Dustin said

American Tea Room Closed

I’ve been on their mailing list for a while, getting pretty frequent notices of sales and stuff. They just did a warehouse clearance sale and today I got an email saying they are closed. :( I didn’t buy from there often, but I’m sad to see them go.

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Terrible news! :(

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I’m so bummed. I wish they had given some notice, aside from the warehouse sale. Thank goodness I stocked up on Milk Oolong beforehand, or I’d be a wreck.

Dustin said

Right?! I had no idea that was what it was about. I thought they were flushing old stock to make room for new selections. I would have stocked up on Brioche and maybe tried a few others.

Brioooooche, my love, thou hast forsaken me. All my off-site tea friends are equally shocked by the closure, so it’s not just us. Someone suggested it must have been bankruptcy, based on how quickly they shut their doors and the total lack of inventory liquidation. What a shame.

i know i though it was just a clearance sale too. I just went on their site to buy some organic green tea and found out they were closed. I wish i had bought some milk oolong on my last order. Going to miss the martinique and coconut oolong tea

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Oh man, that is so disappointing. Very sad about this.

I would have ordered Brioche and a bunch of others as well.

Any ideas on a substitute?

Dustin said

No. I have enough left and enough of Amadine Rose which was similar to not have to think seriously about it for a while, but someday I’ll be on the hunt.

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Very very sad about this news. I have a few favourites from ATR, but haven’t ordered
from them as often as I would like because of the high shipping rates to Canada.

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Daisiduk said

I was so mad at myself this morning for not ordering from the clearance sale last night. I savored the cup of caramel I had this morning.

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I had never ordered from them before, and just happened to be browsing the forums when I saw the sales thread where Dustin posted about the clearance sale. I decided to grab a few teas when I saw that, and my order arrived today, though I haven’t tried any yet. I had them in my bookmarks for a long time, but will admit the reason I never ordered from them was the lack of samplers and smaller sizes; living in a tiny apartment, and being a variety drinker, storage space is everything, and I just don’t need 3.5-4 oz. of a single tea, so unless a site offers 2 oz. sizes or smaller (and ideally, samplers so I can find out if I even like a tea enough to have a few oz. around to begin with) I tend to not do business with them. I have several other online teashops in my links where I have this same problem, where 4 oz. is the smallest size option available, and if they just offered a 2 oz. option, I’d gladly order. But I just don’t need a whole quarter-pound of a single flavor of tea. It takes me long enough just to get through half of that.

That must have changed since I last ordered from them (they had small sample packets when I ordered).

Ah… shame I missed out if that used to be different, then! As long as I’ve known about them, they’ve only ever had 3.5 oz. as their lowest purchase option, with no samplers available, either. I wonder how many other new customers are hesitant to buy that much tea without getting to sampler first? I can imagine removing samplers was not a good business move on their part. (Though I’m sure there was undoubtedly so much more that had to go into their complete — not to mention quick and sudden — closure like that).

Dustin said

I hesitate to buy even 2oz of a tea that I haven’t tried before. I’ve run into so many that don’t live up to the promise in the description that I really don’t want to throw money on a chance that I’ll like something, especially from a company that is new to me. I love the .5oz sample sizes that some companies offer.

I hope you love all the tea you ordered, but not so much that you are heartbroken that you can’t get a refill.

Ditto; a half oz. gives you a couple cups to experiment with the tea if the parameters from a single serving just didn’t jive up, and lets you get a really good sense of the tea. Also easy to sipdown if it turns out to not be a favorite, too. But even a single-serving sampler is better than nothing!

And I’m hoping that will be the case as well! As a librarian I can get pretty crafty researching out alternative blends, if worse comes to worse maybe I’ll be able to find suitable (or at least close) replacements. At least it takes me a long time to go through that much tea so I won’t have to worry about it for a while! But I definitely have been in that situation before, so I know those feels well! I have a blend I fell in love with from an Etsy tea blender, and then she discontinued her tea line, and now I’m always scared to ever drink a cup from it, like that will put me closer to the inevitable day of not being able to replace it. I’ve been tempted to message that seller and ask if she’d do a “custom order” for me and make that tea again so I don’t get the shakes! lol

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I have a bunch of teas on my wishlist from that company. I’ve never tried their tea before but wish they had given more notice.

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Kaylee said

What a bummer! I have not ordered from them in a while (also because of the large oz amount) but the brioche blend was delicious.

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Desmoface said

I’m heartbroken; I love their tea and my Wife’s favorite was their strawberry rhubarb.

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