You haven’t tried tea until you’ve had loose leaf tea.
While some gourmet tea bags do contain quality tea leaves, even those are not as good as low quality loose leaves.
And most tea bags are filled with whatever is left over after the best leaves have been sorted out for loose teas.
In the past, quality tea leaves were not easy to come by in the west, but thanks to the online shopping explosion, you can now buy the best loose leaf teas no matter where you live.
The biggest problem shoppers face when buying loose leaf tea online these days is too much choice.
It can be difficult to find the trustworthy online tea vendors among the hundreds of bad ones.
That’s why I wrote this article. I did the research so you don’t have to.
Below are the best online tea shops for loose leaf tea.
Table of Contents
Where To Buy The Best Loose Leaf Tea Online
I’ll begin with my favorite online tea vendor and then cover the best alternatives. I’ll finish with Amazon, since it is the most convenient store for most of us.
The Best All-Around Online Tea Shop
My favorite online tea shop is Art of Tea. I wouldn’t say they are the absolute best at anything, but they do everything well.
- Excellent selection
- Great quality
- Great prices considering the quality
- Good easy-to-navigate website
- 10% off your first purchase if you sign up for newsletter
There are shops with flashier websites, but Art of Tea’s looks almost as good and it is easy to navigate. There are shops with better quality teas, but they charge much higher prices. Similarly, shops with much lower prices sell lower quality teas.
In short, Art of Tea offers the best value for your money.
More importantly, they allow customer reviews on their websites (any good shop should do this; see my advice below).
Star ratings for the individual teas are nice, but for me, the comments left by other customers say much more about a given tea.
Tastes differ, so even if others enjoyed a tea and rated it highly, that doesn’t necessarily mean I will enjoy it, too. The comments will tell you why they enjoyed it.
But the real clincher is the samples.
Art of Tea sell sample sizes for all of their teas, meaning you can try anything on their site for just a few dollars.
I spend a lot of time in Asia and one of my favorite things about buying tea there is getting to try the different varieties in a tea shop before making a purchase. Online shops that offer samples are the next best thing.
Several Alternative Shops That Also Do Everything (slightly less) Well
If you are looking specifically for Chinese teas, Teavivre is a great store.
- Unbeatable selection of high-quality Chinese teas
- Huge selection of quality pu'er tea
- US warehouse for fast delivery
- Free shipping on orders over $40
Their website is not quite as nice but their teas are excellent and while their prices are definitely higher than many stores, you get what you pay for.
They also have customer reviews and offer sample sizes for all of their teas. They even give away several free samples with every order. I love this tea shop, but as mentioned, they only carry Chinese teas.
A good alternative to Art of Tea that offers teas from all over, not just China, is Mighty Leaf Tea (note: Mightly Leaf tea has been purchased by, and combined with, Peet’s Coffee). They are very similar to Art of Tea, but lag just slightly behind in everything, especially when it comes to the look of their website.
In the past they did not ship outside the US, but they have since changed that. Since this is a new feature, I have not tried it, but I have not heard of any complaints concerning their shipping. Nevertheless, if you are not located in the US, you might want to use a different vendor.
Finally, I’ll mention Teavana (note: Teavana have also shut down…no big loss, though).
They are the biggest and best known online tea seller. They also have brick and mortar stores located in shopping malls in America.
They are a good store overall, but I have always felt their teas cost more than they should. That’s a personal opinion though and I have nothing bad to say about them otherwise, although I do not have much experience ordering from them.
An Ugly Website With High Quality Teas
- High quality Chinese teas
- Great Selection of Pu'er teas
- Great prices
- Website is unfortunately pretty basic
Generation Tea sells some of the highest quality Chinese teas available outside of China. They also have a website that looks like a leftover relic from the early days of the internet (note: they’ve recently updated it!Now it only looks about 10 years old…). If you can deal with that and want to try some really high quality tea, this is the shop for you.
A Decent Site With Extremely Cheap Teas
- Incredibly low prices
- Somewhat limited selection
- Good quality, but not the highest
California Tea House sells teas of mostly average quality.
So why mention them at all?
Because many of their teas are very inexpensive, that’s why.
I generally wouldn’t recommend getting cheap loose leaf teas, but they make a lot of sense for some uses. If you’re just buying tea to brew in large quantities for use as ice tea or to fill a thermos, then there is no point in spending a lot on that tea.
Similarly, if you are adding sugar, milk or something else to the tea, there is no point in paying a lot for a high quality variety. Get cheap tea leaves and save some money, since you won’t be able to taste the difference anyway, if you add things to the tea.
If you’ve ever been to India, for example, you probably enjoyed the local chai, but I can assure you, the brew you were drinking was incredibly cheap and far lower quality than anything California Tea House sells.
When you add milk, sugar, etc. to your tea, the quality becomes mostly irrelevant and you might as well save money.
Personally, I spend a lot of time in Asia and have ready access to very cheap loose leaf teas, so I don’t generally buy them online.
But if you do not live somewhere where you can get cheap tea anywhere and you’re looking for a low cost tea to brew in large quantities as ice tea or to fill a thermos, California Tea House is the place to get it.
Finally, A Word On Buying Loose Leaf Tea Online On Amazon.com
For most people, Amazon.com is the most convenient place to buy tea. They have a very large selection, too.
You can see all their teas here.
Unfortunately, the large selection can actually be a problem. Much of it is low quality, so it can be difficult to sift through all that to find the best values.
