Reasonably priced shipping to EU on good dessert blends
Bonjour les tea drinkers!
I am a recently arrived, pecuniarily-crippled tea imbiber from the Old Continent who, having finally given in to the urge to taste the decadent side of Camellia Sinensis after years spent under a sober regime of Earl Grey, Lady Grey, and Darjeeling, is now excitedly looking for online shops that will sell gourmet teas without demanding the cost of her unborn child’s kidneys in shipping costs.
I am in indecent and lascivious love with The-O-Dor. I would conquer kingdoms and declare wars for their teas, but their shipping costs are outrageous, and while I’m lacking enough in tea to bear the hardship of drinking less than The-O-Dor-like blends, I am too much lacking in sufficient money to make allowances for unfair shipping prices.
My needs are simple:
2) Good (possibly black, but no need to be overly strict) dessert teas (Chocolate, Hazelnut, Caramel, Cake, Meringue – the more decadent the better).
1) Fairly priced shipping to Europe.
I rely on your wisdom: any online shops, third-party vendors, amazon boutiques, or dark alley dealers I might have overlooked?
Gosh, you have a way with words. This whole post made me smile. Now let me see, just off the top of my head.
Look towards France. Le palais des Thes have a large selection of teas of all types. Their toffee flavoured one is just lovely. I thought shipping was reasonable to Denmark as well.
I don’t have much experience with Mariage Freres (yet), but I believe their European shipping fee should be managable as well, and they also have a large selection.
There’s Jenier Tea in Scotland, also with a large selection and reasonable shipping, but I’ve only shopped there once and have been a little underwhelmed. They have enormous samples, though, so it might be worth having a gander.
Adagio also have a European site, there might be something to be found there.
Kusmi is also a good choice. I particularly like their caramel flavoured black. To me that one is pretty close to the ideal caramel flavoured tea.
I wish I could recommend you my absolute favourite vanilla, but alas that one is not from a webshop. My other favourite Danish tea shop, AC Perchs, do have a webshop, but they charge an arm and a leg in shipping as soon as it crosses the Danish border, whether it’s going to outback Australia or just across to Sweden, so probably that would be right out as well.
Thank you so much for the suggestions.
I had stumbled across bluebirdteaco a few weeks ago, and after heavily flirting with their Totally Nutty, had let myself be sweet-talked out of placing an order, and promptly removed the very idea of its existence from my mind. But, as it could be time to give it the chance the reviews here make me inclined to think it deserves, I thank you for reminding me of it.
Angrboda, I do so love words, it’s a relief to see that my chattering does not always seem too frightfully obnoxious. During most of my tea-quests, I do look towards France, and therein lies the reason of my near bankruptcy. I’ve been sweating lust from every pore of my body for what feels like lustra at the mere mention of Mariage Frères, but the online shop refuses to let me see how much I’d be spending in shipping prices were I well and truly lured by them, and I have come to expect my orders from France never to ship for less 25 euros. My reluctance towards ordering from Kusmi can be attributed the same causes. (I find having to pay more for the shipping of the tea than for I do for the actual tea desperately depressing.)
Curiously, I received some Palais des Thè as a gift last year and, while finding it objectively good, the poor soul who had gifted it to me had got my preferences so desperately backwards I was more than underwhelmed with her choices, and was never tempted to delve in further. But I’ll add it to my list.
Never having heard of AC Perchs, I fear even inquiring after their shipping prices, but you do so tempt me.
And Adagio, of course. Oh, Adagio so intrigues me – I suppose I will have to place an order shortly.
ACP is a Danish shop. In Copenhagen they’ve had a shop in the same place for over 175 years, where they use the same scales and many of the same things from back then. Unfortunately I’ve never actually been in there, because every time I’ve been to Copenhagen, I’ve either not had time or I’ve forgotten (I know!!! O.o), but now they’re opening opening a shop in Aarhus, right near where I live, in August, so I’m really excited about that. :D
Anyway, their webshop is fine so long as you have a Danish address. If you want to order from abroad however, the shipping fee they will charge is the going rate of the post service for packages to your country, plus they will only ship 500g or more abroad. In other words, they seem to be actively avoiding the international market.
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