Who is (currently) your favorite tea retalier?

137 Replies

I’ve only been into tea for so long… and it seems that there is enough out there that I will never have to buy from the same company twice and still always have fantastic tea! I don’t feel qualified to make such an assessment just yet, since I haven’t tried them all, and don’t know my tea preferences well enough to determine what I feel makes a good retailer. Sure, I have a sense of it… but I’d like to know more.
Anyhow, Tao Tea Leaf is amazing, but local to Toronto. I will always be a fan of this shop… also, Tsaa is a new fave but I only discovered the shop a few months ago. The novelty of a new discovery often influences my “fave” of the moment so I don’t feel comfortable declaring any. Esp since I’ve only been into tea for a few years now!
Now that my cupboard has exploded, I am comfortable not ordering any more for another few months, or longer. I feel that limits my options as well. I love this question- I just wish I could answer it properly!

Oh yes, I do love my local companies too.

The Tao of Tea has a couple of local tea rooms, including the one at the Chinese Garden and I loved my experience there.

Tea Chai Te is a place I’ve known about for a while, but only recently visited their teashop in the Sellwood district of Portland. I love that shop, and they have some fabulous teas too.

Townshend’s Tea has a couple of local shops also, I’ve visited the one on Alberta Street a couple of times and I love it there. Their tea selections are very similar and in some cases identical to Tea Chai Te, which I find interesting. It makes me wonder if either of these companies are actually doing the flavoring/blending themselves and reselling each other’s blends, or if it’s something more simple, like they have the same supplier, and they don’t do any of the blending themselves. Either way, I like both shops, and love to visit when I’m in the neighborhood.

Steven Smith – my favorite of the local places, not really because of the tea room itself, but because I have a crush on Steven Smith. (giggle) He is a rock star, and I’m a groupie.

Indigobloom: You’ve been into tea longer than I have, and I feel confident enough to take a stand about who my favorite is (of course, my preferences limits the teas shops considerably), so as far as I’m concerned, so can you!

I did a search for Tao Tea Leaf (in Toronto); here is the website: http://www.taotealeaf.com/ I have run across them before. I really like that they provide harvest dates for their green tea, and that they have great prices on their samples (affordable samples is a BIG thing for me).
Is this Tsaa’s website: http://www.tsaateashop.com/ Prices don’t look too bad. Their layout reminds me somewhat of DavidsTea’s website. I hear ya on this: "The novelty of a new discovery often influences my “fave” of the moment … " Ain’t that the truth!

I feel you answered my question properly, although I’d like to know a little more WHY you picked those particular shops.

LiberTEAS: I’m glad you mentioned local companies (as did Indigobloom), because it was not my intention for this thread to limit itself to online companies only.
The Tao of Tea: http://www.taooftea.com/ Nice pictures on their homepage. You can select tea by origin; I like that; oooh, then by region in China. I like that even more! Prices look pretty good, but I couldn’t find a way to search by class (like, green).
Tea Chai Te: http://www.teachaite.com/ Very creative and colorful homepage. Nice ‘about us’ section (I really like seeing pictures of the people I may potentially do business with). It has the price, but not the size of their green teas. Hmmm.
Townshend’s Tea: http://www.townshendstea.com/ I remember reading your review about them. It looks like they’ve got some nice tea-ware.
Steven Smith: http://www.smithtea.com/ I remember reading your review of this place, too; it looks like a great place to visit. I like the late 1800’s old-style look of their website.

You both are lucky! I wish we had some stylish tea shops that carried good tea near us (Teavana doesn’t count, for many reasons, but primarily because: 1) They are too expensive for me, and 2) they don’t provide harvest dates for their green teas.

So, Stephen Smith is a rock star? Do tell us more!

@Simplicity: Stephen Smith has a long history when it comes to tea … and creating successful teas. He and two partners started Stash Tea which eventually was bought by another company. Later, he went on to create Tazo, which was bought by Starbucks. Now, he has another tea company. This man knows tea. It is his passion. And I admire that greatly about him. And I feel that now that he has a company that has his name on it, the teas are even more important.

