Buying tea online (bags, not loose)

The_Glad_Hatter

Simple question.
i'm a hardcore twinings tea fan, and im' looking to expand my palette. mainly black teas.

So i'm looking for a, preferably euro-based, online store that sells all kinds of brands and sampler packages, not just its own house brand. Prefereably bagged tea, since i don't use loose tea that often (the cleaning up... ugh..).

i thought this would be relatively easy to find, but intensive googling didn't really dig up anything. especially if i'm looking for some new quality brands (kusmi? frere marriage?).

also, if anyone has any tea brand suggestions.. more than welcome.

Eeveelution

I know you said that you don't make loose tea, but Teavana (a store stateside) sells an amazingly large quantity of loose tea, and has a specially designed strainer that basically keeps the loose tea in it and then just requires that to be washed out instead.

Its basically a giant cup that brews the tea, then you set it on the cup you wish to drink from, and it drains only the tea into the cup.

Also loose tea is traditionally healthier as there are no chems in the bag.

Improvolone

Really? There are no chemicals in loose tea?
Really?

SmallLady

I'd like to point out, that EVERYTHING is made of chemicals.

everything. on the planet. even you.

Kivutar

Well, to read it literally, he said 'in the bag,' and loose tea has no bag.

That aside though, I prefer loose tea for a variety of other reasons (generally fresher, the leaf doesn't get mashed up into powder, etc. - overall I think it brews a better cup). Anyway, Harney & Sons is a brand that's fairly cheap & common around here, and offer both bagged and loose teas. For what it's worth though, you can also buy reusable or disposable tea sachets yourself and bag your own loose teas. You might also look into the massive variety of tea-brewing accoutrements available - not all of them are nearly so difficult to clean as you make it sound

Back to actually finding tea, you might look for tea houses in your area. Any I've been to offer periodic tastings and also sell a variety of loose and bagged teas. I've found some honestly amazing stuff this way.

It looks like Eindhoven has a few places worth checking out if you're willing to make the trip.

The_Glad_Hatter

i could do Eindhoven, about 30 mins by car (or less).
any store names you can recommend?

the disposable tea saches sound interesting.. Washing out my loose tea thingy always is a bit annoying (don't like the tea leaves going down the drain.. but it's impossible to get them all in the trashcan...)

Kivutar

The_Glad_Hatter wrote: »

i could do Eindhoven, about 30 mins by car (or less).
any store names you can recommend?

the disposable tea saches sound interesting.. Washing out my loose tea thingy always is a bit annoying (don't like the tea leaves going down the drain.. but it's impossible to get them all in the trashcan...)

For store names, I literally just searched google maps for "limburg" and "tea" and went from there, saw a couple tea houses/retail shops listed in Eindhoven, which looked like it wasn't too far away. I'm sure you could probably do better than I as far as that goes. If nothing else, some of those places might be able to point you to a decent local source, or at least someone who ships in the area.

As to the disposable sachets, Cha Cult and T-Sacs appear to be two popular brands, both made in Germany, so should be readily available I'd think. For single cups, I just use a mesh spoon strainer or a pincer spoon - I haven't had too much trouble knocking the leaves out into a trash bin and cleaning out the remainder with my finger, but I could see wanting the convenience of a sachet.

Agentflit

I see where you're coming from with the hassle of clean up, but if you really like tea there's nothing better than loose. Adagio sells a brewer that makes clean up pretty easy, and I used to buy tea from them too. These days I prefer to buy local 'cause I can sample new varieties by smelling them, and I like supporting local business. I liked Adagio because they didn't overcharge for shipping to Alaska.

edit: oh I guess their international shipping's a bit much, but I still recommend the brewer which is probably sold many places