Verdant Tea - Online Edit

I’m surprised that I haven’t reviewed Verdant Tea sooner. If I could give this company a million stars, I would. They are a cut WAY above the rest! Honestly, I dream about owning a company like Verdant. They have direct partnerships with small, family-owned tea farms throughout China. This allows the Western world access to teas that would otherwise be unobtainable.

And these teas!! They are insanely, unbelievably good! Words can’t even begin to describe how special Verdant teas are. I am blown away every time I taste them. Not to mention that their teaware offerings are to die for! So beautiful!

Verdant Tea’s prices are quite high but they do offer free shipping to the U.S. and very inexpensive shipping to Canada. The prices are high for a reason though, and it’s a reason you can taste. These teas aren’t like anything else on the market. The direct sourcing allows the teas to be processed, shipped, and arrive on your doorstep within a month of picking. This is unheard of in the tea industry! The quality really shows in every cup.

I feel blessed every time I brew a cup of Verdant Tea. Try them out! You don’t know what you’re missing!

I went for breakfast here during a visit to Minneapolis. The tea room is just lovely – open and airy and calming. I had the chai, which was intensely spicy and rich, and the breakfast crepe, which was quite nice – very light, with lots of pickled veggies.

They had a nice selection of tea wares, and lots of details about their teas. I picked up a basic gaiwan and a bunch of different teas, including some that weren’t currently available on their website.

The staff was lovely and very helpful. Definitely worth a visit and I will be returning next time I’m in the area.

Verdant Tea exceeded my expectations! The environment is really cool and relaxing, and there is a fancy looking tea table that looks like it is used for the traditional Gong Fu tea ceremony.

They have a good selection of high quality tea for sale, but what I find most appealing is that when you purchase the “bottomless gaiwan” to drink in the store, you get a tea tray, along with a hot water pitcher, so that you can stay at your seat and continuously make steep after steep of tea in your gaiwan! It’s great for chilling out and reading a book. They also offer a bottomless cup option, where you use a basket filter along with a cup, for those who don’t want to use a gaiwan.

They have a lot of interesting snacks, and it looked like they even had a couple entrées. They also have home-brewed kombucha, which I haven’t tried yet, but it seems cool!

This is definitely going to become one of my hangout places.

Excellent tea bar, they have high quality tea’s, a wonderful open relaxed atmosphere, and seem to really get Chinese tea and it’s philosophy. I will definitely go again and bring some friends!

Verdant offers a great selection of high quality teas. My order was shipped quickly and I received a handwritten thank you noted with my order. I love how verdant works with tea farming families instead of larger companies. It is a bit disappointing, though, when items go out of stock, but the website lets you know when quantities are low and when teas are restocked. The pricing of the teas seems to be consistent with the quality of the tea.

Verdant is hands down one of the very best companies, tea or otherwise, I’ve ever interacted with. The tea and the passion and knowledge behind it is nonpareil (their devotion shows in their eco-friendly but tea-storage-smart packaging and the loads of information about sourcing and best practices for steeping on their website), and the customer service is above and beyond. A friend of mine accidentally ordered the wrong thing once, emailed them the same day, and they responded to her in under an hour with the problem completely straightened out. Their enthusiasm about sharing the best of their teas is evident in their YouTube channel how to videos, subscription services, and deals like their 5 for $5 sampler pack complete with money off your next purchase and a bunch of information about each sample’s background and how best to steep it. They are very good at keeping customers informed of upcoming releases and sourcing through multiple platforms like FaceBook and Steepster (David once even took the time to craft a very detailed, thoughtful, incredibly useful response to someone asking about how to start a tea business). And every package I’ve received from them has included a handwritten note.

What really put it over the top for me though was a recent situation I had with them. I ordered something of very limited stock from them and when it arrived it turned out there had been a mistake in packing and I received the wrong model. When I contacted them about it not only were they able to resolve it—they informed me they were sending out the right item that very day (I wasn’t expecting they could given the out of stock nature of the item)—they told me to keep the erroneous item (which was not cheap, mind) no questions asked simply for my hassle. I might’ve expected that if they hadn’t been able to send me the correct item, but for them to just give me that (and in doing so prevent me from having to go to the post office to ship it back) along with fixing the problem immediately is just amazing. There’s no other company like it as far as my experiences go.

What’s not to love about Verdant Tea? I mean, seriously? Their teas are absolutely top-notch … some of the VERY best I’ve ever tried, and I’ve tried a lot of different tea.

They offer fast order turn-around time (I placed my order on Wednesday, received shipping notification on Friday) and I got my package in less than a week from the time I ordered it. (Ordered Wednesday, received the package on Tuesday … would have probably received it on Monday but it was a postal holiday).

But for me, it’s not about fast shipping as much as it is about customer care. David from Verdant Tea included a handwritten thank you note and a free sample. Now that’s what I’m talking about! My order was a small order – just big enough to be able to get free shipping on it – but I still got a free sample. I like that David treats all customers – big and small – well.

I really can’t say anything bad about Verdant Tea, because there is nothing bad for me to say about them. It’s not a case of “if you can’t say something nice…” it’s a case of “I have nothing BUT nice to say.”

They have AWESOME – beyond awesome, really! – teas, fast shipping, and excellent customer service. Everything I want from a tea company.

Overall Experience: VERY POSITIVE
I have made two purchases from Verdant tea.

