Favorite tea companies
Was wondering if anyone would like to list their favorite teas companies for this newbie? :D
This might help. http://steepster.com/discuss/7321-you-can-only-order-from-three-companies-for-the-rest-of-your-life
This is my list, but this would depend on where your interests lie and where you are in your journey/experience
Straight Teas
Mandala Tea – Awesome pu’erh and black teas
Teavivre – Fantastic Chinese Teas
Verdant – High end straight teas and blends
Yunnan Sourcing – I’ve only ordered blacks but they are known for pu’erh
Capital Tea Co. – Reasonably priced straight teas
Tealux – I like their straight teas, flavors are hit or miss for me.
Flavored Teas:
Lupicia – My favorite source for flavored teas
Harney & Sons – tons of options
I’m more into straight teas, especially pu’erh and black, but those are some of my Favorite companies.
echo what dexter has said in terms of what you’re looking for… if you are hoping to get a list of companies to check out, maybe let us know what you like/dislike :)
Puerh is one I am starting to appreciate. I like chamomile blends at night.
I am starting to try different flavors and dessert teas, but black (almost any flavored or not) is my favorite so far.
My favorite is without a doubt Yunnan Sourcing. They have two websites www.yunnansourcing.com and www.yunnansourcing.us. The dot us site ships from Oregon. They frequently run sales advertised on their facebook page. Their site is run by an American living in China so there is no translation issue in emails. They do, however have one drawback, they sell almost only Yunnan teas. If you want Darjeeling you can’t get it there. If you want Puerh they are the best. They also sell Oolong, Green, White, and Black tea as well as the occasional Hei Cha.
For shipping convenience, however, you can’t beat Mandala Tea. Their $5 flat rate shipping is the best price in town. Yunnan Sourcing has more variety of Puerh but it will cost you more to have it shipped.
Chinese Teas:
Jing Tea Shop (hit-or-miss, mostly hit)
Tea Drunk (everything is amazing, BEST IN DA WEST)
Taiwanese Teas:
Beautiful Taiwan Tea
Eco-Cha
all teas from the above are great
Taiwan Tea Crafts
Green Terrace Tea
hit-or-miss selection
Last year I would also have listed TTC. But they don’t make my list of the top 3 (or even 5), as their service is rather mediocre.
Best wishes,
sherubtse
yeah TTC is mediocre IMO. however they do have a decent selection of low elevation teas.
what are your top 5, out of curiosity?
apt – My Top 5 online tea companies (in order) are as follows:
Mellow Monk
Capital Tea
Camellia Sinensis
Maiko
White2Tea
White2Tea has provided excellent service, but because I have yet to drink a puer that I like, I had to rank it last.
TTC does have some great low elevation teas. But the mediocre service has turned me off. I will likely buy my oolongs from Teamasters from now on. (I prefer the low elevation teas to the gaoshans, unlike most oolongs enthusiasts.)
Best wishes,
sherubtse
Teavivre and Golden Moon Teas are my go-to sources for most teas, with Verdant being a close 2nd.
These three companies have always been quick in deliveries and they offer a great assortment of tea.
Gene
they don’t have it. I ordered their sampler when I got into loose tea and the teas were decent at best and horrible at worst (there were a lot of worsts)
here it is apt
http://www.goldenmoontea.com/single-leaf-club/honeyorchid.html
The Best IMHO. it didnt get great review on here because ppl made it western :(
oh it’s a dancong black.
speaking of dancong blacks, have you gotten your Jing Tea Shop order yet? tell me how their dancong black compares to golden moon when it comes, alright?
i didn’t get a tracking number either. I didn’t even get confirmation from them. but one day I walked downstairs to see a package from China on the counter!
Being from Canada, I get excited when I find out about small tea companies near me! :) Here’s a recent one that I have tried: www.sevensisterstea.ca
I’m not exactly sure if they ship outside of Canada or North America even but they currently have a promo to receive 20% off your order with the code: TEACUPOFLIFE
At the moment, it’s Teavivre. I like their variety of Chinese teas, and I have their webpage bookmarked. :) Interesting, but I need to try more- Verdant, Teasenz, Butiki
For dessert and other flavoured teas- Della Terra Teas and David’s Tea.
I’ve liked the few things I’ve tried from Verdant – black chocolate genmaicha, Minnesota blend, etc. I really need to try Laoshan Black! I’ve signed up for their blends club next month so I’ll let you know how that goes. :)
Laoshan Black is alright – it has a decent profile but the subtleies are muted and it doesn’t resteep nicely (2 steeps?). For $9/oz I expect more, since I can get much better black teas for that price (Lishan or Honey Black from Green Terrace, anything from YS, Ruby Red from Beautiful Taiwan Tea, etc.)
Yunnan Souring won’t send me 5 samples for 5 bucks. They don’t seem to offer sample sizes, but I do want to try some of their teas.
I’ve really loved the teas I’ve tried from Yunnan Sourcing so far – especially the really light bud Yunnan teas. But I haven’t made an order from them yet, and their shipping does seem a little painful. :(
i dont think so. US site prices are little higher and they dont have as much variety in teas or teaware. they ship priority. Now China site has an option that it comes in 10 days. costs only couple $ more than land but so worth it.
When purchasing from the .com site shipping wasn’t that bad if it was just teas. I bought 250 g of tea and shipping was a little over 7 $ I think. It increases significantly if you include teaware. To put it in perspective to ship 150g by small parcel ( not epacket) China post is around 6$. So I’m sure they are eating a little of the shipping costs. Epacket is faster but it is only available in certain places in China.
Login or sign up to leave a comment.