

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Yomom said

There are a lot of companies selling great tea at competitive prices. For me not only the quality, price, quick delivery, but Customer Service is King!! My experiences with Teanobi was astounding. I had purchased for a few months spending probably a few hundred dollars. I asked a question regarding the nutritional content of their Sencha powder, they never replied. Then, I noticed they billed me twice for a single purchase. I emailed them to notify them of this and requested they take off one of the charges. They proceeded to remove both. Still, no contact from them. It should be pointed out they list NO phone number, or address, just a p.o. box. When I discovered they cancelled my order I attempted to log in to their site to order again, I discovered they cancelled my account!! Never once did they notify me of any of this. Their tea was very good, but I can buy the teas from a number of other companies that value me as a customer. Perhaps they are doing so well in business they can just pick and choose who they sell to. Buyer beware

Thanks for the heads-up.

This is a great example of why I think having a consistent and easy way for people to post and get access to this kind of information would be useful. Anyone considering buying from Teanobi may very well benefit from reading about your experience with them. And it would be good to have a central ‘repository’ so others could write reviews about them (as they may have had a similar or a very different experience).

I invite you, @Yomom, to create a new online ‘Place’ and share this information in a review of them so anyone can see that at a later time.

Here is a link a discussion where I tell how I create online ‘places’—you can look at the posts at the very end of this thread: http://steepster.com/discuss/1844-how-can-i-post-information-about-on-line-tea-retailers-using-the-places-tab

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Has anyone bought from Doehi tea blenders? Any comments?

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What I look for with any tea purchases that I might make, be it on line or not, is do they carry what I like; Matcha Teas and of course Green Teas, Oolong…etc. Most likely they do; then next question is it bag or loose leaf? I find that mostly all on line tea sellers carry loose leaf teas, so I tend to pass them over.

I prefer for the sites to be simple, not to have the information be hidden (searching for it) and clearly categorized and they usually are.

Since money is an issue with me, in that I have none; a shipping cost of less than S5:00 ($4.95) is all I am willing to pay, if even.

One suggestion: As an incentive tea sites should offer to new customers free shipping with all (big or small) purchases.

With regards to customer satisfaction, this should be aligned with retention as well; be responsive to customer and their demands (within reason) and the client/customer will be happy.

Turn around time is detrimental to good business since the market is so vast; customer could always find what they are looking for else where simply because the other is faster, or readily available.

In a nut of a shell: product availability, type of product, minimal shipping cost, and turn around time in getting the product to customer are the key ingredients for this shopper on line or in person.

Note that pricing is not factored in since if there is no money why venture to shop at all. But when there is funding than it is not an issue to raise, but shipping should be treated like an added benefit in retention of customer.

And Sellers can always decide which customers do I want to keep as opposed to the ones I don’t want to keep.

If I have misunderstood this question do forgive me.

It sounds like you understood the question perfectly! Thank you for taking the time to tell us what matters to you.

I agree with the concept of offering free shipping to new customers. I know I would be more willing to try teas from a company I have not bought from before if the shipping is free for my initial order with them. Offering inexpensive or free samples really catches my eye, too, as that is a show of confidence in their products.

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Hey Again,
I am still loving this thread. Last week I saw everyone mentioning the picking dates and more info on the farms, which served as a great reminder to me to get that info up on the site. Sometimes it is easy to overlook the simple things like that when you are taking care of a hundred things at once.

This week I am reading over the thread again and see a lot of shipping related concerns. I totally agree with everyone. I used to actually work with another tea company that had brick and mortar shops before starting my own business. I can say that there are immeasurably more costs for non-online retailers. Online businesses should offer free shipping if at all possible to honor the trust an individual puts in the company by ordering.

I already had free domestic shipping, but with prompting from all you great folks, I have been looking into international solutions, and now offer free international shipping as well. Thanks for the great tips. I will keep listening!

ssajami said

David,
I must say that I find it very impressive – your attention to details and desire to make your site and customer service as good as it can be. It is nice to see a vendor so attentive to the discussions.

Free international shipping? Wow, that is quite a treat! I will definitely have to take a look at your teas – I have read wonderful reviews of them.

Thank you for the kind words ssajami! The Steepster community is a great asset for small businesses as a place to connect with tea drinkers around the world. I truly appreciate the chance to participate in these discussions, respond to questions about my teas, and answer general tea questions based on my experiences.

As sites like Steepster grow in importance and popularity they become important forces in shaping the future of the tea business.

As for the international shipping- I have always felt bad for the many user in Europe and Canada especially who are on Steepster. There is just something so disappointing to invest yourself in a tea, go through the checkout process and discover that shipping doubles your purchase. I have definitely been in that situation in living overseas, especially while in China.

