There are hundreds of online tea stores. I've narrowed down the list to some of the best tea shops where I buy tea online.
Over 700 tea brands sell tea online. My personal experience and recommendations for the best tea shops selling quality loose leaf tea are here. I often shop online for my tea because I can't always purchase quality loose tea near me.
The Best Tea Stores
My criteria:
- Every tea store specializes in something different, whether it be single estate tea, flavored, herbal, green, black, Puerh, matcha, or origin-specific tea. The types of tea available are quite varied and well represented on this list.
- The websites listed here all sell premium tea. I've categorized them by tea specialty so you can get to know each shop.
- The online tea shops I've listed carry the best loose leaf tea, sell at the retail level, plus ship internationally. They are all trustworthy tea brands that I personally shop when I buy tea online.
This list is an excellent place to get acquainted with the world of specialty tea. As you refine your tea palate, you might become a little fussier! Fortunately, there are many choices in online tea stores.
Where to buy tea online? Read on for my favorite 15 tea stores.
Best Tea Online: Editor's Choice
1. Adagio Tea
Adagio Teas specializes in an expansive variety of loose leaf teas and teaware. They source directly from the artisan grower. The teas I have tried are always fresh and have a superb flavor. You can find almost any tea from herbal tea blends to premium single estate teas in their Masters' Collections. Adagio is one of my favorite shops to buy tea online.
Adagio depends heavily on reviews, which are very helpful when buying their teas. They also include information about the origin of the tea and brewing guides. A New Jersey-based company owned by a mother and son team. Adagio is strictly an online tea shop with international shipping.
The Masters' Collections from Adagio Teas offers the best loose leaf tea - which I highly recommend. Premium loose tea is sourced directly from the artisan farmers who tender them.
2. Harney & Sons
Harney and Sons is a popular New York-based tea store specializing in single estate, flavored teas, and herbal teas. They have a wide variety of quality fresh teas from tea estates worldwide. In addition to superb loose leaf teas, Harney & Sons have a Wellness Division including nootropic teas (substances to boost brain performance) and hemp teas infused with CBD, to further diversify your tea selections.
John Harney founded Harney and Sons in 1983. Today sons Michael and Paul Harney continue the traditions of the company founded by their father. I absolutely love their teas and how they're packaged. I highly recommend them.
3. The Tea Spot
The Tea Spot is an online and retail tea shop in Colorado, selling handcrafted teas and innovative Steepware, offering some of the best tea available online. The Tea Spot specializes in loose gourmet tea, signature blends, single-estate whole leaf teas, and wellness teas.
You will find many health-focused tea unique blends on their tea website. Every order comes with a loose tea sampler. The company was founded in 2004 by Maria Uspenski, a cancer survivor drawn to the health benefits of whole leaf tea during her recovery.
The Tea Spot message is simple and powerful: tea in its freshest form renders premium flavor and unmatched health benefits. With a steadfast mission to foster health and wellness through tea, The Tea Spot donates ten percent of all sales in-kind to cancer and community wellness programs. The Tea Spot is a Colorado-based Certified B Corp, woman-owned and operated philanthropic. Another one of my favorite shops to buy tea online.
Best Herbal Tea Shops
4. Mountain Rose Herbs
Mountain Rose Herbs is one of the best sources of herbal tea. Their quality control is excellent, sourcing sustainable herbs. Mountain Rose is impeccable about what they do.
The philosophy of Mountain Rose Herbs is "people, plants, and the planet before profit." They follow the ancient traditions of the botanical world's natural gifts and the healing beauty of nature. I've received some excellent herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs online tea shop.
5. Rishi Tea & Botanicals
Rishi Tea & Botanicals was founded in 1997 by Joshua Kaiser and remains independently owned today. Rishi imports directly from organic artisan growers and specialist producers. They make artful botanical products inspired by ancient herbal traditions.
The Rishi team travels worldwide to source and study rare tea and botanicals. Rishi works with farmers to verify how their organic teas are grown and trace each lot back to the farm. Rishi Tea was among the first to earn organic certification under the USDA's Natural Organic Program in 2002.
Chamomile Medley is one of my favorites from Rishi, among other botanicals. Their chamomile blend highlights golden chamomile blossoms sourced from Croatia in the Mediterranean.
Best Matcha Tea Stores
6. Matcha Source
Matcha Source tea comes in different grades. Alissa White is the Founder of Matcha Source, an online retailer of premium matcha tea and specialty utensils to prepare and enjoy matcha. This unique tea shop focuses strictly on matcha, from ceremony grade to kitchen grade and everything in-between.