General Information:
David is the owner, and he seems to be genuinely passionate about tea and connecting others with his tea. I discovered his online shop after spending time reading the reviews and posts on this website, and for that, I am grateful. He specializes in small farm Chinese grown teas. He offers many different pu-erh teas, but he also has quality oolongs, greens, whites and blacks, and a number of blended, or flavored, teas. He is among the best on the web when it comes to how much information he provides about each tea, including information on location and year of harvest (which is very important to me). One thing lacking about each tea: information about how to best steep each particular tea (although he happily responded to an email I sent with questions about how to best steep one of his teas). He sells a few tea accessories. He had a sales event the weekend of Black Friday (Thanksgiving 2011). My understand is that he sources his tea directly from the farmers in China. He sells his tea in one, two, four, and 16 ounce sizes for most of his tea, providing a price break for each successively larger size. Gift-wrapped boxes are available. He offers samplers for a reasonable price, and he offers a tea of the month club. Although the prices of most of his teas are beyond my reach (over $5/oz.), I have found his teas to be of the highest quality anywhere. All of the tea I have purchased from him (mostly green) has been very fresh and it accurately matched the description on his website.

Website:
I like the ‘earthy’ look-and-feel to his website (lots of blues, greens and browns). It is well laid out, and easy to navigate. He provides very clear closeup pictures of each tea. There have been a few issues with his cart system, but if you alert him of the issue via email he is very responsive, and he will not only correct the problem, but my experience is that he will reward you for your patience by including extra tea with your order (if you purchase from him). I believe he uses PayPal to process your order and to send out information about your order, which allows you to review the status of it. To the best of my knowledge, he currently does not have the ability to create personal accounts on his website. His seasonal tea does sell out. On his website he provides information about tea and the tea business in a section called, Encyclopedia of Tea.

Shipping:
It is about as good as it gets on the web: free to the US if your order is over $10 (over $25 internationally); otherwise it’s $2. He offers the ability to track your package online once it is in route. He ships USPS (first class or priority mail). For me, everything listed as in stock was delivered in both purchases. He will happily include samples if you ask, or include one of his choosing if you don’t ask. He included a personally written card with each package (something only one other tea retailer has done for me).

Contact Experience:
I have exchanged many e-mails with him and he is very responsive; in them he comes across as very personable while still being professional. I have also found that he is very flexible and willing to work with you to meet your needs.

Packaging:
The tea comes in sturdy, resealable, ‘earthy’ light-brown colored bags. The labels are colorful and have the name of the tea handwritten on them.

Would I buy from them again?:
YES!
In my experience buying from roughly 15 – 20 online tea retailers over the past year, his customer service is the best, bar none. I really like the information about the farmers he provides on his website and that he provides the year and season of the picking (especially for the green teas). I like the close up pictures of each tea. I like his packaging and that he offers free shipping to the US (If over $10). When I emailed him requesting a sample of a tea I wanted to try before buying he sent me a very generous one (roughly 20 grams). In my experience, everything he does is professional. I judge his prices are fair, and I personally don’t mind paying a little more when I know when and where the tea is harvested and for many of the other reasons I list above. But the only downside to Verdant tea for me: the cost: the prices of most of his teas are beyond my reach. C’est la vie!

Verdant Tea is a shop that I have greatly enjoyed communicating with and purchasing from – despite my qualms with ordering online. I prefer to shop local and independent, and leave online shopping out of the equation. However, Verdant’s quality and commitment was enough to make me ‘take the plunge’ (all for the sake of good tea, of course). Shipping was free (a great bonus if you live in Canada and order from the US) and well packed – the teas were in their seperate bags, and the tea charms I ordered were in a seperate envelope within the larger (solid) box. It arrived within a few weeks (standard for regular shipping to Canada) and everything was intact and as ordered, with a bonus of two generous samples.

I happened to make my purchase during a sale and had no issues with my codes or transaction. I corresponded with David a few times over the course of my order and he was very helpful with questions, even offering to send another package out at one point (I despaired that Canada Post stole my tea – Luckily they did not!). The tea itself is a wonderful quality, and a testament to Verdant’s commitment to quality and service. I am looking to make another order in the near future once I’ve made a bit of room in my tea cupboard – I highly recommend trying their teas!

I’ve ordered from Verdant Tea a couple of times now I and I can’t say enough good things about the experience. David (the founder) is very responsive and helpful, and you can really tell he is passionate about his teas. I love that David shares Steepster user’s comments with the tea farmers he works with so that the know how much we love their teas.

I have taken advantage of a few special offers but in general they offer good deals, including free US shipping on orders over $10 (only $2 for orders under $10) and free international shipping for orders over $25. They also usually send out two free samples, which you can choose if you send an email to David (usually I just reply to the order confirmation email) after you place your order. The teas are packaged in nice, heavy resealable bags that have steeping directions for every tea on the back of the pouch. On my last order I purchased a Ruci teacup, which was well padded and in it’s own box within the larger box. Also, David includes a handwritten note in each package thanking you for your order; a nice touch.

The teas are absolutely wonderful quality and are very special since they’re sold by the individual picking. I love that you can order as little as one ounce, which is a good size for sampling (and only slightly more than the samples you get). I expect to be ordering tea from David for years to come.

On a final note, I have tasted a few of David’s new Alchemy Blended line teas and have reviewed them on Steepster. David has commented to say that he is adjusting the blends as he gets feedback on them, which I think is quite a testimate to his devotion to the customer and getting everything just right.