You can read more about him here: http://www.smithtea.com/about-smith/

No, you can’t count Teavana, in my opinion… and the reason why ties in to what I just said about Steven Smith. Teavana isn’t passionate about tea. They are passionate about their bottom line. Now, don’t get me wrong, the bottom line is important when you’re in business, but, as a tea consumer, I prefer dealing with a company that loves tea as much as I do. And I know I’m getting that with Steven Smith. And the same cannot be said about Teavana. I want a tea company that loves the product they sell, and doesn’t just see dollar signs connected to it. And I’ve heard too many horror stories about Teavana to believe that they really care about tea. Maybe not all of the stories are true, but, I’ve heard enough of them and I think that while some may be spun and some may be embellished, there is some truth in at least some of these. I’ve also had enough of my own experiences with them to recognize some of the patterns that I’ve heard from other people. I won’t shop with them again. Ever.

SimpliciTea: I agree, the option for samples is a big deal. I really enjoy that part of Tao Tea Leaf.
I believe that is indeed the website for Tsaa. They do remind me of Davids when they first started up (incidentally by the same family that owns Le Chateau, the clothing company, Davids I mean)
I love supporting the startups, esp the quality shops. Tsaa has it all, great service, tea and a cute little shop. Tealish is great as well, but I feel that their staff are not as into tea.
Liberteas: About Teavana… I get suckered in every time I walk by! more because I want to see what the fuss over certain teas is. I agree, they don’t care about tea much and that makes me less inclined to spend my money there. I too have some Teavana horror stories, and I’ve only been three times.

Thanks for the follow-up. : )

LiberTEAS:

He started Stash, AND Tazo? Wow. And, “He also founded the CHAI project for the benefit of some 20,000 villagers in the tea producing regions of Darjeeling and Assam, India.” Cool. He sounds like an amazing guy.

I hear you about Teavana; although I choose to be open to shopping with them (for reasons I won’t go into here), I agree generally with what you posted about them.

What you stated here about Stephen Smith is how I feel about Gingko (and Life in Teacup): “I want a tea company that loves the product they sell, and doesn’t just see dollar signs connected to it.”

Indigobloom: I’m totally with you on this: “I love supporting the startups, esp the quality shops.”

It’s great you have such a great little tea shop near you!

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I’m currently digging Upton Teas alot, I’m glad to see all these favs on here i been thinking of ordering from a few of these places perhaps I will now that I know other folks on here like them so much :)

Precisely! That was one of my goals of starting this thread: to get the word out about companies we all like, so others will feel more comfortable purchasing from them.

I have yet to order from Upton, but it seems hard to beat the availability of their samples for every tea, and their prices on them!

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For me it is Verdant. I have the most from David. I currently have 36 of his teas, this does not include the samples.
After that Steester Select. I know its not a store, but It has introduced me to some great tea shops. Verdant being one of them.

Verdant is one of my favorites, too. Thirty-six teas? Wow. I bet you take the cake on the most number from him (I don’t think he sells many more than 36, even counting his blends).

I’m glad to hear you like Steepster Select. Maybe I’ll win it one of these days …

lol, yeah. I have 3 to 4 blends that he does not make anymore, plus a 10-year wood aged oolong that he used to sell that and a few pu’ers that he no longer has. Half of these I purchased back in September through December. This was when he gave speedster select members a 50% off code for the year.

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SimpliciTea great discussion. Now, if someone is looking for some great high quality teas and price isn’t a issue well companies like Seven Cups, Verdant tea, Naivetea, David’s tea, China Cha Dao and maybe Rishi come to mind. I think with that list of companies you will find a tea you would be happy with for sure.
My personal favorite place to get my tea is from Teavivre Why? They offer a nice selection of different teas. The quality of their teas are very good. Their price are very fair and affordable in this economic time. Customer service is awesome!
Plus, when you register on their website and create an account you collect points for your purchase and when you do reviews on their website they will send you gift points and those points can be used to discount your order once they are registered on your account and you re-order from them. I personally think that company is trying everything they can to offer enjoyable teas at an affordable price. I hope this help anyone that reads this.

Tea_is_wisdom: I agree that price can be a significant factor in determining who one’s favorite tea retailer is. I would include similar companies in the "if price is not factor, then … " list your provided. Still, I have run across tons of little online tea retailers that look interesting to me initially, but if I discover their prices are too far beyond my budget (that’s usually one of the first things I look at, after some kind of ‘about us’ page), I choose not spend any more time looking at them (on a side note: so far, the most expensive green tea I’ve seen online—and I know there are more costly teas out there—is a Korean green that was about $70/ ounce). Given my choice of lifestyle, it’s not realistic for me to even consider buying tea that is way beyond my price range (regardless of the quality). I bet we would even get an interesting on a thread that explores this price vs. quality issue separately.

