Which are your favorite online tea stores? why? What makes them special?

Stone Leaf Tea – good selection and service

Chinese tea in general: The folks at both Whispering Pines and Mandala put together black tea sampler kits for me when I requested them (before Whispering Pines offered one on the website). The range of teas I tried from both were great, and I learned a lot from the small but carefully curated offerings at both. And for a specialty tea place, Mandala especially always seems to offer a great variety of teas. I’d feel comfortable ordering almost anything from either company and knowing that I’ll like it. In dealing with both companies, I was pretty amazed by their attention to detail and ability to pick out exactly what I wanted based on rather vague descriptions from me.

The Finest Brew: Has by far the best and most complex English-style Ceylons and Darjeelings I’ve ever tried. They can be expensive, so I tend to stock up during sales. I’ve heard their jin jun mei is great too, so I’ve been waiting for them to stock up on that for months. They’re a smaller shop, I think, and run out of things quickly, so you can’t depend on them for getting certain things year round.

Persimmon Tree Tea Company: They’ve been out of commission for several months, but I’m told they sourced from Art of Tea. It was hard to find a decent chai made only with ingredients I could see (and no artificial or natural flavorings, which just make things taste bad and like chemicals to me). Art of Tea doesn’t currently have exactly the same chai I bought there, but I’ll keep it in mind if Persimmon Tree never comes back.

Mountain Tea: Seems to have consistently low-ish prices for most of what it offers, similar in quality to much more expensive oolongs I’ve had from other places. Also has a wide range of oolongs. It doesn’t specialize only in lighter, greener teas or only roasted ones like some of the oolong shops I’ve checked out.

Yunomi: The only Japanese green I drink consistently is hojicha, but I’ve also tried the samplers from both Yunomi and Den’s. I found the tea Yunomi sent to be of higher quality, and similar in price. I have a similar hojicha from O-cha, which tastes burnt to me. The one from Yunomi, however, is like toasted almonds. That said, Yunomi appears to be a huge company, at least judging from the contents on its website, so I’d be careful to read Steepster reviews or try samples for whatever I think I might buy there.

Edit: And I got some great stuff from Tea Setter too. I’ll be very excited if they ever come back.

After reading the transparency thread, I have one other thing to add about The Finest Brew. From what I gather, they’re a specialty boutique shop not unlike many of the other high end businesses that are often discussed here. One time, I ordered more of a certain tea than they had left in stock. I would have been satisfied to merely get a refund, but they not only refunded the money… They also sent me 8 oz. of another type of tea that they did have in stock to make up for it. For free. I thought that was going above and beyond, and it certainly made me determined to buy from them again.

Black Tea – https://yunnansourcing.com, http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php? & http://www.damnfinetea.com for some kick-you-in-the-butt blends

Oolongs – http://www.taiwanteacrafts.com, http://www.mountaintea.com, http://taiwanoolongs.com, http://www.greenterraceteas.com

Variety – http://what-cha.com, https://www.tealyra.com, http://www.taotealeaf.com

New category:

For sampler packs: JK Tea Shop. You get 5-7 teas, all 15 g. samples for about $10.

Each sample gives you enough for at least 2 sessions so you can experiment with temperature and steep times. Instructive packs available for many types of Chinese oolongs, as well as a couple good ones for Chinese black teas.

There are also higher end and more expensive packs available.