Hanna Taylor said 2012-10-03 15:33:00 -0400

New to the tea world. Recommendations/ tips?

Hey everyone,

So I just recently got involved in the world of teas and I jut wanted to know if anyone ha any suggestions as to where to start out. I have a decent collection of teas (you can check out my cupboard) but I just wanted to know if there is anything that I am really missing out on or if anyone has some good brewing tips. Cheers!

21 Replies

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Claire said 2012-10-03 15:40:02 -0400

Hi Hanna, welcome to Steepster! What are your favorite kinds of flavors?
Oolong is one of my favorite types of tea.

Hanna Taylor said 2012-10-03 15:43:59 -0400

I have yet to try oolong. But I’ve heard really good things about it. I really enjoy teas that have a lot of flavour in them. I love black teas, chai teas, and fruity teas. I’m not a huge fan of chamomile or citrus though. I have been wanting to try matcha, and some of the various dessert teas I have been seeing out there.

Claire said 2012-10-03 15:47:34 -0400

I’ve recently discovered David’sTea and they have some really neat flavored stuff! Verdant Tea is another great company, and David produces some flavored teas in their Alchemy section.

Babble said 2012-10-03 15:54:58 -0400

Ahhh, so you like flavored teas..

Have you checked out 52teas? They have loads of crazy flavors and right now they are running a special where if you spend $30, you get an extra tea for free!

I’d also recommend Della Terra teas who is also running a special today.

Finally, Adagio has a wide variety of flavors. If you’re going to place an order, let me know and I (or another Steepster) can give you a coupon for $5 off.

Hanna Taylor said 2012-10-03 16:53:50 -0400

Thanks a bunch. :)

erik_s said 2012-10-03 21:40:26 -0400

Drink lots of tea, and try every tea that looks interesting. This is a link to a wiki about tea that I am working on: http://templemountaintea.com/wiki/temple-mountain-tea-wiki/. Some of the pages have nothing on them, but you might find some useful information. No sign-up required to view the wiki.

Hanna Taylor said 2012-10-03 23:47:27 -0400

I really like the link. Really good information. I will definitely keep reading. :)

Azzrian said 2012-10-03 21:54:08 -0400

I agree with 52Teas and Della Terra.
Also Persimmon Tree Tea,
for matcha check out Red Leaf Tea!!
There are so many I could list but those are great places to begin your journey!

Azzrian said 2012-10-03 21:55:29 -0400

Oh Design A Tea has some fun flavors and you can create your own blends there – 2 free samples to start as well!

Hanna Taylor said 2012-10-03 23:46:00 -0400

I have discovered Red Leaf haha. I want to order some but I just can’t choose! And this Design A Tea sounds really awesome. Anything that I can customize.

mrmopar said 2012-10-03 22:04:07 -0400

you have a lot of stash teas they are pretty good. adagios has some good ones as does leniers. if you decide to try pu-erh let me know i may be able to give some pointers in that category,welcome to steepster!

Hanna Taylor said 2012-10-03 23:44:46 -0400

Yeah. We won a huge set of stash teas awhile ago. I enjoy most of them. Pu-erh lol. I’ve never heard of them but I will check them out

Michelle said 2012-10-03 22:08:15 -0400

Adagio is pretty good for price/decent quality. Fusion Tea Room is great with flavors. So is David’s. Stay away from Teavana.

In terms of straight teas, VERDANT. I can’t recommend them highly enough. And Teavivre as well.

Welcome!

Hanna Taylor said 2012-10-03 23:43:12 -0400

I keep hearing about Verdant so I am definitely going to give them a try. And thank you.

Uniquity said 2012-10-04 12:10:07 -0400

Teavivre has lovely pure teas, as well as a free tea tasting activity which allows you to sample teas and then commit to larger sizes if you like them.

Davids is one of my favourites – I don’t always find the new flavours to be right on but there are solid teas in their collection.

Fusion Tea Room used to do samples for review, they have a lot of flavoured tea as well.

My only general advise is to try everything – unless you have a known allergy or intolerance, be willing to try every kind of tea, you’d be surprised what you may enjoy. I find my tea tastess change, you may find this as well so you never know what might appeal. Enjoy!

Aiko said 2012-10-04 13:44:17 -0400

I will second (or third?) Adagio — it’s where I began my loose-leaf journey. Lots and lots of samples, generally inexpensive for the quality, and shipping is like $5-6 at the most. If you’ve never shopped there before, I believe you can get a free $5 off coupon if you get someone to refer you. Not to mention the signature blends are a lot of fun.

If you’re looking to learn more about tea in general, they also host a “tea class” site (teaclass.com , I believe); it tells you all about where different teas come from, how they are processed, and so on. It’s pretty informative.

Hanna Taylor said 2012-10-08 14:47:49 -0400

Thank you so much. I was browsing around their site and all the teas look really delicious. The 2$ samples make it really hard to not go ahead and order every single one of their blends haha. I will also check out the tea class site. Do you know of where I could find someone to refer me?

Aiko said 2012-10-09 11:11:13 -0400

Glad you’re finding stuff you like! If you haven’t made an order yet, PM me your email address and I’ll get the coupon sent to you :>

Sil said 2012-10-09 11:24:41 -0400

To echo Rachel’s suggestion on Della Terra – their custom sampler packs are a great way to pick and choose the flavours you’d like to try without buying a LOT of tea!

Also, swaps!

In terms of tea Verdant is really nice for straight tea and they do samples now :) I really enjoy Butiki teas for flavoured teas (they do straight as well but i haven’t tried as many of those)

(also where in Alberta are you? I’m formerly from our west as well grin)

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