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What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2020 6:40 pm
by Auxilium
Hello! I'm new around here, I am tea obsessed and have read everything I can get my hands on about the history and preparation. Quite honestly I am just now trying to move beyond my local shops who specialize in blends and very western teas into more traditional and higher quality teas. Any feedback would be appreciated!!
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 6:21 pm
by pedant
welcome,
@Auxilium!
it depends on what kind of tea you're looking for and of course what you're comfortable with spending. you can browse around
this forum area for ideas.
this list is long and not very selectively curated, but many good vendors are on it:
https://old.reddit.com/r/tea/wiki/vendors/page_01
if you don't really know where to start or what styles of tea to try, i would suggest trying japanese green teas.
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 11:16 am
by Auxilium
Thank you so much for the help!! After some deliberation with myself I decided that if pick up some gyokuro, and shincha from kettl out of Brooklyn. I have had Japanese green teas, such as shincha and bancha from my local shops, while good I feel its lacking something, so I'm very excited to try some fresher and more high quality Japanese green tea! I also am fascinated with pu-er, I've had a couple Shou cakes that I've enjoyed but I'm really interested in trying some sheng. Thank you so much for your help already!
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 9:08 pm
by klepto
I'll be very specific:
Wuyi oolong:
https://www.wuyiorigin.com/ and
http://teaurchin.com/
Dan Cong oolong:
https://teahabitat.com/
Taiwan oolong:
https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/
These places have the quality that I like and are specialists in their respective offerings.
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 11:34 pm
by pedant
i usually buy japanese greens from
www.o-cha.com and
www.thes-du-japon.com
also, there may be a TeaForum special offering soon...
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 5:05 am
by faj
pedant wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 11:34 pm
also, there may be a TeaForum special offering soon...
What may this special offering be?
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 5:13 am
by mrmopu
Hi Auxiliam, King Tea Mall, White2Tea, Yunnan Sourcing, Crimson Lotus, Essence of Tea, Teaside, Yunnan Craft , Teas we like and Mandala Tea are all good sellers for puerh. In Europe I know What cha , Green tea guru, Terre De Ciel , Tea Mania and Puerh SK are good ones. Lots of sellers for sure.
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:56 am
by pantry
For tea history books, my favorite is “the true history of tea” by Victor Mair and Erling Hoh. Very informative and enjoyable to read!
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:04 pm
by Auxilium
Thank you all so much! I'm so grateful for all the wonderful information! This forum and community has been so helpful!
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 9:53 pm
by Auxilium
Also, I'm absolutely interested in more book recommendations from anyone who has them!
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:31 pm
by Victoria
Auxilium wrote: ↑Thu Jun 18, 2020 9:53 pm
Also, I'm absolutely interested in more book recommendations from anyone who has them!
Welcome to TeaForum books can be found in this thread;
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=342
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2020 10:09 am
by mbanu
A first good step is to be clear with yourself over what you mean, as the clearer you can be, the easier things become. Like what do you mean by western teas? If a sweaty American Southerner asked for a glass of tea and you gave them hot Assam with milk, or a Brit asked for tea and was given a tea syrup on ice Southern-style, I'm sure they'd each drink the other out of politeness but I doubt they'd be pleased.
The countries that make up The West as an idea don't agree on many things, so it helps to be more specific.
It will also help to clarify what you dislike about blends to yourself, as that can make it easier. If it is the concept of blending in general, for instance, you will have a bit of trouble with Chinese teas, as vertical integration of a tea factory with its tea fields, allowing the concept of "single estate tea" to exist, was really a British invention, even though they are more famous for their own blends today. Many teas in China still use a maocha system where crude tea is bought in very small amounts from a large number of small farmers and then blended together and refined to make a reliable commercial product. The difference is just that these are regional blends rather than the global blends the Brits favor. There are vertically-integrated tea factories in China, but you would have to specifically seek them out, and legally exporting tea tends to produce a lot of paperwork, so I would be wary of anyone claiming to be selling direct their cousin's handmade tea from the three ancient bushes they have in the back of their yard.
Tea is a fascinating subject -- good luck in your journey!
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2020 10:45 am
by Auxilium
Thank you friends!
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2020 10:52 am
by Auxilium
mbanu wrote: ↑Fri Jun 19, 2020 10:09 am
A first good step is to be clear with yourself over what you mean, as the clearer you can be, the easier things become. Like what do you mean by western teas? If a sweaty American Southerner asked for a glass of tea and you gave them hot Assam with milk, or a Brit asked for tea and was given a tea syrup on ice Southern-style, I'm sure they'd each drink the other out of politeness but I doubt they'd be pleased.
The countries that make up The West as an idea don't agree on many things, so it helps to be more specific.
It will also help to clarify what you dislike about blends to yourself, as that can make it easier. If it is the concept of blending in general, for instance, you will have a bit of trouble with Chinese teas, as vertical integration of a tea factory with its tea fields, allowing the concept of "single estate tea" to exist, was really a British invention, even though they are more famous for their own blends today. Many teas in China still use a maocha system where crude tea is bought in very small amounts from a large number of small farmers and then blended together and refined to make a reliable commercial product. The difference is just that these are regional blends rather than the global blends the Brits favor. There are vertically-integrated tea factories in China, but you would have to specifically seek them out, and legally exporting tea tends to produce a lot of paperwork, so I would be wary of anyone claiming to be selling direct their cousin's handmade tea from the three ancient bushes they have in the back of their yard.
Tea is a fascinating subject -- good luck in your journey!
Well I'm speaking more to the fruity black teas that are so popular among hot tea drinkers in America. while these are fine they don't quite hit the spot for me, you're absolutely right though about being more specific the more I look back at my posts the more I realize how vague they are.
I definitely like blends of tea I guess I should say I dont like tea blended with flowers and fruits and oils Earl grey etc.
While I will drink them rarely again they just don't hit the spot. I really just love to taste the intricacies of the leaf and personally I think that flowers and fruits and oils just muddle that.
Thank you so much for the insight and topic to think on!
Re: What are your favorite places to buy online?
Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2020 2:16 pm
by Slurp
If black teas are your thing, try
https://www.vahdamteas.com/. Regular prices are IMO a bit high for what you get, but they run some decent specials every now and again. If you're willing to go outside your comfort zone I second the suggestion earlier of
https://www.o-cha.com/, which offers some great Japanese green teas at reasonable prices.