Calling all Canadians - Tea Companies

I am in a similar boat as you (just David’s and Teaopia mostly so far). I have mostly been looking for places that take Paypal, because I don’t have a credit card, and so far I’ve been looking at 52teas and Verdant Tea. I don’t find the shipping for the former unreasonable, and the latter I’ve noticed has a large graphic on their site stating that orders to Canada over $10 have free shipping. I’d like to see what others come up with.

I sometimes order from Tea Sante. Though their name and website aren’t too attractive, I have enjoyed their teas and blends a lot. Their physical location in Montreal is a pleasure to visit also, the staff is nice (but I guess that’s irrelevant since you are in Toronto), and a friend who ordered online from them told me the service was good. Worth a try for sure! http://www.teasante.com/en

Edit: Oh, how could I forget! You should also check out Camellia Sinensis, especially if you enjoy straight tea, they have some amazing ones, although sometimes a bit pricy. http://camellia-sinensis.com/tea/

Toronto has a lot of tea shops in the city, including Tealish and Tea Emporium.

For mail order, to Canada 52teas can take upwards of a month to arrive so if you’re one who isn’t patient it may not be the best choice. I like to order from The Tea Haus, it’s an independent store from London, Ontario.

If you do a search in the places reviews here on steepster and select “online” as your location, there are a lot of good reviews about online sources for tea!

In Toronto, there’s also Say Tea (near Jane Station), Pippin’s (down in the Beaches), the Golden Mint (near College), as well as multiple locations of the Tea Emporium throughout downtown.

I was about to ask if All Things Tea is still alive on Bloor Stree of Toronto. But a quick search shows that it’s already closed up. Pity! I like that cozy place and their in house hot tea prices are very ok for a large city. They also sold loose tea in packs. I didn’t try any but the variety was nice. But every time I was there, I wondered if they would survive, as I never saw many people there.

Vancouver is a great place to get tea – some of my favorite stores are:

Murchies – they specialize in English style blends, but they got other great teas (and coffee, tea ware, gifts, etc) as well. – http://www.murchies.com/store/

Granville Island Tea Co – high quality, wide selection of favour and un-flavoured teas, and they’ve got a good number of single estate teas as well. – http://www.granvilletea.com/

The Urban Tea Merchant – a store with a fancy feel to it, they carry exotic, high-quality tea brands that you normally wouldn’t find here in N. Amercia such as TWG tea. They also have a tea room and do an excellent afternoon tea and tea-leaf readings. – http://www.urbantea.com/

There’s also Tao Tea Leaf, House of Tea- both on Yonge between Bloor and Rosedale, Tea Dynasty just south of bloor above Wellesley, Magesteas on Queen in the East end, and Herbal Infusions near Adelaide and Spadina.
So many places to go, they’re all good!
Oh and I think there are a few places in St. Lawrence Market.

Enjoy :)

Thanks so much for the tips everyone! Can’t wait to try them!

Niche on Queen West has some really nice teas- the white mandarin is excellent (and quite inexpensive, $6 for 50 g), as is the Exotica black. All organic. Nice coffee as well. The owner imports the tea and coffee beans herself, from Sri Lanka.

Covernotes in Richmond HIll and Newmarket has good tea, imported by JP Lindsay, a Canadian company. I can’t get enough of the green strawberry.

http://www.chadoteahouse.com/ has really high quality Japanese teas (Gyokuro, Sencha, Mecha, Genmaicha, etc) and has a shipping location in Canada. Very small and awesome company!