I’m glad to hear you like Teavivre. Thank you for giving detailed reasons as to WHY you like them. They they are one of my favorites, too, and for many of the same reasons you list.

Writing this makes me think of another interesting related idea: listing the not only what we look for when we first some across a tea retailer (online, or not) but the order in which we look for them. Because, For example, (online) if I don’t like what I read in the ‘about us’ section (i.e. something like, “We sell the best of the best, and oh, btw, if anyone else says that they do, their wrong.”), then depending on other factors (like, if I haven’t heard good things about them from someone else) I may not look into them any further (so in this case, no matter how good their prices are, it’s won’t matter because I will not even look at them). And when I walk into a tea Brick and Mortar store, the way in which I am greeted (or not) and the overall layout of the shop will determine how long I stay.

@SimpliciTea I agree with you it would be interesting what people would say on price vs. quality thread. Might be a great idea. People need to know some teas just cost like if you get a real Dan Cong from Phoenix Mountain which their is only 24 families I believe it will cost you at least .40 a gram or 181 u.s. dollars a pound vs. the clone plants that you will be getting from your tea store. Dan Cong are one of the teas that is commercialized a lot along with Da Hong Pao. Just a little bit of information for you. I am always looking for tea shops that sell high quality tea from it’s proper origin at the best price. I hear what you are saying Azzrian thank you. It does look like The Persimmon Tree Tea is more into flavor blends. I tend to go with more the traditional teas.

Azzrian said

Just so you know The Persimmon Tree Tea does this points for reviews thing too. I do like companies that offer that!

Tea_is_wisdom: I have heard before that Phoenix Dan Congs can be expensive.

I’m with you on this: “I am always looking for tea shops that sell high quality tea from it’s proper origin at the best price.”

Azzrian: Thanks! Points for reviews always helps.

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Missy said

It’s very hard for me to pick just one favorite. Since I have favorites for types of tea.

My current favorites are Upton, SerendipiTea, Teavivre, Market Spice, Ovation Teas and 52teas. In no particular order of importance. I think DAVIDsTEA may soon climb to the list when I place more of an order with them. Verdant is quite likely to also hit that list. I have yet to try Verdant’s teas but they get rave reviews, so I’m going to assume they are quite excellent here.

Those are some great shops.
Market Spice http://www.marketspice.com/ : Colorful website, and they sell tea buy the pound? Interesting. Unless I’m missing something, I don’t see any information about who they are in the ‘about us’ section.

SerendipiTea http://www.serendipitea.com/ : Very creative website. Good ‘About us’ section http://www.serendipitea.com/AboutUs.html They have a picture of the employees, I like that.

Missy said

No they really don’t have much information there. I know of them because they are close by. Pike Place market is pretty cool from what I’ve seen of it. I live in Tacoma so we just have to brave the traffic for an hour or so to go there. Mad Hat here in Tacoma is much easier to get to but they really don’t do much with online ordering. It’s the type of place you’d want to walk into and cozy up to their bar. Good tea though I’m not sure how much information you could get about your tea in that type of a setting. They were pretty busy when I was there.

Sounds like you have a number of great places that are reasonably close. I like the name ‘Mad Hat’ for a tea shop.

Missy said

As I’m just getting into different shop, I feel I’ve barely touched what’s available to me. Tacoma seems to have a quite a few shops so there is much to explore. :D

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teaddict said

I drink mostly chinese teas, some japanese greens, but essentially no black or flavored teas.

I’ve been ordering teas from Norbu for 3 years now, and Greg has a pretty good sense of what I’ll like and when he includes free samples with my orders, they’re usually right up my alley. I also find it very easy to figure out, based on his description of a tea, if I’ll like it or not. He stocks a wide variety of primarily chinese and taiwanese teas, but has branched out recently into a few interesting japanese teas.

I’ve also had good experiences ordering from many other shops, with good to superb quality teas, including Tea Habitat, Jing Tea Shop, Yunnan Sourcing, Hou De, Essence of Tea, Yuuki-cha, and O-Cha. Mostly I’ve ordered from other shops when I was looking to try a particular thing—a variety of senchas, yellow tea, seriously aged puerh, ‘single bush’ dan cong oolongs—that Norbu doesn’t carry. And while the price was on the exorbitant side, I LOVE the Hawaiian-grown oolong I got from Hilo Coffee Mill—a definite ‘special occasion’ treasure.

