Whole leaf loose tea lovers: quality English blends, sencha, oolong, puerh etc.

Swan_2

terra_ferma wrote: »

After a lot of research I'm going with the Chinese shop I mentioned above, it offers great value for money and comes highly recommended by tea 'experts' on tea forums, a fairly safety bet.
(to get the same premium quality from a European store one would have to pay a much higher price, just for the fancy packaging and posh website...).

here's more of their recommended less expensive teas:
http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea-shop-red-tea-taster.cfm (great for a present)
http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea-shop-jasmine-pearl.cfm
http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea-shop-red-tea-yxhc.cfm
http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea-shop-aljtgya.cfm
http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea-shop-oolong-dhp.cfm

thanks, what a great site, I love all the descriptions of the teas

I was in Hong Kong last year, but couldn't persuade any of my companions to visit any tea shops


one thing to watch out for is the possibility of VAT on orders over £15 + PO/carrier handling charges, packages don't always get 'caught' at customs though

terra_ferma

Swan wrote: »

thanks, what a great site, I love all the descriptions of the teas

I was in Hong Kong last year, but couldn't persuade any of my companions to visit any tea shops


one thing to watch out for is the possibility of VAT on orders over £15 + PO/carrier handling charges, packages don't always get 'caught' at customs though

oh what a pity
I'm desperately trying not to get overexcited and spend too much... I'll see what value the put on the package, they may put something ridiculously low

alyth

do you have a chinese/indian or Thai supermarket near you - you'll be able to get lots of different types of teas from those. I got to China each year and bring back lots of different loose teas.

terra_ferma

alyth wrote: »

do you have a chinese/indian or Thai supermarket near you - you'll be able to get lots of different types of teas from those. I got to China each year and bring back lots of different loose teas.

lucky you!
I do go to chinese supermarkets (I've amended the first post to make it clear that I was refering to chinese supermarkets).
The quality is not great, they are made of broken leaves, and have lots of bits like twigs etc (same as our supermarket loose tea, like twinings etc).
It's cheaper (or similar price) to get high quality (whole leaf) teas directly from china, because you can make far more tea with it, that's what I'm after (amended title of thread as well).

j.e.j.

little_busy_bee wrote: »

the other is the algerian coffee shop http://www.algcoffee.co.uk/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=1227 based in Soho, London. This is the largest slection that i have found for loose leaf teas

Oh, I am glad this shop is still there I went there a few years ago and bought some of their coffee. It's a great little shop, didn't know they did teas too.

to the lady who wanted to taste the bergamot in her earl grey, I seem to remember Whittards Earl Grey had a strong bergamot flavour but I haven't tried it recently.

terra_ferma

wendym wrote: »

I struck lucky a while ago on the approvedfoods site, where they were selling all sorts of high end teas, well in date, absurdly cheaply. But I'm running out, and although I keep an eye on the site, it's never been repeated. I'll post if I see them again.

http://www.approvedfood.co.uk/

Slightly O/T: can anyone recommend leaf tea Earl Grey that still has a decent bergamot hit? I can only assume that the price has gone up, and the blends are definitely being affected, whether the tea companies will admit it or not. Both Suki and Taylors/Betty's are pale shadows of what they were.

j.e.j. wrote: »

Oh, I am glad this shop is still there I went there a few years ago and bought some of their coffee. It's a great little shop, didn't know they did teas too.

to the lady who wanted to taste the bergamot in her earl grey, I seem to remember Whittards Earl Grey had a strong bergamot flavour but I haven't tried it recently.

As far as I know most early greys have artificial flavouring rather than the real thing, oil of bergamot, so sadly it's a matter of finding whoever puts more/stronger chemicals in the tea (bergamot is a citrus plant grown mainly in Italy).

terra_ferma

I have found out tha jing t s is run by a frenchman who source(d) tea for
The canton tea co.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/special-brew-why-chinese-looseleaf-tea-is-the-hot-tip-to-sip-2130499.html

http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea-shop-white-tea-bhy.cfm

http://www.cantonteaco.com/loose-leaf-tea/type/white-tea/silver-needle-white-tea-yin-zhen.html

Penny-Pincher!!

I just got a few tins of Twinnings Breakfast tea for 50p a tin from Approved food. Lovely!

terra_ferma

I'm posting to report back after making a few purchases.
Jing Tea Shop from Hong Kong (mentioned above) were very good, took them 2 weeks to deliver, all as described (as far as I can see, have not tasted everything yet), and sent a free sample!

I also ordered from a UK company called all about tea
http://www.allabouttea.co.uk/
I bought from them to get some stuff locally and quickly while I was also waiting for my orders from China and Hong Kong (as I wasn't sure about reliability and quality, coming from the Far East... was I wrong...)

The tea is OK, I don't know enough to really comment about the quality but I like it.
However, they took ages to post, no communication about dispatch, did not respond to my messages. I thought they had gone bust or something, it happened to me before (bought from a website, never heard from them, and ended up getting the money back from paypal), no big deal but I thought this was going to be the same.

I don't think I'll shop with them again.

terra_ferma

Another update...
The tea from allaboutea is very very nice, so I would give them a second chance....

I also found another source of quality tea at very good prices:
http://www.wilkinsonsofnorwich.com/

Breakfast tea £1.95 125g
http://www.wilkinsonsofnorwich.com/Section8-29/Tea+Bags.aspx

Royeale blend £2.50 135g
http://www.wilkinsonsofnorwich.com/Product125-25/Royale.aspx


If people prefer teabags:
earl grey 100 £3.95
http://www.wilkinsonsofnorwich.com/Product191-29/Earl+Grey+teabags.aspx

Fair Trade Breakfast, 100 £3.50
http://www.wilkinsonsofnorwich.com/Product196-29/Fair+Trade+Breakfast+teabags.aspx