How We Select, Price and Sell Our Tea

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China, Japan, Taiwan. We go there. In  person. To the remote tea farms, villages and tea factories where great artisan tea is made. We taste and taste and taste some more. Rejecting much and selecting only the teas that we feel meet our standards for flavor and aroma.

Each year we offer an impressive selection of premium, seasonal teas from distinctive tea-making places. For us, we want our teas to represents distinctive flavors that can only be found in the unique terroir and inimitable tea producing style of each village, region, and country.

We also rely on a trusted network of hand-picked tea suppliers in each country of origin who send us samples each season of flavorsome, well-made teas. Some of these will be seasonal teas that are popular favorites for while others might be new to us. We trust our suppliers to send us their best and from those samples, we choose, or not.

Working closely like this with our tea farmers and tea producers allow us to offer a distinctive selection of impeccable teas each year. Some of these teas are made in the spring while others are made in the fall or winter. Some of our teas are fresh, seasonal, once-a-year teas while other are rested or aged teas that have acquired a depth of flavor.

But no matter which of our teas someone purchases, each tea represents the unique tea making skills of the people who made it and the tea-making style of each place.

How We Price Our Tea

We have always believed that great tea should be enjoyed and not worshiped.

So our pricing structure for our premium tea is designed to encourage frequent tea purchases and daily tea drinking. While premium tea ( teas that is made by the handiwork of experienced tea workers in tea gardens that produce quality fresh leaf from old tea bushes and trees or established tea bushes that are located in the mountains and valleys where nature has always yielded the best tasting tea ) costs more than commercial grade tea, we price our teas at the modest end of the pricing scale. This is a very good deal for our tea customers, for us, and for our tea farmers and producers, too.

Keeping prices down enables us to sell more tea, which allows us to keep placing orders, which, in turn, is a positive incentive for our tea farmers and tea producers to continue making great tea for an appreciative audience.

How We Sell Our Tea

img-abt_us_mlOur teas are not pre-packed. We fill each order that we receive when we receive it, with the quantity of leaf that the customer requests, each time, every time. This includes the 14 gram sample size, too.

So, if you order 16 ounces of tea from us you receive one 16 ounce bag ( with the exception of very bulky teas which we will put into two 8-ounce bags), not eight 2 ounce bags.

We have a strong on-line customer following. Our tea is fresh and our inventory turns over rapidly. So, each time you order from us the tea will be fresh, as photographed and advertised, and weighed out for you from our working inventory.

Most tea can be ordered in these sizes or in multiples of these sizes:

  • 14 gram sample (rare/more expensive teas only)
  • 2 ounce
  • 4 ounce
  • 8 ounce
  • 16 ounce

Our 14-gram and 2 ounce sizes are charged at a small premium above the pricing used for the standard sizes (4 oz and larger) but are a wonderful way to try a tea that is unfamiliar to you for the least up-front cost.

Some of our Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese teas are packed by the tea factories in 45 or 60 grams or 150 gram sizes. When this is the case we sell these teas that way.

Our Packaging

All tea ( except 14 gram samples ) are packed in zip-lock foil pouches ( as pictured below ).
You can store your tea purchases in the pouches that we pack them in, as they are air-tight and opaque, or you can transfer them to an air-tight container of your choosing.

The 14-gram sample-size portions of tea are sold in clear acetate bags that are appropriately sized for this quantity of tea.  We recommend that you use the sample size up more quickly, as the packaging is not designed for storage.

Information About the Tea You are Purchasing

packagingAll teas will be clearly labeled with name and other pertinent information as much as space allows. Our suggested instructions for measuring and steeping each tea is noted on its label.

Further information about steeping many of our teas can be found on our website or in Tea Trekker’s Tea 101 section of this website.
see: Steeping Tea

For example, this is the information that you will find on two of our tea labels:

OOLONG TEA
Fenghuang Dan Cong
Yulan
Magnolia Fragrance
Guangdong, Province, China
2011 Winter (November)

use 1.25 Tablespoons (2-3 grams)
per 6 oz of water
multiple short steepings; 195-205°F
see website for asian-style
steeping directions

OUR BLENDS
English Breakfast
Organic
Blended exclusively by Tea Trekker
using only personally-selected choice leaf.

use 2 teaspoons (2-3 grams)
per 6 oz of water
steep 3-5 mins
190-200°F