Good to hear you found a place you really like in Norbu. I like that they post harvest dates on their green teas.

Tea Habitat http://www.teahabitat.com/store/ : Simple website. No ‘About us’ section, but she does offer a link to her blog. Blogs are always a plus (and for me are at least as good as an ‘About us’ section).

Hou De, Essence of Tea: Could not find a website for them.

Yuuki-cha http://yuuki-cha.com/ : Japanese teas. Nice website. OK ‘About us’ section (I don’t see any names give there), but great blog (the owner’s name is listed there)!

O-Cha http://www.o-cha.com/ : It took me a little bit of searching, but I found a nice "About us’ section. Now I recognize them from this documentary http://www.o-cha.com/discovery.htm Documentaries are good.

Hilo Coffee Mill http://hilocoffeemill.com/ : Interesting website, but I didn’t find the oolong you mention above. I am glad to see another US company that grows tea, though!

teaddict said

Thanks.

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=page_2 They’ve got a nice Taiwanese version of a 2012 Spring Bi Luo Chun.

Beautiful Pictures. Nice blog http://www.essenceoftea.co.uk/blog – by the owner, David?.

That Hawaiian-grown oolong from Hilo Coffee Mill is $40 / 1.5 OZ ? Wow. I can understand why you state: “… a definite ‘special occasion’ treasure.”

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K S said

Almost everything in my drawer at the moment says TeaVivre on it.

A couple not on everyone else’s list:

Fusion Teas was incredibly fast and the prices are reasonable. I think I am addicted to Super Fruit sencha.

Empire Tea Services – the only brick and mortar within 100 miles (except a Teavana) and it just happens to be a really good one. The quality is high and the prices aren’t ;) Their Peach Apricot and Ti Kuan Yin are the best I have tried in my limited experience.

Fusion Teas http://www.fusionteas.com/ : Nice ‘About us’ http://www.fusionteas.com/About-Us_ep_7.html page (I love pictures).

Empire Tea Services http://empiretea.com/index.html : I’m glad to hear you have a B&S shop you like near you (or reasonably? near you).
http://empiretea.com/about_us.htm I really like that she tells me her name in the first line. Nice pictures, too.

K S said

She is a he. I made the same mistake. It’s Lalith not Lillith. We have exchanged emails but have never met. The gentleman that has been in the shop the times I have been there is quite a nice guy.

Now I see it (I thought I saw a picture of a woman on the ‘about us’ webpage for this company, but I must be thinking of another company I was looking at). Thanks!

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momo said

I can’t pick one, of course, but top 5

Obviously Teavivre out there hooking us on samples so then we must try all their teas. I really like that after my order arrived, I was emailed asking if everything arrived safely. Super nice touch.

Upton Tea for sure, I love how much there is to choose from and that they pack it up just for you. They are so quick and everything is so quality.

Verdant of course, I’ve only ordered twice, haven’t even tried everything, but I am won over by personal handwritten thank yous.

DavidsTea is also incredibly fast, given there is a border to cross! When I asked for specific teas for samples, I got them. I also LOVE that shipping is only five bucks, sometimes that’s hard to even find from a company in the US. Also one time I noticed a price didn’t match up, because the price listed on the list of teas was for a smaller, limited edition bag, and that wasn’t displayed on the page for the tea by default, so I was confused. They changed it after I emailed them, which was super cool so hopefully nobody else ever got confused.

And I have to go with my local shop, Zen Tea who sells online, but has far more stuff in the shop. I got hooked on tea there and even with so much to choose from online, I still go back there for more. They have so much to choose from, and the first time I tried matcha was there.

Well, you could pick just one (after all, what’s stopping you?), but I understand not wanting to.

Zen Tea http://www.ezentea.com/ Awesome pictures of their store. And lots of great info about them here http://www.ezentea.com/atlanta-tea-shop/atlanta-tea-room-house-chamblee-georgia

How great you have a teashop you like so close by!

momo said

I can’t! I thought about this thread for days and couldn’t name just one!

I try to go there more often now that a lot of the other local shops have shuttered in the past couple of years. There are always people there when I go in, so that makes me feel better, and they’ve definitely expanded their selection.