Young leaves plucked early in the harvest produce delicate and vegetal flavors. Mature leaves contain coarser matter from stems and veins and taste more astringent. MatchSource teas are hand-picked by the Yahagi River in Japan. International shipping.
7. Pique Tea
Pique Tea offers ceremonial grade matcha completely pure and free of toxins. Not only is it certified pure, but it's also the highest ceremonial grade matcha.
Pique Tea screens their matcha for specific microbes, heavy metals, radioactivity, and mycotoxins.
It is well-known that high-quality matcha comes from Japan. Mostly from Uji, Japan. But there is another matcha from Japan to consider. The Pique brand matcha sources their matcha from Kagoshima, Japan. Soil and local weather conditions affect the flavor of tea as much as the varietal and processing methods.
Pique Tea Sun Goddess matcha may seem a little expensive, but if you're drinking tea every day, it's well worth the peace of mind knowing it's clean matcha. It's less costly than some other organic ceremonial grade matcha's I've seen, and the taste is smooth and delicious. It's not bitter like some lower-grade matchas.
8. Naoki Matcha Uji
Naoki Matcha Uji crafts the highest quality matcha green tea. Naoki Matcha sources authentic Japanese first harvest ceremonial grade matcha green tea powder from Uji, Kyoto. If you love matcha, this is one of the best shops to buy matcha tea online. Naoki Matcha works directly with local farmers, tea estates, and tea blenders.
Naoki Matcha teas are one-of-a-kind and extremely rare: less than 100kg are produced every year. Spring grade matcha from the first harvest is the highest quality matcha.,
Their product range offers several products that meet all needs, from beginner to expert. They have Matcha and accessories.
Best Indian Tea Stores
9. Vahdam Tea
Vahdam Tea specializes in garden-fresh Indian teas. Vahdam is another one of my favorite places to buy tea online. All their teas are procured directly from plantations and tea growers within 24-48 hours of production, packaged garden fresh, and shipped directly from India's source.
Vahdam Tea eliminates all middlemen sourcing fresh, high-quality teas and selling directly to the consumer. Vahdam makes sure that the growers can retain all earnings in the region where these divine teas are grown. This process helps every farmer get a better price for their produce—a truly ethical, fair-trade tea shop to buy tea online.
10. Teabox
Teabox is an Indian-based online tea company specializing in high-quality single estate Indian grown loose leaf black tea. Teabox sources the freshest teas from Indian tea estates in Darjeeling, Assam, and the Nilgiris and freshest teas from Nepal.
Teabox Darjeeling and Nilgiri black teas are some of my personal favorites. And you can't make a good English Breakfast tea without a good Assam. Try the Margaret's Hope Moonlight Spring White Tea! Ships internationally.
11. Teatulia
Teatulia specializes in Indian teas. A Denver-based tea company co-founded by Dr. Kazi Anis, and Linda Appel Lipsius focuses on sustainability. Teatulia is one of the few 100% organic tea brands produced by the women of Bangladesh. Teatulia teas are single garden teas grown, and hand-plucked in the Kazi & Kazi Tea Estate's beautiful tea gardens in Northern Bangladesh then delivered directly to the consumer.
As tea gardens go, this one is relatively new. The gardens were cultivated from virgin land nestled against the Himalayas in 2000. They offer a wide variety of teas and have won many awards at the North American Tea Championships. Y
Teatulia has cooperative programs they developed for the people's economic prosperity in the region—international shipping.
Best Chinese Tea
12. Tea Drunk
Tea Drunk is based in New York City and specializes in rare authentic Chinese Teas working directly with small tea farmers. Tea Drunk runs the Tea Drunk Academy offering extensive education online and in-person classes. This is the place to go if you want to learn the art of gongfu-style tea.
Tea Drunk is founded by Shunan Teng. You can learn directly from her in her New York tea studio.
All of Tea Drunk's teas and philosophy are sourced by Shunan Teng herself. She is known for her work preserving Chinese tea traditions and sourcing traditional fine Chinese tea. Tea Drunk sells excellent whole leaf tea online and in the shop.
13. TeaVivre
TeaVivre specializes in authentic Chinese teas, carrying a wide variety of unflavored teas, loose leaf green tea, and teaware. TeaVivre is a group of tea lovers and aficionados from China, Canada, and France. All living in China frequently visit China's tea plantations tracking down only exceptional teas.
