You can only order from three companies for the rest of your life.

First Three:
Yunnan Sourcing
Mariage Frères
Butiki

If I could Add three more:
Taiwan Tea Crafts
Mandala
Verdant

Places I also love:
Mandarin’s Tea Room
The Tea Gallery
Life in a Teacup
Whispering Pines
Teavivre
52teas

Note to self: must try Den’s Tea. :-)

Only three?

David’s Teas- I like their seasonal teas
Della Terra- More seasonal blends, and also rooibos
52 Teas- Because the flavours

I like dessert, sweeter teas mostly.

Mandala
Verdant
Whispering Pines

Butiki
Harney

…then it gets hard. G’uh. Not at all sure about my third. Do I make it a place that does nonpareil Chinese tea (Verdant)? Or innovative Taiwanese teas (Taiwan Tea Crafts)? One that offers all my favorite nostalgia-inducing Indian teas done really, really well (Capital Tea Ltd, Teabox)? Another flavored emporium (Lupicia)? Someplace specialized that offers a handful of teas I just can’t imagine being without (Shang, Mandala)? Or one of the perfumed blend master French shops (Dammann/Fauchon, Mariage, Theodor)? I just don’t know.

Mandala
Verdant

…and then the decision becomes hard, but I think Tao Tea Leaf (’cos is local and easily accessible)

All three companies satisfy my tea needs. Although I’m looking at a couple of companies that I have yet to order from, so this may change down the road.

Adagio (because I can’t live if living is without beautiful tea based on characters from Doctor Who)
Bluebird (because they’re so dashed sweet and their flavours are properly groovy)
and then the third, oh lordy. I’m torn between Teavivre because it’d be nice to have a good variety of really good pu’erh and oolongs and black teas at my disposal, but then also Dammann Freres because they have a blend called Old Man Tea and I don’t think I can die without trying it at least once. DAMMIT

Harney &Sons
Verdant
Mandala
Teavivre
Yunnan Sourcing
Upton
Butiki
Each one is unique and each one is #1.

Three? Not possible….
Mandala
Teavivre
Verdant
and I still don’t have any flavored teas…
Harney & Sons
and I still need fruity….hmmm where do I buy fruit teas from – everywhere – how do I choose ONE… uggg – I don’t even have a favorite source for them…..
New Mexico Tea Co.
That makes 5 but I would still like a couple more….
Cornelia Bean
Tao Tea Leaf
Capital Tea Ltd.
Can I vote for Winners – you never know what you are going to find there…..

For me it’s Tealux as the number one. I haven’t tried out a huge amount of other companies teas but from what I have tried out, Tealux has a huge selection and a lot of teas I like (and I’ve tried a lot!) After Tealux , there are some smaller companies I have found some amazing teas at: Tea at Sea and Temple Road which adds to my collection. For local stores it’s between The Tea Emporium and David’s Tea. There’s nothing like going into a place , getting to try the teas, and sniff them too. David’s Tea sometimes has too much artificial flavoring for my liking but there are a few choice teas I’ve found.

Love it. Love that we collectively refuse to be limited to three. But I get it – that actually is helpful, since it’s pretty easy to pick up on the top ten around here. So despite truly not being able to live without at least 7 or 8…

O-Cha. Matcha is essential.
Camellia Sinensis. Really well-rounded and strong in herbals, classic flavored CTC blacks, and premium unflavored greens/oolongs/ blacks.
Mandala. Because Black Beauty.

Though my first Teavivre order hasn’t arrived yet…