Where to Buy Tea Online

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

Six photos of different tea packages from six tea companies.
Photo Credits: Harney.com, inpursuitoftea.com, teacompanytea.com, encha.com, ippodotea.com, songtea.com

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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.

RELATED: Top 10 Tea Sommelier Tips

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.
  • Excellent place to get tea sachets since they have a big range to choose from.
  • My go-to brand when looking for tea for recipes.
  • 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 no matter how small the order!
  • WHAT TO GET: I’m a fan of their Earl Grey Supreme.
  • BONUS: Get 15% off your entire order with code HOWCIVILIZED15.

Tea Sommelier’s Tip: To get into tea, start buying loose tea instead of tea bags. Loose tea is a higher quality tea.

In Pursuit of Tea

  • Sells high-quality loose tea, bought directly from tea farms.
  • A nice selection of loose tea and tea sachets.
  • Been in the tea business since 1999 — they’re one of the most established.
  • When I’m looking for great quality black tea, I check their site first.
  • They’re super friendly so if you have any question about your order or any of the teas they carry, don’t be afraid to email them!
  • SHIPPING: Free shipping on orders over $50.
  • WHAT TO GET: You can’t go wrong with any of their teas or their high-quality tea sachets. Also, get their book! (It’s great!)

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 — the Frozen Summit Reserve, a roasted oolong. I LOVE it hot and iced.

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.

Encha Matcha

  • Excellent quality matcha for the price. I recommend and use their matcha for lattes and in recipes.
  • Matcha made in Japan and it’s the real deal unlike other matcha that’s sold on Amazon.
  • Buy it on Amazon.com for the best shipping rates.
  • SHIPPING: Free if you have Amazon Prime, otherwise free on orders over $25.
  • WHAT TO GET: Ceremonial Grade Organic Matcha, which I use to make my lattes.

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.

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.
  • My go-to place for buying high-quality green tea. I also have a lot of their teapots.
  • 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.
  • SHIPPING: Free shipping on orders over $39.
  • WHAT TO GET: Matcha, matcha, matcha.

Song Tea & Ceramics

  • Song Tea & Ceramics is what I would consider luxury tea.
  • The price points for their tea and teaware are on the higher end so you may experience some sticker shock.
  • All tea is sourced directly from tea farms.
  • Unique teaware you won’t find anywhere else.
  • Simple, gorgeous packaging that takes tea to another level.
  • SHIPPING: Free shipping with no minimum.
  • WHAT TO GET: I’m obsessed with their Shan Lin Xi Winter Sprout. It tastes like cotton candy.

Questions You May Have

How is loose tea sold?

Loose tea is sold by ounces or grams and they’ll have set minimum amounts.

How many grams of tea should I get?

You will probably use about 4-5 grams of tea for each cup. So for a 50 gram package of tea, you’ll get at least 10 servings.

How many ounces of tea should I get?

The minimum ounce sold is usually 2 oz. which converts to about 57 grams of tea. Two ounces of tea is roughly 11 servings.

What about tea bags? Where can I buy those?

I like Harney & Sons tea bags but remember that tea bags contain the lowest quality tea. Tea sachets (tea bags shaped like pyramids) and loose tea are so much better. This is true of any tea company.

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About Jee Choe

Welcome! I'm a certified Tea Sommelier and a self-proclaimed bubble tea and iced tea master. I'm all about making tea EASY and DELICIOUS.

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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.

  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.)

  3. Hi,

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

  4. 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

    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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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

  7. 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 ?