Jing Tea Shop - online Edit

I’ve only ordered from them once online, but it was a very pleasant experience. The tea package arrived from China to my house in Ontario, Canada in about 9 days. And along with the black tea samples I ordered, there was a free sample of oolong.

Overall I think they have a good balance between inexpensive shipping rates and excellent teas at reasonable prices (for their quality).

If you’re interested in purchasing from them, they appear to have small (25g) and/or sample sizes available. So you don’t need to buy very much to find out if you like it or not.

Overall Experience: POSITIVE
It was my first time buying from them (I ordered in June 2011).

General Information:
They have a reasonable selection of loose leaf teas in each class: Oolongs (many , they seem to specialize in these), Greens, Reds/Blacks, and Pu-erhs, but only a few White and Yellow teas. No flavored, and only a few scented. For most every tea you can order a sample (25g) for about the same price as per gram as their standard size (100g). They sell some tea ware. They offer a few teas in an ‘Everyday Teas’ section for very reasonable prices. Most of the rest of their teas are very competitively priced. Update: They now offer modest price breaks for buying larger lots of tea.

Website: They updated it as of 10/2011
Very simply designed and very easy to navigate. Most teas have pictures of both the dry and wet leaves (and a close-up shot). There is detailed information given for each tea they carry (including year and time of harvest). They do occasionally sell out of some teas they carry, and it seems that once it’s gone you have to wait until next year or season. They list newly added products on their homepage.

Contact Experience:
The owners responded in a reasonable amount of time to two e-mail inquiries.

Shipping: Their shipping policy changed as of 10/2011
Facts: They ship from China. They offer a flat rate of $5.90 to any country. They offer two ways of shipping: Registered Airmail, and upon request, EMS.
My Experience: The package arrived sooner than time frame given. From the tea I have tried so far, it is all fresh and exactly as described on their website. Each tea I purchased was in stock. They sent me everything I ordered, with two free samples (weighing seven grams each), all very tightly packaged, without any filler material.

Packaging:
Each tea came in thin foil-like bags, with the tea name and their company logo simply and elegantly displayed on a white label.

Would I buy from them again?:
YES. They have great prices as compared to most other online tea retailers I have encountered, and all of the tea I have ordered from them has been very fresh. I hope to buy from them again next year (2012).