A gourmet tea store can be the best place to purchase specialty tea blends. You can find these in most cities throughout the country. A lot of health food stores also have a small selection of premium tea to choose from. If you can’t find what you want near you, shopping with an online tea store can also provide you with great tea at an affordable price. If you are considering looking for a tea store, here are a few tips to help you pick the best teas.
Taste Test at the Tea Store
Many tea stores will have several of their teas brewed for you to taste. They may not have everything in the store brewed, but even just a few teas will give you an idea of what kind of quality you are dealing with. If you are looking to purchase loose leaf green tea, find a brewed green tea from the same region. This way you can get an idea of what to expect before you spend money. If the store doesn’t have any teas already brewed, see if they have small sample packs of their best tea varieties for sale. Most of the top tea store locations will have no problem selling a small amount of ½ ounce to an ounce of their most popular teas for consumers to test.
Inspect the Loose Tea
Even if you are purchasing bagged tea, inspecting the loose tea leaves will give you an idea of what to expect with all of their tea brands. You want to see leaves that still have a slight sheen to them. This shows you the tea in that tea store is purchased fresh and isn’t sitting around for months at a time. If the tea looks very dried out chances are it’s been there for a while or was purchased from a lower quality provider. The sheen denotes the oils in the tea are still fresh. When the oils start to dry and dissipate, the tea will end up having a flat, stale taste. The flavor of the tea is mostly held in the oils, so this is important. Some tea varieties should also have a strong aroma. For instance, flowering tea should be very fragrant when it is fresh. If you can’t smell the tea when you inspect it, it may be a good sign that the tea store is stocking old or low quality tea.
Rare Teas
Some teas are more rare than others. If you are interested in purchasing rare teas, you should be able to find a small selection at almost any tea store. Some forms of rare tea are quite expensive, and if you are purchasing from a reputable store don’t expect any big discounts. A lot of stores will even restrict the use of coupons on the rarer varieties simply because it’s too expensive for them to keep in stock. If you plan in purchasing these regularly, let the proprietor know. They may be more willing to keep some in stock for you if you prove that you will be back for more later.
Online Tea Stores
If you aren’t in an area where you can find good tea stores, look online. Before you start the process to order tea from any of them, check a few sources first. You won’t be able to inspect the tea before you order with this option. You can find tea forums and blogs where people talk about their experiences. This will give you a good idea how reputable a store is before you decide to spend any money. You want to look for reviews that talk about the freshness, the over all quality, the customer service experience, and the shipping experience. This is the only way to know what you’re getting in to. Avoid websites that don’t list an address or phone number for customer service. If you place an order and something goes wrong, without this information you’ll have little to no recourse to correct the problem. Reputable sellers will be able to provide you with phone numbers. You should also see detailed descriptions of the tea, including the region it came from, whether it’s organic and fair trade, and a flavor guide. If you follow these tips you can find a great tea store online to make future purchases.
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