Very, very new to the world of tea!

I too am quite new to tea but this site has definitely been very helpful. I’ve learned something new every time I log on and it’s a joy to read everyone’s experiences. I’m sorry that I don’t have an answer for your question as I have never been to the UK but I wish you the best of luck and hope you find what you’re looking for!

Welcome! I am sure someone knowledgeable will let you know some good sites soon! :) It is ironic though !

Welcome to steepster! I’m in the us, so I’m absolutely no help at all. Try the places tab. You may be able to find a store near you that way. Hope that helps. Good luck in your search.

Found one: http://www.mightyleafteas.co.uk/

And another
http://www.whittard.co.uk/

Both of these companies seem to have good reviews here on Steepster.

Nothing but Tea: http://www.nbtea.co.uk/
I have yet to try them myself, but I hearing very good things about them/

Newby Teas of London has won lots of awards-never tried them:
http://www.newbyteas.com/

Welcome to Steepster, Bethany. I’m in Denmark myself so I feel your pain regarding all those American shops that are simply out of bounds to us over here. Shipping fees can be horrendous! O.o

That said, we still have a number of choices.

Nothing But Tea has already been mentioned and I will second Ssajami’s recommendation of that. I’ve shopped there a few times myself and they have a large selection to choose from.

Whittards of Chelsea, as recommended by Azzrian, have shops all over the country and they have a good selection of things as well. (Well. I say that. I’ve seen them in York and Cambridge at least, so I assume there must be more)

Adagio also have a European site, which I believe is based in the UK. The selection is nowhere near as large as their American site, but it’s getting on fairly decent.

Yumchaa also have both an American and a European site, but if you want to shop with them, use the .com, as there appears to be something broken in the order form of .co.uk. I’m told that it doens’t make a difference in the end which one you use.
Do you only like to order from inside the UK or are you willing to spread out to the rest of the EU as well? If so, you can look up Mariage Freres and Le Palais des Thes, both French companies. I’ve ordered from the latter myself, and been quite pleased with the ones I got.

We also have AC Perchs here in Denmark, but from what I understand their shipping rates abroad are sky-high, EU or not.

In the UK there is also Jeeves & Jericho, which I’ve tried once. We quite enjoyed their Oxford blend in this house.

You could also look up Canton Tea and Jing Tea. Both of these are UK based shops, but I haven’t tried either myself yet, so I don’t know much about their selection. I’ve heard good things about both though.

Then there are the shops that may be American based, but who ship directly from China which makes the shipping rates very very reasonable. Practically free compared to some other places, even. TeaSpring and Teavivre. Both of these shops carry an excellent quality in Chinese teas of all types.

Finally, there are a few American shops which have reasonable shipping. Reasonable for me means no more than $15 max.

52teas carry a number of inventive blends. Some of them are quite bizarre sounding but tend to get a high number of positive remarks.

Verdant Tea doesn’t have the biggest selection in the world, but the quality is top notch.

Andrews&Dunham Damn Fine Tea have a lot of fans on Steepster as well. They sell their tea in sets, so you you can’t just pick out the one you want and not have the others in the set. It’s all or nothing. They don’t come out with a new set very often, but still there are those of us who await each new set eagerly (although personally I have purposely skipped a few)

Chi of Tea have a small selection, but I’ve had a couple of orders from them and generally enjoyed what they sold. They had a wonderful vanilla flavoured Nilgiri which sadly has been out of stock for quite a while.

TeaCuppa also have a good selection and reasonable shipping, but I’ve only tried a few samples I received in a swap from them. They might be worth checking out.

So there’s a few to get started on. :)

Thank you so much everyone, for both the suggestions and the welcomes :) I really appreciate it.

Hey bethany7 I do not know any UK companies off the top of my head but if your interested in trying new teas you feel you would enjoy I would recommend Teavivre.com
They do such a great job for price and quality. Plus, there site gives you loads of information about your tea. I hope you check them out. I hope I was helpful. Good luck in your tea search. Like always keep on steeping! LOL!!!