Does anyone have a good source for buying tea online? I’d like to get better quality than the supermarket.
Thank you.
Jewel Staite’s company.
I like Whistling Kettle. I don’t think the OP is going to have a problem finding decent online tea suppliers.
Note, though, that most of these leafhead sites are going to offer only or mostly loose-leaf tea as opposed to tea bags.
You can make your own tea-bag version with little paper bags sold by tea sites, or put loose leaves in a reusable infuser. But personally I find, although I’m definitely no expert or connoisseur, that leaf tea brewed loose in a good ceramic teapot, and then poured through a strainer/filter into a cup, tastes best.
If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, visit the tea subreddit:
Some seriously well-informed tea drinkers there. It’s one of the subreddits where the conversation is civil, so that’s a plus.
My top four go-to tea suppliers are Adagio Tea, Harney & Sons, The Tea Spot, and Upton Tea Imports. I use black tea almost exclusively, the stronger the better, sometimes with chocolate or chocolate and mint together, but no other flavorings.
edited to add: also, I prefer blends to artisanal teas from a particular village. Maybe I’m kind of a reverse tea snob. I would like to try builder’s tea, if I knew where to find something that fits that profile.
Thank you! I will check these out.
There is actually a brand called “Builder’s Tea,” but I always thought that referred more to a style of strong tea such as might be drunk on a construction site out of metal cups by tough, brawny, hairy… well, builders.
Tea Runners I think I’m in love. I can’t find my way to the subscription box page, but I will. I’ve got some amazing teas all picked out already.
Mountain Rose Teas This looks interesting on the herbal side of things. I see they also have cooking spices. I’m having fun poking around their site.
The Whistling Kettle I like the samplers. I think I might get one of these for my mom.
You could also try Indian tea, e.g., Assam, and brew it strong (you can dilute it later)
I’ve been buying from Big Heart Tea Company. A little place in St.Louis owned by a couple of ladies. They source some quality ingredients.
Video
Adagio’s always been my go to. I appreciate the smaller sample sizes they offer so I can try a lot of things without ordering too much. Their brewer that empties straight into a mug was my faithful office standby. It got lost in the work from home transition. This is a good reminder that I should buy a new one.
Another vote for Adagio and Harney & Sons.
If you want to try Harney tea before putting in an order, check a Barnes & Noble cafe. Harney supplies many of them with tea.
Hit the button that says “Getting Started.”
Another vote for Harney & Sons. Their Irish breakfast tea will make you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a couple of cups. They make the best decaf teas I ever tasted, too.
Also fabulous is an online company called Vadham Tea, an Indian company that packages the finest Assam tea I ever drank.
Now I’m craving my morning cuppa, and I have to wait eleven hours before I can drink it.
Hey, while we’re asking, can anybody recommend a good source for a set of those tea strainers that rest on top of the cup, and you pour the tea through them?
I don’t want an “infuser insert” for my tea pot, I don’t want to pack loose tea leaves into a bag or infuser, I don’t want a “brewer” that I have to take apart to clean.
I want to dump a spoon or two of leaf tea into my empty ceramic teapot, steep it, and then pour the brewed tea through a simple little strainer-dish thingy into my teacup. In other words, I want the brewing and the straining to be two separate steps using separate utensils.
Is that so much to ask? For some reason tea shops all seem to have these brew-AND-strain devices that keep the tea leaves confined in a mesh cage of some sort from start to finish. That’s not what I want! I want the leaves to swim around freely in the potful of boiling water and release ALL their camellian goodness, and THEN be prevented by a separate barrier-method implement from entering the teacup!
Tea equipment designers appear to think that scooping wet leaves out of an empty teapot is an intolerably burdensome task that must be avoided with complicated metal mesh inserts, but I don’t mind it! Give me my low-tech solution!
At present I am using a (purchased new and dedicated to this purpose) mesh kitchen sink strainer to sit on my cup and filter out my tea leaves. Which is actually a very inexpensive and effective solution, but seriously detracts from the perceived classiness and haut ton of my tea service.
I order a large amount of green tea twice a year from Yunomi.life. They sell tea directly from small Japanese tea farms and businesses imported from Japan. I especially like their fukamushichas, which is a type of deep-steamed green tea that makes a tea with vibrant green color and strong umami taste.
What you want is an English tea strainer. Here’s a nice one at the above-mentioned Harney & Sons. You can find cheaper ones at Amazon, if you like.
Or just a sieve. They work fine.