Plus, my farmer friends, like He Qingqing who harvests much of our Laoshan teas, are just delighted to hear that their tea is making it even further than China and America. They are super excited! Who am I to deny them that connection?

That’s very exciting! I’ve read great reviews of your teas but I’ve recently been too sick of shipping costs to even look into companies that aren’t local/Canadian. I’m definitely going to take a look.

Uniquity said

Oh, free shipping..you tricky devil. Shipping costs are the reason I tend to buy most of my tea in person. Fran at 52teas is my big exception with his free shipping. I will definitely be looking into your options when I free up room in the tea cupboard.

Awesome,
I am glad to hear that free shipping is appreciated. I have been working on shopping cart / shipping all day and just put in a system to offer discount codes. If anyone clears enough space in their tea cupboards, help me test out my new system by entering LAOSHAN_VILLAGE when you check out for 15% off and two free sample packs. (If you want a specific sample, just shoot me an email otherwise I will choose them based on your order.)

@Uniquity: It’s funny that you mention that you tend to buy most of your tea in person because of the shipping costs. I buy most of my tea online because I don’t like being required to pay the sales tax. And where I live some of the sales taxes can be as high as nearly ten percent. So, if I can get free shipping (even if it means buying in bulk), AND not have to pay sales tax, well then, that’s my meal ticket! I reaaeeeely don’t like those costs that don’t derive directly from the manufacture of the product itself. : )

@David: that’s too good to resist and I would love to help you test out the new cart (though I definitely haven’t cleared enough cupboard space). I’d love to try the traditional teas sampler as well as maybe one or two other teas, but they don’t show up in the same cart. It seems like the samplers haven’t been added to the new system yet, maybe?

@Jessie You are awesome! What a lifesaver- I have been going through everything to test, but hadn’t gotten to the sample packs yet. I fixed the simple issue, and they should be up and running now. Thanks for checking out the site. Definitely leave me a note with anything else that you want to try when you checkout and I will be sure that your samples are extra generously portioned for your help in catching this one.

ssajami said

David, there is a problem with the free international shipping, it still shows up on the paypal cart.

Thanks @ssajami
I just went in and fixed it. It looks like the old Paypal settings were overriding my new shopping cart settings. I really appreciate everyone’s help in getting this system polished up. Now any US/Canada order is free over $10, and International over $25.

Everyone here is so nice! When I go to buy something online and there is a problem I am not nearly as patient as you folks. It is deeply appreciated!

Dinosara said

Hi David,

Your offer above was enough to sway me, since I’ve been interested in ordering from you for a little while anyway. I just noticed your new Alchemy blends line… will you be adding the rest of the descriptions soon, and is it possible for the free samples you offered to be of those teas? Thanks!

@Dinosara,
Yikes- Thanks for the reminder. The Alchemy line is new, and I actually finished descriptions a few days ago, with ingredients listed. I have been busy putting together an awesome shipment of new teas, and therefore distracted. I will take care of those today. Of course, you can ask for any of the Alchemy teas as free samples. I am very excited about them, because for me, blending teas is not about creating a new flavor to put over a tea, but about engaging in a flavor dialog with the tea. I think the blends really bring out what the tea is trying to say. Favorites so far are the Thai Ginger Fire (herbal), the Taiqing Temple green, the Laoshan Village Chai and the Imperial Breakfast. I will try to update this afternoon when I get descriptions up.
Thanks!

Dinosara said

Great, thanks David! I am excited to taste some of your blends because I’m really interested in your flavor dialog approach.

Oh my….this is dangerous! I am so excited! My tea budget was stretched to the limit for the last months, but after reading your blog, I am dying to try your First Spring Picking Laoshan Northern Green…and I’m not even a green tea person. I tend to lean towards blended teas, like those found at DavidsTea, but I have to say that you are the reason I’m checking out these teas. Your passion for the teas, the stories behind them, and your attention to your customer’s wants here on Steepster makes you a tea seller I’m not only happy to support, but eager to do so.

A few questions, we aren’t getting paid until Friday, will the coupon code still be available then? Also, I am intrigued by your tea charms, and I think the lucky toad would be a perfect gift for my wife. What, exactly, is a tea charm? It is decoration or does it have a purpose? Thank you so much for your time and your investment in the tea community.

Uniquity said

@Aisling – Thanks for asking about the tea charms. I was adoring one of them last night while debating whether I should place an order, and wasn’t quite sure what they were for (other than cute!). It would make my order more impressive, since I only had the two black teas on it..It’s one of those times I wish I liked greens and pu-erh more.

