Tea samples: Inexpensively expand your horizons

by Brandice Schnabel, Posted Jun 27th 2008 @ 12:00PM

When getting into high quality tea, the options can be a bit overwhelming. You can read all the right information about tea preparation, teaware, and all the different types of tea, but knowing what flavors you like and what teas you'll lean toward is an ongoing process that can get pricey if you're buying high quality tea and buying it four or more ounces at a time (typical purchase quantities).

The answer to this dilemma is something that I have a lot of fun with: tea samples. They're relatively cheap (allowing for great varety for the same price), they're a small commitment (low guilt if you just pitch the ones you don't like), they don't take up a lot of space (I have a drawer full of them), and they're easy to mail (if you don't like a tea, cheap postage will send it on to another tea drinker!).

In fact, they're so convenient that I still buy samples of tea that I do like, because I drink through my tea supply slowly (due to the huge variety of tea I have) and the unopened packets stay fresh. I also frequently send samples of my favorite teas to friends (a bundle of tea samples makes a nice gift).

Here are some of the companies I've sampled from. All of the companies on the list have samples that I have enjoyed, which is why I recommend them, but there are other tea companies that offer tea samples that you can try as well.

Adagio Teas - The samples are 1 ounce tins and cost roughly $2-3. The tins are nice because some samples that come in pouches can get smooshed in transit. Just click on a tea you're interested in and you should see the sample size available.

Upton Tea Imports - This is one of my favorite sites to order samples from, because most of the typical tea samples are $1 (more expensive teas can be up to $4-5, but most are under $2) and shipping on all domestic (U.S.) orders is $4. Upton has a ton of variety, so it's a great place to start sampling from, but in my experience the company doesn't prune its list of teas too selectively as it could (hence the huge selection).

TeaFrog - These come in 10 gram pouches and all the samples are $2 each. The setup might look as though you have to order a 5 sample minimum, but you can choose as few as one. TeaFrog also gives out a free sample of your choosing with every order!

SerendipiTea - These samples come in 1 ounce tins and are usually in the $5.00-$5.50 range, make them a bit expensive in terms of samples. I find their website a bit confusing/tedious to navigate, but have enjoyed more than a couple of their teas so far.

MightyLeaf - This is one of the few companies I will drink bagged tea from (sewn mesh bags with lots of room). They don't offer individual samples, but have several samplers, both bagged and loose. Individual samples in the samplers are in the $3-4 range, six samples per most loose tea samplers. If you're willing to go bagged, I highly recommend the Artisan's Choice.

auraTeas - This company is especially known for their excellent oolong teas, and they offer small samples of different sizes (depending on the tea) in the $2 and up range. In my experience, auraTeas samples come in tins, but I've not ordered all sizes.

Felicitea - Custom blended teas by Felicitea have just recently become available in sample size tins in the $2 range. Felicitea recently switched to all tins for packaging of tea in an effort to become as environmentally-friendly as possible. Local customers can even bring back their tins for refills!

Have fun exploring, and remember that if you don't like a sample, it can easily be given to a friend who might enjoy it!

Filed Under: Stores & Shopping, Lists, Drink Recipes
Tags: adagio, aurateas, brandice, felicitea, list, mightyleaf, sample, sampler, samples, serendipitea, stores-and-shopping, tea, tea companies, tea samples, TeaCompanies, teafrog, TeaSamples, upton

Chew on This

Royal Wedding Cake Details Revealed! - YumSugar

Make Your Own Pop Tarts - CHOW
Denny's Introduces a Maple Bacon Sundae - Eater
Whole Foods Opening Bars in Stores - USA Today
Rules Of Bar Etiquette -- For The Bartender - HuffPost Food

Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-27-2008 @12:21PM Julie said... Those tea samples can also be used as an ingredient in cooking and baking. I have been using some of my teas as flavorings in muffins and cookies as well as savory things such as soups and sauces. You will be amazed at the flavor they give to your recipes, I just use the leaves as I would dried basil etc....or you may also steep and use like an extract.
http://www.noshtalgia.blogspot.com/
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

6-27-2008 @12:32PM steve said... if you sign-up for Republic of Tea's mailing list, they send you a free sample with every catalog, which comes almost monthly.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

6-27-2008 @12:33PM Brandice Schnabel said... Julie - great suggestion!! :)

Steve - Thanks for the heads up... I'm actually going to make a point to sign up for their mailing list now! :)
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

6-28-2008 @12:42AM Harlan said... We get the tins from Adagio, and in addition to some really good tea (get the Yunnan Jig!), the tins themselves are extremely useful. Great for small amounts of bulk spices, among other things!

Reply

Vote upVote downReport

6-28-2008 @12:42AM Megan Boris said... What a great idea to have tea samples...the best way to attract attention to a new product is to provide samples, so I think an idea like this is fantastic.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

6-29-2008 @3:48AM chiffonade said... My favorite tea is from www.arborteas.com. They have tons of samples and fair trade tea.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

7-03-2008 @11:40AM Fox Mackenzie said... I love Adagio! Their sample tins are generous, and absolutely perfect for storing bits and pieces of things around the house when the tea is finished. They are also super easy to share with friends, I just fold a fill-your-own tea bag on top of the tea inside the tin and voila! I've initiated a new member of the loose-leaf-lovers society (societea?) :)

Do yourself a favor and pick up a sample of their irish breakfast..mmm! Here is a link to a $5 coupon for Adagio that can be used on any size order: http://www.adagio.com/teaware/ingenuiTEA_teapot.html?sid=b464849e92c403b75f503051f572f537

Enjoy!

Reply

Vote upVote downReport

7-03-2008 @11:41AM Brandice Schnabel said... Great suggestions from everyone! Love the linkage to companies I haven't tried. :) Glad everyone likes or uses the tea sample method of trying new teas. :)
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

7-04-2008 @10:37AM John B said... I have ordered the sample sets from TeaFrog - there is a really good amount of tea in there - and I love the Rooibos Blends! Shipping is only 5$ anywhere in North America - whether you order 1 or 40. I have bought them for gifts as well as for myself - and everyone always appreciates not having big bags of tea around in case they don't like it! Great post Brandice - I will be checking out some of the other companies for samplers.
Reply