TeaVivre means Tea for Life. I buy a lot of my Chinese tea online from TeaVivre. They are known for their green teas, some rare green teas such as Ming Qian Long Jing. TeaVivre is an excellent source to buy green tea online.
China also produces some of the best black teas, of which you will find many here. Samples are available. It is compliant with the European Union, which has much more stringent allowances for residues than the United States. High-quality teas - ship from China internationally.
14. Verdant Tea
Verdant Tea is a marketplace for small family tea farmers, directly from their farm to your cup. This Minnesota tea shop has a unique approach to tea shopping. You don't shop by the tea type or country - you shop by the farmer.
The estates are listed, and you virtually meet the family growing the tea. Verdant Tea specializes in Chinese oolong tea, black, green, white, Puerh, and herbals.
Their teas have gotten some outstanding ratings. Verdant Tea always provides steeping instructions for the western brewing and gong fu style. They also have some beautiful gaiwan teaware.
Best Pu Er Tea
15. Yunnan Sourcing
Yunnan Sourcing is a top online tea store for Pu Er tea. Excellent selection of ripe and raw Pu Er, oolongs tea, black tea, and white tea. They also sell some unusual teas like purple tea and yak butter tea. Pu Er samples are available. Their raw Pu Er teas are produced mainly from a single village or mountain source in small batches.
All raw cakes are processed at every stage in the traditional method to ensure the best possible long-term aging outcome. Their ripe Pu Er is selected based on their taste profile, fermentation degree, leaf quality, and future aging potential. Ships internationally from China and the United States.
Of course, this is purely a representative list. I hope you find it helpful and enjoy some of the best tea brands I've recommended. If so, please share this list with your tea-loving friends.
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What tea shops have you tried? What are your favorite tea brands? Share in the comments. I'd love to hear from you!
Tea for Beginners Start Here >>
Is it True that Red Tea is better than green tea?
I found a blog about it.
Check it here BlogBuzz-GreenTea
I believe the tea you are referring to is called Rooibos or red bush. This is not a true tea made from the camellia sinensis plant but a tisane made from the rooibos plant in South Africa.
Thank you so much for your list of companies! I wanted to ditch tea bags and shrink my waste contribution. Tried and love the teas from Adagio, however, curious your thoughts on the flavoring they (or other companies) use. I love flavored teas but wonder if I'm drinking nasties that my body would be better without. Thanks!
If I buy a flavored tea I try to stay with teas that are naturally flavored and not artificially flavored. The vendor will usually explain this in their description. For example, many Earl Greys are artificially flavored but a naturally flavored Earl Grey is divine.
When a natural oil is used it will say ‘oil of bergamot’ or ‘bergamot essential oil’. Natural bergamot has a subtle but intense flavor. And it’s not easy to find.
If the tea is artificially flavored it will read ‘bergamot flavoring’ or “bergamot flavor’. It’s definitely not the same as essential bergamot oil.
SilverTips Tea uses actual slivers of mango, coconut, etc in their black flavored teas. They used to have a tea shop near me where I could have lunch and try out a new tea, but now they sell just online.
Sounds lovely. It's sad to see so many tea rooms closing. Online tea is wonderful and flourishing but there's something special about going to a tea room.
Upton Tea is my go to shop. They are serious tea sellers, I’ve never received anything of inferior quality from them.
Thanks, Lorette - good to know.
I just came across a wonderful online tea shop called The Tea Time Shop. It's not a huge shop but I think they have over 200 teas. I love all the tea I have purchased and they always send a free sample or accessory. They care more about tea than the accessories and they package their tea so nicely, I enjoy opening the box every time! Not sure if this will even be published but I just wanted to give a shout out to this wonderful little shop. Thank you!
Hi Abigal, thanks for letting us in on another great tea shop. There are so many it's hard to follow them all. It makes my heart sing to see quality tea so readily available.
secretsoftea is also developing some impressive blends. they only deal with organic herbs and have some really amazing products that not only soothe the urge too drinking tea but also have really inspiring effects too for certain health issues especially for weight loss, morning sickness and breast milk supply. please have a look at it too.
Thank you for bringing this up. Nice site. There are many wonderful herbal teas known as tisanes that can be beneficial to health.
You are right. I used to get tea from teavivre. But recently I found a vendor call LunaCha.com and made a purchase from them. Tea arrived after 3 days that really stunned me, and the quality was just relatively better compared on the price.
