Who is (currently) your favorite tea retalier?

137 Replies

I’d say my favorite so far has been TWG. I’ve always loved tea, but I became completely obsessed a few months ago when I took a trip to Singapore and came across TWG. Their limited lot SFTGFOP 1st flush darjeeling teas are the best that I have ever had, and have been fueling my obsession. I’m excited to try some teas from Verdant, and am looking for more vendors that have the best 1st flush darjeeling teas, as that seems to be my absolute favorite thus far. To get TWG teas in the US and Canada you can order them from urbantea.com… And if your order is over $100 you get free shipping!

http://www.twgtea.com/eboutique.php

They’ve got incredible pictures on their website of their store.

I’m glad you like them! I’ve heard Mariage Freres http://www.mariagefreres.com/boutique/uk/welcome.html is supposed to have some good FF Darjeelings (I’ve never had them, though). And Upton has lots of choices of FF Darjeelings http://www.uptontea.com/shopcart/home.asp

Good luck!

Excelsior said

I’ll have to try TWG the next time I’m in Japan. Looking at the photos, there are similarities between TWG and Mariage Freres.

Mariage has over 50 varieties of Darjeeling and a large selection of 2012 FF SFTGFOP1 DJ1 Darjeelings. I’ve ordered nine of them this year. If you want the classic flavor and taste of a First Flush Darjeeling, than the 2012 SFTGFOP1 DJ1 Namring is what I would recommend. Be prepared though. Shipping is not free and there will be a processing fee assessed to the shipment from UPS which can make ordering from Mariage an expensive proposition. For me, it’s worth every penny.

Thanks so much for the tip! I think I will definitely try that Namring. I am head over heels for these FF darjeelings. How long does delivery to the states take from Mariagefreres?

Login or sign up to post a message.

Excelsior said

From the time I place an order, it takes less than 7 days. Sometimes as fast as 4 days from France to California.

Login or sign up to post a message.

My favourite tea retailer is an online company from Australia called iTea. Firstly, one of my pet peeves is customer service these guys get my orders out same day or if I order on a weekend next working day so I have their delicious tea delivered fast. I called them once to enquire about their selection of rooibos and the guy I spoke to was very helpful so their customer service scores an ‘A’ with me. The tea that I have had delivered was great. They do these sample packs of their tea 15gms for $2.50 delivered for $5.00 I ordered 25 and it still only cost me $5.00. The quality of tea was fantastic my favourite was the French Earl Grey and a Rooibos Beautiful Day. I wouldn’t get my tea anywhere else.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Pekoe said

I go to a cosy local place near where I live, called the Tea Corner. As good as davidstea and things are, I prefer the small, non big business place, and that same two people are always there, happy to talk about tea and let me smell all the bins. I got my profile pic from the website, you can sorta see the inside of the place, with all the tea on shelves.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Lynxiebrat said

My current favorites: TranquiliTea’s in Plymouth, Michigan. It is where I 1st started buying teas back in April. and my local Teavana’s. Luckily I have not run into alot of the problems that others who have shopped there, (like sales pushing, in all the times I’ve gone to my closest nor when checking out another one. I really hope they have stopped the sales pushing in all the stores.) My reason for liking them is because of convenience. At this moment I am limited to what I can buy with a gift credit card, (long story.) cash or money order. (Hell alot of places won’t even accept money orders anymore.) not to mention shipping and handling. So right now, kind of preferring to spend the gas to get interesting teas. Though am going back and forth about ordering from Davids Teas, I talked to a CSR I think a week or 2 ago and they said they would take payment with a gift credit card. If that goes thru, I will be getting the Indulgence Collection with 12 different teas in it.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.