On my pages for the individual teas, I give recommendations for good buys on Amazon. You can also use the rating system on their website. Most of their teas don’t cost much, so you can easily try a few until you find one you love.
Amazon doesn’t have too many high quality teas. If that’s what you’re looking for, you are usually better off with a dedicated tea vendor. There are some exceptions, though. Again, the individual tea pages on this site point some of those out.
If you’re after lower quality tea, Amazon is a treasure trove. Silver Leaf probably offers better value overall, but Amazon has a much nicer and more user-friendly website and a much, much larger selection.
Where To Buy Loose Leaf Tea Online: Final Thoughts
I travel in Asia a lot, so I generally get my tea from local tea shops in Japan and China these days. When I am in Europe or the US, though, I end up using online tea shops.
In the US, I tend to shop mostly from Art of Tea. In Europe, I end up using Teavivre for Chinese teas or Amazon.com for others, since Art of Tea only ship to the US and Canada.
You really can’t go wrong with any of the tea stores listed on this page (except for California Tea House, if you are looking for high quality tea), so what are you waiting for?
Place a sample order and see what a difference high quality tea leaves can make.
And if you don’t want to have to buy a teapot with a strainer to brew your loose tea, you can simply get one of the best loose tea infusers on this page and use it with any mug you already have. If you don’t already have a mug, get one of these tea strainer cups. Just make sure to use your infuser correctly.
Useful rundown on tea retailers. Do you have any experience with teashop.net? I placed an order there 4 weeks ago, and the wrong tea was sent. I’ve emailed the Shop and John Winter, the president, and placed 4 or 5 phone calls, but they don’t respond, or return my phone messages. They don’t have a blog/feedback capability on their website (as you suggest all good retailers should). Thanks!
I have not had any experience with that store. I actually wasn’t even aware of them until I read your comment. I just checked out their site and it looks pretty outdated. I usually stay away from websites like that, unless they offer something unique to make up for their poor web design.
The outdated look and the fact that you can’t get an answer to your inquiries leads me to believe the owner probably doesn’t spend much time on his store anymore and just leaves it running on autopilot. Obviously, I could be very wrong, but that is the initial impression I get.
I would also add Soleil Tea to the list. Found out about them on Steepster (you can find many online tea shops and reviews here) over Christmas. Got their Fujian Noir and Wuyi Rock Oolong for myself. Very high quality teas and excellent customer service.
I sent them an email to find out how to best brew the teas. These guys replied with great details and even a video to show me how to brew it! I was really impressed —to say the least. Definitely give them a try:
http://www.soleiltea.com
Steepster is a great website. I’m a fan as well. I haven’t heard of Soleil Tea. I’ll have to check them out.
The very first shop you mention, that you rate so highly, is extremely disappointing. I’m not provided the price of the tea, nor the ounces — and it IS difficult to navigate. I’m told that a $5.00 amount of a selected green tea will provide 5-7 cups.
I don’t drink my tea that way. How does this company know how many cups I’ll get out of $5.00 worth? I drink my tea a bit on the weak side because of heart palpitations. And no price?! Get real. Price does matter. I’ve been to the local Teavana, tasted samples, but NEVER purchased their teas. I’m John D. Rockefeller.
Art of Tea provide both the price and the weight for all teas. You have to select the desired weight in the dropdown menu beneath the price. When you do, the price changes accordingly.
And obviously the number of cups is just an estimate. A lot of customers appreciate that info. If you don’t, feel free to simply ignore it. I do, since it is meaningless for me as well.
As high quality as you believe your site is, I disagree. I’ve been buying my tea for several years from a site called the English Tea Store (type in english tea store, it will come up). These teas may not be the quality you’re talking about, but they offer many teas. From inexpensive to very expensive. They sell their own brand — English Tea Store — and other famous brands. Many, many looseleaf teas, most of them NOT flavored. I can’t tolerate flavored tea and for years have been blending green, white, and a smidgen of black each morning. I change the types and varieties around to get a different every morning if I wish.
Compared to these other sites you have mentioned, they have 10 times the selection! Also teaware, foods, tea bags (if that’s what you’d prefer).
For people who would like a LOT of teas to choose from, I would recommend the English Tea Store (the English Tea Store under OnlineStores).
Now I understand your previous comment a bit more. I’m guessing you’re either the owner or an employee of The English Tea Store?
I’m sure it’s a fine site, but trashing the competition on various sites around the net is not the right way to get ahead. Just focus on your own site and make it the best it could possible be. The customers will follow.
Dear Young, Smart-Mouthed, Know-it-All,
I don’t own a tea store, nor do I work for one. I’m retired. I worked as a secretary when I raised my kids. Later on, I was a reading tutor for learning-disabled students.
I did not trash the store. But even if I did, forgive me, but… isn’t this America? The land of free speech and many other freedoms? I’m certain it is.
Thanks. Donna
The two comments in a row just seemed like the kind of thing a lot of people do to plug their own sites.
And you’re right, you’re free to write whatever you want, which is why I don’t delete any comments. But, similarly, I’m free to write my response, even if it is just conjecture.
Bottom line, we both have found tea stores we’re happy with!
Donna, when you come to a site, and trash one store and recommend another, it has a bad, self-serving look, regardless of your intentions. I’m just a browser, but your response in this thread causes me to question your credibility. Also, you appear to over react to mild criticism.
very nice
Try getting your dose of tea from SFMart.com. There is a great collection
Love the list. I would like to make an addition to this as well of a new store i recently discovered. Red Bud Tea Company, they have variety of different teas and coffee and i order it all for them who make the process completely seamless and easy.