How do you judge a new tea brand?

First the tea seller has to have the teas that I actively drink. Second the price has to be reasonable. And it is best if sample sizes are offered. As far as trust that will only come with time. I trust Yunnan Sourcing because he has done the right thing over many orders.

What Allan said. Also, to me it helps build trust if the vendor is honest when describing his products. Obvious marketing BS drives me away, obvious honesty keeps me around.

In addition to what AllanK and Tea for Steve said, I appreciate good descriptions of the tea (location, when harvested, how large was harvest, any interesting tidbits etc)

As far as the website:

Clear, easy to navigate (Don’t like when I have to click through multiple pages to get to the tea selection…some vendors think only of making an impression on first time visitors)

Shipping estimate up front (rather than having to enter all customer details and payment info before getting it)

Basically everything YS does.

It would be so nice if tea vendors could show the tea rating on steepster (or somewhere else) on their product page. Most just have their own ratings and often there is zero or one review. Seems silly to not have that info aggregated (although probably difficult). Maybe this would make my fav teas more likely to sell out quickly tho :/

-full ingredients list
-information on the exact origin and varietal/cultiver of the tea
-shipping estimate without having to make an account or enter a bunch of order information
-when the tea was harvested (spring vs fall, first or second pluck, etc)
-tasting notes (even if it is just a few words like “buttery, floral, vegetal”)
-reasonable shipping to Canada/international

As a new tea brand expect that you won’t make a profit for about the first two years and make sure you have appropriate funding for yourself. Starting off there are so many established competitors you may find yourself having to offer a lot of discounts to make sales or you will simply make few sales in the first few years if you don’t offer incentives for people to stop buying from their regular vendors and buy from you.