@Uniquity Glad I could help! XD.

@David One more question, on the Traditional Tea Sampler, under the “add to cart” button in the upper right hand corner, it says the pack is $16.50. On the lower left hand side, it says $22.50. Which is it?

Geoffrey said

@Aisling & @Uniquity – Looks like David has his hands full here, so I thought I could help you both with a little insight on the tea charms, as he taught me about their significance at one of his local tasting events. From what I remember, the tea charms are a part of Gongfu tea drinking culture. David says that people in the Chinese tea markets place these charms on the board or tray they prepare their tea on, and throughout the process of preparing tea they will pour the wash (the initial two-second steeping), and any excess tea after severing everyone, over their tea charms. Over time the charms take on the color of the tea. In the Gongfu method of preparation, the wash (first steeping) is traditionally discarded as a reverential sacrifice of some kind, and pouring that tea over a charm is supposed to promote luck or good fortune. The frog with the coin in its mouth appears to be specifically a prosperity charm. I think I remember David saying that some of the charms symbolically represent the characters for specific words in Chinese, like three-dimensional puns! I can’t remember the examples, but maybe David can fill in more info that I missed or didn’t remember correctly on this.

@Geoffrey- Thank you so much for the detailed description of those tea charms. It is hard to even know what to call them. In China, a better translation might be “tea pet” but that makes little sense in English. Just like you said, they become darker and more lustrous over time. The toads symbolize prosperity, and the feet with spider are a wordplay, which sounds like " better luck coming" or “prosperity coming.” Pouring water over them is supposed to activate their charm. They are also a status symbol, because the darker your tea charm, the longer you have een drinking tea. In China people put them out like their credentials at the markets.

@Aisling of Tea – It makes me really happy to hear that my blog and writings can serve as some inspiration or invitation to more tea drinking. That is the highest compliment I can get, as the whole goal of starting a tea business was to share this culture that I loved and make it more widely accesible.

The coupon code will be left up at least until the end of October, if only as a reward for those of us who read these threads in such detail, so no need to worry about timing. Even if I had taken it down, I would have given you the discount and samples if you just emailed to ask.

Sorry about that discrepancy on price. Sadly it is actually the higher price in this case. I recently added more tea to the traditional sampler pack, so it is a bit bigger and costlier than the other samplers, but contains a really interesting survey of my favorites. I truly love every tea in that one, and put the pack together as a way to show off some of the most interesting teas in the collection. I just fixed the price issue so that just one shows now.

@Uniquity- Nothing to be ashamed of in liking black teas. Those ones are really unique. The Laoshan Black is especially unexpected. If you like black teas, you might also enjoy the darker oolongs like that Wuyi Big Red Robe that I brought in.

Best Wishes,
David

@Dinosara -I just wanted to let you know that descriptions and ingredients are all listed for the Alchemy Line teas now if you want to check it out. More offerings are definitely on the way, pending a photo shoot. Two that I love that are not up yet are the Yunnan Golden Chai and the Spa Blend (minty herbal). When I have a quiet few moments that are not devoted to drinking tea, they are devoted to playing with it in blending.

Uniquity said

I caved. The order is in, and soon there will be more tea. And foot charms! Thanks so much for the special care, David. It is wonderful to see a business owner so connected to the ‘needs’ of the consumer. I can’t wait to try my new teas!

Dinosara said

Me too! I sent an order, and an email with my sample picks. Thanks again!

Thanks!
Dinosara and Uniquity- I just got your orders in. Those will ship out in the morning, so look for an email tomorrow. Thanks for letting me know which samples you want to try. It is just so much more fun to get extra tea! I always think so when I order Japanese tea. (I get a genmaicha craving in the autumn, and gyokuro craving in the spring.)

I hope that you both enjoy the teas!
Best Wishes,
David

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Uniquity said

@SimpliciTEA – I live in Nova Scotia and sales tax is a constant %15. However, all tea shops I have purchased from here seem to have built it into the price, because there is never an additional tax on my receipt. Which actually seems weird, now that I think about it. I wonder if it’s a non-taxable item…food items that are considered healthy have no tax, maybe tea falls under that umbrella.

@David – I will be sure to keep you in mind. I’ve spent the last half hour hemming and hawing. We’ll see how that goes. : ) Best of luck in continued business though!

Tea is HST/sales tax-exempt! At least in Ontario, and I imagine Canada-wide. I don’t really know how that works but I don’t question it as I quite enjoy it.

Uniquity said

This post was supposed to be attached to the one above. Whoops. And good to know!!

