Returning Tea Nerd Misses Tea

Welcome back!

It’s such a shame about many of our favourite companies! I have been really enjoying Mountain Stream Teas, Nabo, A.C. Perch, Camellia Sinensis (and have always loved Taiwan Tea Crafts, Teavivre).

What was your previous username?

I miss the peppermint from Zen Tea Life in Vancouver, which now only sells teaware. But most of my tea regrets relate to vendors I never bought from and that are now closed. I made my first big tea order during Butiki’s closing sale, but instead of buying from Butiki, I chose a random overpriced vendor with mediocre products. (I realized my error a few months later when I knew more about tea.) Terroir Tea (all those Alishans!), Tea Ave, and Tea Trekker are now defunct companies I wish I’d bought from.

Well hello, Ms Dodo! Some of us are still here and remember Butiki, and some are probably tired of hearing how good her tea was!
I miss a few of the Vahdam straight teas that they no longer sell, they have changed so much I don’t think I’ve bought from them for a good 4 years. I didn’t know Tea Trekker was out of business either, I guess I missed that one.
Welcome back!

Welcome back, Dodo! I think most of us are still missing Butiki in some form. I also really liked some of Della Terra’s teas, though I think those were all from a wholesale catalog so I could probably find them elsewhere.

Also, I miss Lupicia’s Golden Honeydew, which went away with the California stores… :’(

Does Steepster not have an account recovery system? It seems a shame to loose all your old tasting notes! Either way, welcome back!

A Quarter To Tea was my patch for the Butiki loss. I’m still searching for something to fill those voids. I have really fallen for Theodor, which is hard to find in the states and usually requires ordering from France, but they don’t come out with new blends often. Arthur Dove has some good blends. It’s about 50/50 on if I’ll love one of his blends or just feel eh about it. The Necessiteas has a couple of good blends, but I feel like most of her blends miss the mark I was hoping for. Her Chocolate Orange Truffle is a decent stand in for Butiki’s Three Friends and Almond Cookie for B’s Almond Indulgence. They aren’t exact, but fairly close. Some people are into Dessert by Deb, but I wasn’t a fan. Happy Turtle has a couple blends I liked. American Tea Room with their Brioche is gone. sigh
I’m still waiting to find the next tea blending savant who serves up magic in a cup.

I remember you, LastDodo! Welcome back!

One place I miss terribly is A Southern Season. Walking in was an aroma extravaganza. The smell of the place was pure joy.

As for companies that are newer to me than the ones I was buying from ten or more years ago – Lupicia and Kusmi have been sources of some real delights!

Butiki-I was only able to buy from them once, and not even during their closing sales…was broke at that time
Della Terra-Only tried a few of their samples from stash sales, like Pineapple Upside down cake, and loved it. I tried to buy from them when they switched to fb, but they seemed super disorganized or something was wonky.
Quarter to Tea-Had quite a few intriguing tea concepts, even if I didn’t always like the result, I appreciated the inventiveness. Was really sad when I heard they quit selling too.
Lupicia-I was quite torqued with them when I wrote to them about Pineapple Oolong, and they said they don’t make it anymore. I’ve been trying to afford a buy from them for a long while but other stuff gets in the way. Would like to try some of their new tropical teas.
Kusmi-Has been more of a ‘Miss’ for me…I like the blends with Bergamot, but most of the others I don’t remember being that distinct.

Lastdodo, the nickname does sound familiar, but not sure…my participation on this site has been kind of sporadic for several years. Anywho…welcome back:)