Too bad some shops have shuttered. but, glad to hear Zen Tea is busy!

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I can understand why some of you may find it difficult to name just one favorite shop.

We all have different priorities in terms of what matters most to us in a tea retailer. The more I think about it, and the more responses I read, the more I realize that in terms of who is the best tea retailer, my focus is pretty narrow: I am interested primarily in the smaller tea retailers who are truly passionate about tea (that’s where blogs—and other forms of communication—come into play) and sell quality, fresh, whole-leaf, inexpensive Chinese green tea (preferably from small farms).

Knowing what I want has helped me to eliminate at least 90% of the tea retailers I become aware of. I’ve been hard at it for over a year now, having looked at probably about 100 tea retailers—maybe more, and having conducted business with about 30 of them; so I judge that I have a pretty good idea as to what’s available in my own particular area of interest (not that there aren’t any other teas shops that have what I want: I’m certain there are, but most of them probably don’t have a presence on the web). It has been a daunting task to find a shop that, more or less, has all of those qualities.

Although I have found many great tea companies that have most of what I want, there is one that more or less meets them all; and as I feel like I have a good sense of what’s ‘out there’ it’s that much easier for me to feel confident that tea shops like Life in Teacup are few and far between.

So enough about what I’m looking for: what about you? Some of you may be only interested in Taiwan high mountain oolongs, or flavor-addded black teas, or sheng pu-erh. What are you primarily looking for in a tea retailer (online or B&M)? Does price make that much of a difference? Do you feel like you have a good sense of what’s ‘out there’? How many teas shops have you come across?

And, please, keep the favorites coming! After-all, a year down the road, if-and-when our priories as regards to Tea change, our favorite shops may change, too; and if that happens, then we can say, “I remember hearing about that shop …”

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Rellybob said

After looking at everyone’s favorites I’m eager to try teavivre and verdant!

Teavivre is probably one of the best considering price to quality. I am not sure their is another place you can buy from that will be priced like Teavivre and have better quality. Verdant tea is about quality but again that level of quality comes at a higher price tag. It boils down to what you can afford. But you can not go wrong with either companies they both deserve big props for different reasons.

I concur with what you said about Teavivre and Verdant. : )

Still, Life in Teacup also has a few quality and very reasonably priced green teas that I feel edge out Teavivre in the ‘quality for the price’ category.

Rellybob said

Well, I’ve ordered from Verdant (their clearance) and have some samples coming from Teavivre. Since I like green tea I’m going to have to check out Life in Teacup as well..what are your favorites from them?

I’m glad you asked. : )

http://www.lifeinteacup.com/green-tea
1)1500m (4500 ft.) Frosty Spring Yunnan Roast Green, First Day Harvest
Here is my (preliminary) review: http://steepster.com/teas/life-in-teacup/26505-1500m-4500-ft-dot-frosty-spring-yunnan-roast-green-first-day-harvest-2012

Suffice it to say, for the price, it is probably the best fresh green tea I’ve ever had (Admittedly, I haven’t had too many yet, though). It’s currently $18 / 5 OZ, which puts it at one of the least-expensive fresh, whole-leaf green teas on the market. There are less expensive teas out there, but they may not have the flavor this one yields.

2) 2012 Tong Cheng Small Orchid, semi-wild, 800m (2400 ft.) First Day Harvest
I still need to write the review for this tea, but I’ve brewed it up three times now and I really enjoy it’s flavors (which I find more subtle than the Frosty Spring Yunnan). Unfortunately, you can now only get a sample of it by ordering from her web-store, and it’s pricy as a sample (fortunately by pre-ordering 200 grams of it early this spring, I got it for only $5/OZ, and it’s definitely worth it at that price). Still, you could try ordering a sample of it and if you like it consider pre-ordering it next year (I paid something like $36 / 200 grams during the pre-order).

She also has great sample packs of many of her teas (I still have a few other small amounts/samples of her less expensive green teas to try this summer myself).

Here are two reviews of Life in Teacup as well http://steepster.com/places/2861-life-in-teacup-online-easthampton-massachusetts

Good luck!

Rellybob said

Lol, thanks! Since I just ordered from Verdant I will have to wait awhile (can’t make hubby upset, :) ) but I will definitely keep those on the try list! Thanks!

You’re welcome. Enjoy the teas from Verdant!

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