Rookie tea drinker looking for new places to buy tea.
I haven’t seen anyone mention Rishi Tea yet – they’re my favorite for moderately priced organic teas. Mighty Leaf also has an organic line and some interesting flavors.
As for storage, I have a few tins but usually don’t need them: most online retailers will ship your tea in an opaque resealable bag that works just fine for protecting the tea from light & air.
Join mailing lists! A lot of companies offer promotions and coupons regularly e.g. wait a couple of weeks and you can probably get a $25 Harney & Sons order shipped free.
Rishi is my favorite as well.
I don’t really use tins except for green oolongs that can take on the flavor of nearby aromas
Have you looked at a Butiki teas? I’ve only had samples from them but they are amazing.
The Kiosque is also very good.
I’m fond of Butiki, Verdant and Teavivre although I love going to brick and mortar tea shops and sampling tea’s to really find variety and try lots of different kinds of tea. I have a great tea shop in my town. In a neighboring town are several other top tea shops also so nose around. Swapping tea with Steepsters gives me variety and I suppliment my favorite tea companies with Davids Tea’s or Kally or Whispering Pines and others (for Puerh) now and then.
I just wanted to let everyone know that for my first order, I went with the Award Winning Tea Sampler from art of tea. (http://www.artoftea.com/catalog/award-winning-sampler-p-370.html)
For my next purchase, I plan on ordering from David’s Tea. They had a bunch of stuff that sounded really interesting to me. I think I am going to end up getting this: http://www.davidstea.com/our-teas/tea-sampler-packs/around-the-world
Are these sample packs generally worth it? Right now, I am just trying to taste as many varieties of tea as I can, and I like that you get a bunch of different kinds (albiet, a very small sample of each).
I wouldn’t worry about the small sample. I’m discovering that I could probably live entirely on samples. I have several teas that are larger than sample-sized, and find that I often have trouble getting through them. Samples have spoiled me: I now seem to want to try something new with every cup I drink. Sure, upon finding a sample I really like, I add it to my shopping list, but honestly, I’m not sure when I’ll get to that list, with a never-ending queue of new teas to try. =)
Get the sampler pack from Den’s Tea for 3 bucks – then you get a coupon for 3 off your first order!
There are a LOT of places to get really cheap or even free samples. Do a search here on steepster for Free Samples.
Guess ill throw in
http://www.theteamerchant.net/our-teas/
we also have samplers available.
Thank you for sharing! There are many things here that look interesting. I will probably eventually try the rooibos sampler.
On the sampler i have not updated yet, but you will receive a code for $2.00 off your next order when you purchase any sampler!
Just wanted to update everyone: I got the Award Winning sampler from art of tea this weekend, and just made a pot of Petal Pedal at work.
This tea is freaking awesome.
One thing I noticed in the tea review section on this website: there already was a petal pedal, but it was from Red Stick Spice. I ordered mine from Art of Tea, but the description of the tea is identical on both websites (even the part about it being an award winning tea).
They probably are the same, so you could review it under the same entry or create a new one. A lot of tea blends are created at the wholesale level, then retailers buy from them to sell to you (sometimes renaming the blend in the process, but often not). It used to be a hobby of mine to figure out which retailers shared wholesalers…
Our teas are all pure and organic. We also have four new blends – you can visit our site and see our range at www.innteas.com We also have a different promotion every month. You can read some reviews of our teas on SoroiTEA Sisters blog.
Happy drinking :)
I am slowly going down the list of places that all of you recommended.
My previous order (which I still haven’t even tried everything that I ordered) was from Art of Tea. I just put in my first order from DAVIDsTEA today.
Will this feeling eventually stop, or am I going to feel the need to order tea every time I see something interesting? :)
It’s been about two years for me and I have SOME restraint now – but I still treat myself on occasion. Eventually you might have lots of tea and feel that you can reign it in a bit. : )
Agreed. I’ve been at it for over two years and while I still want to try ALL THE TEA, I now can manage to not buy hordes of it all at once though it is tempting
Add a Reply
Please keep things friendly and report anything inappropriate.