If you are regular tea drinker, you probably have a go-to
tea store. Be it a brick-and-mortar shop or an online vendor, it is the place
you trust to get good quality teas, because it has not let you down in the
past. People who are new to tea, however, often don't know where best to buy
their leaves and they find themselves having to try several stores to see which
one delivers the quality and the price they desire.
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| Green tea leaves in the sun |
Of course, it's not just people new to tea who might have to
try new stores. Often those of us who already have a go-to vendor will lose
that vendor when they go out of business or when their quality drops and we are
then forced to start over and find a new tea shop. Similarly, sometimes our
trusted vendor doesn't have a product we want and we have to look elsewhere to
get it. In cases like these, we find ourselves in the same situation as those
new to tea.
One thing we know that they might not, however, is that you
want to place a small order first, in order to test a new shop. If they deliver
that order on time and in good condition and the quality is as promised then
they gain a bit of trust and we will feel more comfortable placing a larger
order in the future. On the other hand, if they screw up the small order
somehow, we immediately move on to a new online tea vendor. To put it bluntly,
only an idiot would place a large order as their first order with a new store.
The question then becomes: what should I buy as my first
order? Personally, I think green tea is best for this purpose. Specifically, I
usually go with a sample of Dragon Well tea or of sencha. Both of these are
teas I drink regularly and I feel very comfortable judging their quality. They are
also teas that are available almost anywhere and they're not too expensive,
making them perfect to test out a new online tea shop.
Even if you don't regularly drink these teas, you will
probably still be able to judge their quality and they would make a good first
purchase, but if you have another tea you purchase regularly, I would consider going
with that one, assuming it's not too expensive or not too rare and unique. For
example, if you are a big Darjeeling drinker, then, by all means, order a
sample of Darjeeling tea. Whatever tea you feel you can judge the quality of
best, order that one. As said, for me the best one is green tea. If you don't
have a general go-to tea, then I would definitely go with green tea as well
simply because it is basic and inexpensive. It's hard to go wrong with this
type.