Hi,
I cannot speak to Canadian tax code, but in Verdant Tea’s homes state of Minnesota (closer to Canada than most US states I ship to) tea is considered a food product. Here, all food products besides things like candy and soda are tax exempt. As a merchant, I am only required to collect sales tax on tea accessories shipped to an address in Minnesota. Shipping to other states and other countries is tax free no matter what I ship. Now technically, if your locality taxes tea, you are supposed to report it and pay “use tax,” but generally only businesses actually document the use tax.

Occasionally I will have somebody pre-order a very high end Yixing pot from a friend of mine who is now one of the most famous living potters. Because of his craftsmanship and the rare clay he uses, those pots can run $500+ when I bring one over from China. If they pick the pot up from Verdant tea headquarters in Minneapolis, they have to pay sometime up to $100 in tax, but if they have it shipped even to the suburbs, or best, if they live across the border in Wisconsin, there is no tax.

@Uniquity- 15% is really high. I can see why you shop online. Interesting stuff! My wife goes to tax class to polish up on her accounting skills for her video editing business and is subjected to hours of hilarious IRS humor and jokes. She comes home with the stacks of manuals.

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I guess maybe I’m a rare bird in that price is of secondary or tertiary concern for me. The type of tea they carry would be more important. I’m really the only serious tea drinker in my house, so I only need quantities for myself, meaning I’m not buying very often, but when I do I usually buy 3 or 4 varieties at once. If they don’t offer pu-erhs or they only have perfumed or fruit-chunky greens or blacks, I’m not likely going to purchase there. I like online vendors that carry a good variety of the “pure” teas and classics, and then perhaps venture out a bit with their blends.

The second thing that draws me in or turns me off is the marketing copy. If “they doth protest too much” – meaning that they use lots of flowery language about how great their tea is in favor of details about origins or processing – for me that tells me they’re not likely to really know what they’re offering. I’ll still purchase occasionally if the ingredients intrigue me, but I prefer the shops that get to the point.

And then I’ll check the shipping cost and compare prices. Most vendors these days offer free shipping if you spend a set amount, which works out fine for my needs. But again, I imagine I’m a rare bird.

Thanks for your input. I hear you on your ‘second thing’.

Warning! I do use specific company names in this response as I believe it helps to really illustrate the point, here.

I feel a few large tea retailers—-like Teavana and David’s Tea—-fall into this category. Teavana’s straight green tea descriptions do give me an idea of what to expect and they don’t really embellish on the taste, yet they don’t tell me anything about when the tea was harvested and not much about where the tea comes from. And as for their flavored fruity teas, IMO they definitely fall into the “they doth protest too much” category: http://www.teavana.com/the-teas/green-teas/p/raspberry-soiree-green-tea, and http://www.teavana.com/the-teas/green-teas/p/superfruit-unity-green-tea.
Neither tells me ANYTHING about the base green tea they use.

I know many on Steepster like David’s Tea—-and from all I have read about them I can easily believe that their teas are tasty—-but I’m going to go out on a limb here anyway and list the following tea as a perfect example of a description that tells me absolutely NOTHING about what is actually in the tea—-I’m only listing the beginning and end, and you can go to the link to read the whole description if you want—-“One sip of this tea … it’s total madness.”(http://www.davidstea.com/mango-madness) I do acknowledge that at least they tell me what’s in the tea in the ingredients list (mentioning specifically that the white tea is ‘Bai Mu Dan’ is definitely helpful), which is more than I can say about Teavana.

Verdant Tea’s descriptions, however, come as close to what I want as I have ever seen on the web. Here is their description of a green tea the sell: http://verdanttea.com/shop/green-teas/early-summer-laoshan-green/ Aside from just a general description on the tea itself, they give information on picking date, region, processing, highlights, and information about the village. The owner is also very accommodating if you communicate with him. Here’s a green tea from Seven Cups that just became available: http://www.sevencups.com/tea_shop/Yin-Gou-Mei-Cha-Silver-Fish-Hook-Eyebrow-Green-Tea-2011.html They give me information on Location, Tea Bush, Tea Master,
Harvest Time, Picking Standard, Brewing vessel, Brewing Guidelines, and number of Infusions to expect (I have found the number of infusions for each tea to be very accurate, by the way).

In my opinion, places like Verdant, Seven Cups, and others who give lots of information on the who, what, where, when and why of each tea are setting the standard for how to present their tea to the customer (at least to people like me who tend to put value in knowing exactly what I am getting).

The more we speak out about what we want, the more likely it is we will get it (I think David from Verdant tea already demonstrated that with the changes he made to his shipping policy). So keep speaking out!

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