An Online Tea Shop Guide For Beginners

An Online Tea Shop Guide For Beginners

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Consumer trends have seen an ever-increasing number of tea drinking's switching away from the traditional cheap bagged teas and over to premium whole leaf teas. Supermarkets have noticed this tend and many major supermarkets now stock at least some loose-leaf teas - or at the very least some premium branded tea bags - alongside their more traditional tea bags.

Online retailers have however perhaps been at the forefront of this revolution with an ever-increasing number of online tea shops appearing. While this growth has increased choice and availability, like most things online, occasionally with so much choice it can be difficult to know where is safe to shop and make your purchases. This guide has been written to give you some pointers to help when purchasing tea gifts online.

Trust

When making any purchases online trust is always a major issue. When visiting an online tea shop precautions must also be taken. Before providing any information or making a purchase it is always prudent to conduct an internet search of the company you are buying from. There are a number of specialist sites that provide feedback and reviews of online retailers.

Another method of gauging the credibility of an online tea shop is to see if they have a Twitter feed which is regularly update. A Twitter feed that is active, followed by lots of people, and which provides relevant information - not just spurious 'retweets' - is a good indicator that people have been satisfied with their dealings with that company. You can also easily check if other people have interacted, or Tweeted, about their shop too.

Selection

You can often judge an online tea shop by the selection of tea they have available. Are they a company which has specialised in the teas of a particular country i.e. China, Taiwan, India or perhaps they have specialised in a particular tea producing region i.e. the Wuyi Shan National Park in China or Dong Ding Mountain in Taiwan? These specialist retailers, whom often only stock a dozen or so teas, can often be found to sell a much higher quality product. The should also be able to provide much greater information on their teas than the one-stop-shop that seem to sell hundreds of teas from all corners of the globe.

Quality

Without being able to see a physical product when visiting an online tea shop it is important that you get some idea of the teas you are buying. The next best thing to seeing the tea in person is being able to see it in a photo. Any photos used should be large and clear, allowing you to see the whole leaf and easily identify the style of processing that has been used. Occasionally online retailers will also show pictures of the tea leaves after they have been infused and the leaf has opened up. This can be extremely useful as it allows you to see if whole leaves have been used or if the tea has been made up of broken leaves and stalks.

Communications

Perhaps one final check would be to email the company with any questions you may have. Any knowledgable and trustworthy online tea shop will be only too happy to respond to any questions you have in a prompt and professional manner. Any company which doesn't do this should most definitely be avoided!


About the Author:
James Franklin Bluth is a tea connoisseur with over a decade's experience sourcing and selecting the finest whole leaf teas and is especially interested in online tea shops.

At his favourite online tea shop you can find a range of whole leaf teas from China and Taiwan.

driftwood tea products make perfect tea gifts for any tea connoisseur.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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