mortava said

New from Canada (B.C.)!

I’ve been lurking and reading along — making the odd comment here/there and submitting tasting notes for a little while. I thought perhaps a proper introduction and hello would be appropriate!

Hello! I live on the West coast of Canada, in Vancouver, B.C – where it is currently quite windy and RAINING (surprise!) Excellent tea sipping weather, though! I’m an animal lover, work at a large, busy animal hospital and have a small “zoo” of critters. I collect tattoos aaand I’m a huge nerd – RPGs, video games, comic books/graphic novels, plenty of reading and writing weird things.

On to tea!
I’m a lifelong tea lover, I used to love having tea with my Mom and grandmother. However, I’ve only recently discovered the world of buying and making my own loose leaf tea at home — and starting my own tea collection. (Ack, how quickly it grows!)

I’m now an avid Davids Tea lover – and am fortunate to have one only about 10 min from home (with amazing staff!). I’m definitely looking forward to trying new teas from different companies as I continue in this tea journey – but so far it’s been so easy to just run to Davids when I run out of something and/or want to try something new! So I haven’t ventured very far just yet!

To the other Canadians I’ve seen on the site (high-fives) – where do you like to order tea from other than Davids? Who else offers decent shipping prices and equally great customer service?

Green, black, white, oolongs, flavoured, tisanes – bring it on, I’m game. :)

27 Replies

Welcome! I’m not Canadian, but welcome all the same!

mortava said

Thank you! :)

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Welcome!

Fellow Canadian- from Ontario. Also a tattoo collector (hence the name)

I find many of the US companies, 52teas, Fusion Tea Room (those are the ones I have ordered from) have reasonable shipping. I have found others just can’t remember off the top of my head.

mortava said

Hello – thanks for the welcome and recommendations! I have both 52teas and Fusion Tea Room bookmarked. :)

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GuyOne said

Welcome, you probably already know this but you have an excellent tea resource in Daniel Lui at the Chinese Tea Shop in your fair city. I got some nice mellow 1990 aged TGY for a very fair price.

mortava said

Thank you! No, I’m actually not familiar with Daniel Lui or the Chinese Tea Shop – but I will look into it now!

AJ said

I second this recommendation! The Chinese Tea Shop is /great/. They close once a year to tour tea gardens, but I think they’re back now.

Davidstea is a good starting-company, but luckily you live in Vancouver—where you can explore the wonderfully historical Murchie’s (oldest tea company in the area! 1894, John Murchie opened the original shop in New Westminster; lots of history, not a lot of single estate teas—they rely more on blends, then supplement with their flavoured teas; they’re most well-known for their green-black tea blends, though) and the importer, Urban Tea Merchant (currently carrying TWG; in the past they carried Tea O Dor, and before that Mariage Freres).

There’s also the Granville Island Tea Company which is fairly homey. Great Wall Tea Company in the River Market in New West, if you’re willing to head out there (although they have a lot of overlap in teas with Granville Island—and the two companies’ owners know each other quite well).

Tealicious Tea Company in Port Moody has since moved purely online (tealiciousteacompany.com), but they’re my favourite out of the “small” tea companies, because they don’t use the typical wholesaler that I find many small tea companies rely on.

Tea Desire is a Canadian tea store chain, like Davidstea. Not as well known, and I like Davidstea better, but they usually have a huge selection. Teaopia, another Canadian chain, although it was recently purchased by America’s Teavana, so we’ll be losing them soon.

Make sure to check out the Places tab. Those of us that live in the area do try to keep it up to date.

Also online is Life in Teacup (lifeinteacup.com), another Canadian tea company—managed by Gingko, who you will no doubt see around Steepster from time to time. Another great company that, like the Chinese Tea Shop, deals more in pure teas. Absolutely wonderful.

As Jillian stated, there’s also the Blue Teapot on the other side of the harbour. Haven’t been there myself, though.

mortava said

Wow – thanks for all of these awesome recommendations, AJ – I really appreciate it! A local tea shop tour is definitely in order!

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BiggieG said

Hello from Ontario!

I cheat, because I live on the border, so not much help to you there I’m afraid!

Enjoy the rain!

mortava said

Thanks for the welcome!

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Hello fellow animal lover! Welcome.

We have quite a few Canadian customers and like to think our Canadian shipping charges are fair. As far as customer service goes, we respond to all emails and ship orders within 24 hours (48 hours during October-December).

Our shipping charges for Canada:
1-2 Teas: $4.50
3-4 Teas: $5.75
5-8 Teas: $6.75
9-12 Teas $7.60
More Than 13 Teas: $9.00
Spend $75.00 or more on teas and we refund shipping charges.

http://www.butikiteas.com/Teas.html

mortava said

Thanks for your reply! Those are indeed pretty reasonable shipping charges. :) Your flavoured oolongs are intriguing and “cantaloupe & cream” sounds amazing!

Thank you! The Cantaloupe & Cream has been getting a lot of love around Steepster. I’m a big fan of our Flowery Pineapple Oolong. It has a wonderful balance of light sweet fresh pineapple and orchid notes from the Wen Shan Bao Zhong.

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Kittenna said

Verdant Tea had free shipping over $25. If you can afford the teas/want quality – I’d highly recommend them! Teavivre also sells straight teas that are a little cheaper and quite good, and shipping from China is free over $30.

As for reasonable shipping costs, 52teas & Butiki Tea both charge completely reasonable prices for shipping (so you don’t feel swindled!) I think Red Leaf Tea is also reasonable and free at a certain threshold.

I can’t think of other companies I’ve ordered from off the top of my head, but I’d highly recommend the ones I mentioned :)

mortava said

Thank you very much for the recommendations! :)

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Jillian said

Great to see another Canadian on the site. I’m from BC as well – the Interior where we seem to be getting your second-hand wet weather. ;)

I buy a fair amount of my teas when I visit Vancouver (I love Davids Tea too!) and some of the shops I frequent there are: Murchies, The Urban Tea Merchant, Granville Island Tea Co, and the Blue Teapot.

I’m also addicted to 52Teas (http://www.52teas.com/) and Harney & Sons (http://www.harney.com/) has some lovely teas aswell. Adagio used to get a lot of my business but then they hiked their international shipping rate to ridiculous levels. Teopia had some nice blends too, but they’re being taken over by Teavana (boo, hiss).

mortava said

Er, sorry about the rain, at least it’s useful for the plants! I hear the sun is making an appearance tomorrow and lingering for a few days – but I will remain skeptical until I see it with my own eyes!!

I am looking forward to exploring more of the local tea shops – thanks for the local recommendations, I’m going to have to make a list and take a city tea tour!

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Bonnie said

Hey I just saw that you are #1 on the favorite tea’s list on Steepster! Congradulations Stacy!!!!!

Thanks Bonnie! :)

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Bonnie said

I’ve been to your fair city within the past year…welcome! My top 3 tea companies are Verdant, Butiki and Teavivre for quality and customer service. Also, you are getting a real education in tea not cranked out consumerism. You have the advantage of being close to one of the only tea growers in North America in the Skagit Valley in Washington. That’s about 4 or 5 hours from you by car I think. Sakumabros.com They grow green, white and oolong tea’s.

mortava said

Thank you for the welcome AND recommendations, Bonnie :) I’m intrigued by Sakumabros – I would love to try some locally grown tea!

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welcome to steepster!! There are SO many places… I wouldn’t know where to begin! but we do have a local place, Tao Tea Leaf, who has excellent pu’erh. As for online, I have no idea… sorry I can’t be more help! :/

mortava said

Oo, I haven’t tried many pu’erhs yet – thank you for the recommendation and welcome! :)

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