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Great article, you have put together a nice list. They are new and you may not have discovered The Amazing Tea Company. I love the fact that they have superior offerings of great teas, all natural. Their focus is on the benefits of teas. Check them out. Their Just Beat It tea is an herbal blend that I swear The Amazing Tea Company.
Thanks, Jackie. I've not heard of them until now - hey look like a great company!
An incredible source for amazing Chinese tea is ZhenTea.ca. Amazing selection (especially oolongs and Pu'er) and able to get some very rare teas. Give them a try! They are my go to!
I've not heard of them but I will definitely check them out. Thank you!
If I have always loved tea and have always used just plain Lipton's black pekoe loose leaf--it must be the loose leaf and brewed--and now wish to expand my tea 'taste', what might you suggest I try first? I'm a southern lady who has always enjoyed sweet tea. Or is there any hope for me to ever like another kind? 🙂 Enjoyed your blog, and bookmarking it.
I grew up on Tetley and Lipton Tea. My mother always made a wonderful sweet tea that inspired my tea business. I'm still making her iced tea but I don't use Lipton tea bags anymore. Knowing your preferences I would start out with an English or Irish Breakfast tea. There are some wonderful breakfast blends available from the online shops mentioned here if you don't have a specialty tea shop by you. Thanks for following!
Thank you for your suggestions! I'm going to give it a try.
It's really a good blog on tea. I appreciate your article. It's important to get quality matcha teas. This blog is really helpful to give a light in this issue. So thanks for sharing all that important information.
Thank you!
Thank you for helping me find a local company I’m happy to support.
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have you guys ever tried srilankan exotic tea corps English breakfast tea?
TEA & ME (Pure Teas), an exclusive Ceylon teas outlet in Delhi. Must visit the outlet you will find 100 different varieties of Ceylon tea's from fancy flavored teas to regular teas like English breakfast, sencha tea, earl grey...and many more. TEA & ME (Pure Teas) is located in Rohini, New Delhi.
You can also order teas online
Thanks for letting me know about your tea shop.
I have not but I do love a good English Breakfast tea. Thanks for the tip.
You should really check out Leafy Green Tea, which is a new player with very high quality tea at affordable prices!
Thank you for the info.
I ordered teas from so many websites but In recent I feel that Teafloor is the best online tea shopping website, It offers great price and tea quality is really unbelievable. You need to once try the teafloor tea.
Thank you.
How can you not mention What-Cha or Tea Source? What-Cha is my go-to shop right now. Even though it's in England and I'm in Virginia, the packages arrive super fast and free shipping over a certain amount. He carries an amazing range of teas and only tea (no canisters or honey or cups or tea balls etc). You will know the harvest as well as the estate, flush info, description and rating if applicable.
There are so many great tea shops! I found over 600 online tea shops. It's difficult to list them all. Thanks for mentioning the others.
I've heard of them - I will have to check them out. Thank you.
Thanks so much for picking Teatulia for the list! You've got quite an amazing line up of tea companies and we're proud to have made the cut.
besteasnyc have AMAZING teas. Their blends are fantastic and their story is inspiring. Such a unique brand.
I love afternoon tea. Such a great tradition. Thanks, Lara.
Upton tea! They may not have the flash and bang of a lot of online retailers, but they are serious about their tea and do a lot to make sure what they do bring in is high quality!
Sally I agree. Upton Tea has some great products too!
Agreed. Been using them for years. From order to delivery is about 3 days, and I'm on the opposite coast!
Yes, Upton! I have been buying from them since 1989 when they opened in their shop that had only the one door that let out onto the main street of Upton, Mass., when most of their sales were by catalogue (the rest being brick-and-mortar retail) because the Internet had not been invented yet. I had just moved from across the Pond, and everyone said the only tea to be found in the U.S. came in Twinings tins that had been packed in North Carolina especially for the American market—and that even these tins were hard to find in shops. I wasn’t here a month before I saw a small, printed advert for Upton. I soon placed my first order, and I have been a loyal customer ever since. The quality of their products was so high and their service was so good (for what seemed such an unprepossessing storefront) that I had assumed that my friends were wrong—that every small town in America must have a similar tea shop. It did not occur to me till later that I must have inadvertently struck the jackpot when I stumbled across that first ad.
Upton has some very nice teas. You stumbled upon a great tea shop! Thanks for sharing.