Where to Buy Tea Online

By Jee Choe

on Sep 13, 2025

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Looking for a reliable source to buy tea online? Here’s my list of tea sellers I completely trust that offer great customer service and quality tea. Plus, get tips on how to buy tea.


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Table of Contents

Tips on Buying Tea

  • For higher-quality tea (and more expensive), buy from specialty tea sellers that purchase directly from tea farms. Huge chains tend to buy from brokers and the tea quality can vary from bad to good.
  • If you want to get the absolute best, get tea from companies that specialize in a certain type of tea. They visit and buy direct from tea farms every year. For example, Ippodo Tea only sells green tea, including matcha, and they’re based in Japan.
  • Loose tea is the best quality. Tea sachets contain good quality tea, and tea bags contain the lowest quality tea.
  • When buying from a tea company for the first time, see if they sell samplers so you can try them out before making a bigger purchase.
  • You will probably use about 4-5 grams of loose tea for each cup. So for a 50 gram package of tea, you’ll get at least 10 servings.

Note from Jee

When I first started getting into tea, I would buy it all from Harney & Sons since they had such a huge selection. It was a great place to start, but now I’ll also buy from smaller tea companies that specialize in teas from a particular area.

Wherever you buy your tea, I would recommend getting loose tea instead of tea bags. Loose tea is a higher quality tea.

Best Places Buy Tea Online

My picks for the best tea companies online. In my personal experience, they all sell high-quality tea and provide great customer service.

Harney & Sons

  • Wide selection of good quality tea for the price.
  • Get their tea from their site directly instead of Amazon which can have huge markups.
  • I always thought they were based in England but they’re a US brand.
  • SHIPPING: Free shipping for orders $50+.
  • WHAT TO GET: I’m a fan of their Earl Grey Supreme.
  • BONUS: Get 10% off your entire order with code OHC

Te Company

  • Specializes in Taiwanese oolong teas. I get almost all my oolong teas from Te Company.
  • They get their tea by personally visiting tea farms and tasting their tea. (This is where price differences come in and what you’re paying a premium for.)
  • Known for their delicious and famous pineapple linzer cookie.
  • SHIPPING: Free shipping for orders over $100.
  • WHAT TO GET: My favorite is the Frozen Summit Reserve, a roasted oolong.

Tea Sommelier’s Tip: Smaller tea shops tend to hand select their tea collection by visiting tea farms in Asia and tasting each tea they purchase. It’s rare for them to sell tea bags and will only sell high quality loose tea.

Ippodo Tea

  • A Japanese tea company that has been in the green tea business for nearly three centuries, yup, CENTURIES.
  • Sells only Japanese green tea and teaware. A drawback is that they have TOO many matchas in all different grades so it can get confusing trying to figure out which one to get.
  • My go-to place for buying high-quality green tea. I also have a lot of their teapots.
  • SHIPPING: Free shipping on orders over $39.
  • WHAT TO GET: Matcha, matcha, matcha.

Tea Sommelier’s Tip: Only buy matcha that comes from Japan. Low quality green tea powder from China can be labeled as matcha but they’ll look more brown than green.

Song Tea & Ceramics

  • The price points for their tea and teaware are on the higher end so you may experience some sticker shock.
  • Unique teaware you won’t find anywhere else.
  • SHIPPING: Free shipping on orders above $90.
  • WHAT TO GET: I’m obsessed with their Shan Lin Xi Winter Sprout. It tastes like cotton candy.

Rare Tea Company

  • Based in London, the tea is sourced directly from tea farms.
  • It’s the tea served at Claridge’s afternoon tea in London.
  • SHIPPING: Free to US when you spend £50 or more.
  • WHAT TO GET: Their Earl Grey tea is a classic.

Fortnum & Mason

  • Based in London, Fortnum’s is a department store that focuses on food and most known for their food hampers/baskets.
  • Famous for their afternoon tea served on the top floor of the department store.
  • SHIPPING: Delivery to the US starts at $25.
  • WHAT TO GET: I love their Queen Anne blend.

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17 Comments

  1. I like to buy from Arbor Teas (arborteas.com). Their packaging is all compostable and they sell a huge variety of loose leaf teas.

    Reply

  2. I’d like to introduce you to “My Cup of Tea” in Memphis, TN. It is definitely worth a look. “My Cup of Tea” is a tea shop with a mission: to build lasting cross-cultural relationships with the women of Orange Mound and provide meaningful employment and job skills to help guide them out of poverty. Their teas are some of the best I’ve tasted and each purchase supports their work among the ladies of Orange Mound. Check out their website and experience their teas. (The Chocolate Mint Rooibos is my present favorite.)

    Reply

  4. Hi,

    I am trying to make a copy of Teavana’s Oprah Chai tea. Where do you suggest I buy the individual ingredients?

    Reply

  5. Just starting my tea journey. I have been to Murchies in Canada. Very nice apricot breeze & champagne peach teas. Love their pouches to put the tea in as well.

    I really enjoyed stash Earl Grey on a recent trip. Any suggestions for something comparable or even better in flavor?

    Also, what about decaf Earl Grey or any other decaf tea. Should the flavor of a decaf be the same as a caffeinated tea?

    Thank you

    Reply

    1. Hi Roberta, I like Harney & Son’s Earl Grey Supreme and use that a lot for recipes with Earl Grey. As for decaf tea, they SAY that the flavors shouldn’t change much from tea with caffeine but I haven’t done a taste test to verify if this is true.

      Reply

  7. Hi, Thank you very much for your exquisite information on Afternoon Tea. You have guided us through the ins and the outs of having afternoon tea to a tee I would like to say.
    However, let me elaborate a bit on black tea and where to get the different varieties and types of black tea.
    Also, I would like to say that for brewing black tea the number of tea leaves to a cup is – 1 teaspoon of black tea for the pot and 1 teaspoon for the cup! If you are making two cups of tea you add 1 tsp for the pot and 2 tsps for the cups and so on.
    Ceylon Tea is the most famous and much loved types of black tea are available on the market today.
    Afternoon Tea is very much an English tradition and the English love their Ceylon Tea straight from the tea gardens of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. Tea garden fresh.
    Names of types of black tea that come to mind are Broken Orange Pekoe and Silver Tipped Tea Fannings.

    Reply

  8. Hi, Jee,
    When I try the link to Camellia Sinensis, Norton blocks entry. Have there been problems with that site, been hacked for data, etc?
    I’ve been dissatisfied with a tea supplier out of NY. Hoped to give Camellia Sinensis a go?
    Thanks, frederick

    Reply

  10. I’m hoping you can let me know where to look for tea to order online. Currently I shop Stash. Are there other sites to look at ?

    Reply