New to Tea

Where are you located? That changes tea suggestions a lot due to shipping and all that jazz.

Tampa, FL

www.uptontea.com
many different types of tea and sample sizes

I would also suggest signing up for a swap-here

1: Being part of Steepster gives you a huge advantage. Browse the stash sale and swap opportunities.
(I’m currently giving away all kinds of tea https://instagram.com/p/6DvhMHRYAk/ )

2: Verdant’s 5 for $5 is the best straight tea deal out there

3: The options are endless… David’s Tea has a huge selection, Dammann Freres has been wonderful for me, the Tao of Tea sells inexpensive tins that make for an easy collection, and if you are looking for a particular flavor just search here and you will find lots of knowledge from multiple Steepster members about companies, blends, tea types… everything.

Nina’s Paris has a shop in Miami and they have lovely flavored teas.

Harney & Sons, if you can catch a free shipping deal, has relatively inexpensive and good flavored blends. And they have sample sizes available for most of them. Sign up for their emails and you’ll get notifications when they have sales and promotions. That goes for most online tea merchants and many offer a discount when you sign up for a newsletter.

theteashelf.com – with the finest Indian premium tea sourced directly from the tea estates.

We have on offer many sampler packs: http://theteashelf.com/product-category/sampler-sets/

Plus with every tea purchased we give you 2 free samples to try out.

When I first started with tea, I went a bit nuts and ordered lots of different things before I decided what I really like. Flavored black is really my favorite, even though I tried all different sorts. I’d suggest looking for a “stash sale” here at Steepster which would let you try a number of different companies and kinds for relatively cheap prices.

Some of my favorites are Tea Source, TeaLish, Harney and Sons, Nina’s Tea, Mahamosa and Fava Tea. Some that don’t offer samples still offer small sizes that can be reasonable.

And don’t worry if what you like isn’t “well regarded” – whatever you decide you like is fine. That’s one of the great things about tea – there are so many different tastes and prices and kinds. Something for everyone. Although it never hurts to try something new to see if you like it – especially when you’re getting started.

Here’s some online tea stores that well a bit of everything:

Adagio.com – a big variety and good if you’re just getting into tea and prefer blends, they also have a nice points system and if you’re a first time customer, you can ask someone to send you a $5 gift card if they have an account (for example here’s one!: “Share my addiction with a $5 GC to Adagio Teas, my favorite store for fresh, artisan teas: 3790482122. Good for 24 hours”.)
zentealife.com – a nice variety of blends and straight teas. I think the prices are very reasonable and I’ve liked most things I’ve tried from them.
lupiciausa.com – This is my go to for fruity flavored stuff, they do it very very well! Only thing is that most of their teas come in 50g for loose, but they do have teabag samplers.
tealyra.com – also known as tealux.com, nice stuff, and they have a sale almost every holiday. Sign up for the email list!
goldenteatips.com – if you like india blacks and darjeelings mostly, 10g samplers
teajo.com – the nice organic option. I think 52teas is also trying to be organic, but teajo definitely is last time I checked… there are actually alot of organic tea companies out there, I just can’t think of any off the top of my head at the moment.
teaforte.com: this company has definitely broken into the mainstream, you can also find them at Barnes and Noble bookstores.

There are also more specialized companies out there like teaave, mandala, whisperingpines, greenterraceteas, white2tea, all of which are awesome companies too, but it’s easier to order from those if you already have a firm idea of what you like, I think.