As far as widely available supermarket bagged teas go, Stash is nonpareil in my book and the only kind I’d ever reach for/still keep in the house for guests or in my purse. Before I got into loose tea, it was the only brand I could find that reliably had any welcome flavor to it (before I was sort of in the Natalie Dee “tea: it tastes just like hot water that used to have some leaves in it” camp)…others either were weak (all the Lipton/Tetley/Red Rose stuff) or if they did have a flavor it was gross and artificial or way too astringent to me (most of Celestial’s), or seemed stale and musty (Twinings).
They’re especially good if you like warmly spiced and sweet but not cloying decaf dessert teas, the kind that take well to milk and sugar, where the simplicity of a tea bag is welcome late at night before bed. Vanilla Nut Creme 4eva! Others I still have a nostalgic soft spot in my heart for: Double Bergamot Earl Grey, Licorice Spice, Holiday Chai, and White Christmas.
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Similar to how I feel about David’s, Adagio gets a lot right by making tea friendly and cutely accessible for the masses—I love the “anyone can submit a blend online” thing they do, and their teaware accessories are decent-quality and affordable. But the tea, like David’s, sometimes disappoints me—I guess I like big strong pure flavors and less sweetness in general. That said, I have noticed some of their herbal offerings and more widely cast blends (Foxtrot, Elevenses) are quite good.
They get lots of points for offering so many cute, decent-quality affordable teaware accessories and having a lot of enthusiasm both in terms of design/marketing copy and things like promotions and seasonal specials, but the actual teas tend to be a bit of a letdown for me. A lot of the flavored blends include artificial flavors and nearly always come off as too sweet for me. But if you’re someone who likes sprinkles and chocolate and sugar in your tea and want to drink your dessert instead of eat it, they’re your guys.
They have all sorts of awesome bubble tea flavors, from universally easygoing sweet and fruity flavors (almond, blueberry) to out-there authentic (green bean, durian!) along with daily/seasonal offerings. And you can blend flavors, I think up to three, as well as order your tea without bubbles, or certain types with cream, etc. And they are friendly and helpful if you want advice about blending flavors. It takes a while for the teas to come out so you know they’re fresh, and they use fresh ingredients. Their avocado bubble tea is sweeter and less strongly vegetal than the one at Pho Saigon, but it’s still delicious. As a big bonus, the food (the menu’s mostly a mix of Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese) is quite decent too—I especially love their kim chi stew. And they do lunch specials for the food.
Pretty much the most magical, beautiful place in the world for a tea drinker.
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ifjuly hasn't written a review for this place yet.
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ifjuly hasn't written a review for this place yet.
You haven't written a review for this place yet. Write One
ifjuly hasn't written a review for this place yet.
Verdant is hands down one of the very best companies, tea or otherwise, I’ve ever interacted with. The tea and the passion and knowledge behind it is nonpareil (their devotion shows in their eco-friendly but tea-storage-smart packaging and the loads of information about sourcing and best practices for steeping on their website), and the customer service is above and beyond. A friend of mine accidentally ordered the wrong thing once, emailed them the same day, and they responded to her in under an hour with the problem completely straightened out. Their enthusiasm about sharing the best of their teas is evident in their YouTube channel how to videos, subscription services, and deals like their 5 for $5 sampler pack complete with money off your next purchase and a bunch of information about each sample’s background and how best to steep it. They are very good at keeping customers informed of upcoming releases and sourcing through multiple platforms like FaceBook and Steepster (David once even took the time to craft a very detailed, thoughtful, incredibly useful response to someone asking about how to start a tea business). And every package I’ve received from them has included a handwritten note.
What really put it over the top for me though was a recent situation I had with them. I ordered something of very limited stock from them and when it arrived it turned out there had been a mistake in packing and I received the wrong model. When I contacted them about it not only were they able to resolve it—they informed me they were sending out the right item that very day (I wasn’t expecting they could given the out of stock nature of the item)—they told me to keep the erroneous item (which was not cheap, mind) no questions asked simply for my hassle. I might’ve expected that if they hadn’t been able to send me the correct item, but for them to just give me that (and in doing so prevent me from having to go to the post office to ship it back) along with fixing the problem immediately is just amazing. There’s no other company like it as far as my experiences go.
