Loose Tea -- anyone know a good retailer?

I LOVE my bodum tea press!!!

My two favorite tea companies offer a loose leaf line and they are:

Republic of tea:
[linkhttp://www.republicoftea.com/]http://www.republicoftea.com/[/link]

Coffee bean and tea leaf
 http://coffeebean.com/

I buy most of my loose tea from herb shops and whole grain markets. Wild Oats has some really good loose teas and they are fairly cheep, my favorite is the strawberry green tea. Some of those places will often also ship out orders.

I often use a regular coffee maker and put the loose tea in the place that coffee ground normally go with a filter and it comes out strong. I also have a little thing that is a metal mesh ball that hold the tea and I let it seep for a few minuets. I never tried a tea press but if it's anything like a coffee press It would not work where I live, in high altitudes.

Come summer I grow my own herbs, mostly mints. I am able to dry the herbs and save then for the winter. You can also grow herbs inside throughout the year and it just make it convenient to have around.

JJs mom,
Which bodum tea press do you have?

How much tea would I put into a 4 cup (32 ounce) pot?

Im trying to figure out how much loose tea I need to buy.

Thanks!

http://www.choiceorganicteas.com/

and

http://www.unclelee.com/

My husband and I are both tea drinkers - I get most everything from Stash Tea [linkhttp://www.stashtea.com/]http://www.stashtea.com/[/link]
 
How much you use depends on how strong you like it, the type of tea -- I tend not to like it strong so I'm probably not a good one to ask.  But anywhere from a pinch to a teaspoon for a cup, and it completely depends on individual taste I think.
 
I've never used a tea press -- we've got a couple of tea balls, and a cup sized swiss tea infuser.  Here's the one for a pot:
[linkhttp://shopstashtea.com/700091.html]http://shopstashtea.com/700091.html[/link]
 
I've also gotten some really good teas at [linkhttp://www.morningstarhealth.com]http://www.morningstarhealth.com[/link] -- a super jasmine tea that was pricey but super good, and some others.  We drink herb tea, green, black and white tea -- most anything really, altho I'm not at all fond of fruity/sweet teas myself.

JJs mom,
Which bodum tea press do you have?

How much tea would I put into a 4 cup (32 ounce) pot?

Alison,
I use the Assam:
http://www.bodum.com/pages/products/productshow.asp?vFamID=11&famSubId=1102&rid=1482&idv=1

How much I use depends on whether I am using it to make a big pitcher of ice tea or just a couple cups or the whole pot, AND what type of tea(black, green, white). If I want the whole pot I usually don't need more than about 2 tablespoons BUT this is completly dependent on the tea you use also. That is one of the reasons I like the 2 links I gave you because they have high quality tea and I always use FAR less than with most other loose leaf tea brands... plus the flavor is dynamite![8D]

 

Anyone have good recommendations on flavored green teas?  I LOVE Bigelow's green tea with mango but very few retailers carry that flavor and most online places are more expensive, so the only reasonable place I've just found is amazon.  Go figure.  Anyway, always up for new flavor suggestions. 

Anyone have good recommendations on flavored green teas? I LOVE Bigelow's green tea with mango but very few retailers carry that flavor and most online places are more expensive, so the only reasonable place I've just found is amazon. Go figure. Anyway, always up for new flavor suggestions.

Nicole,

Republic of tea has some excellent green teas that are VERY different flavors than what you normally find. There are not too many stores that carry republic of tea but locally I find 90% of their flavors at Cost Plus Imports and I am sure there are a lot of other stores that carry their teas. I am not a fan of green tea so I can't give you specific recomendations, but here is the list of what they carry and I like almost every tea I have ever had of theirs:

http://www.republicoftea.com/templates/directory.asp?navID=62

Same thing with Coffee bean- some really good flavors of green tea that you don't often see and their tea is fantastic!
http://coffeebean.com/Teas-C39.aspx

While on the topic of tea… I have a couple suggestions for tea drinkers.   Coffee Bean and tea leaf has this amazing Jasmine tea called Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl and it is the absolute best jasmine tea I have ever had. It is so aromatic with Jasmine and yet so perfectly balanced when you drink it. It is pretty pricey since it is a rare tea but IMO worth every penny. If you like tea and have a coffee bean store near you try a cup in their store one day and see what you think.
http://coffeebean.com/Jasmine-Dragon-Phoenix-Pearl-Tea-Bags-P197C66.aspx?Page=1

  On the other end of the spectrum…I just found some new teas by Lipton in the supermarket. They are called Lipton Premium Pyramid teas and they are great!  I love the vanilla carmel truffle in the afternoon at work with a touch of honey and I also add a bag of the Red tea with strawberries blend to the plain Lipton tea bag when I brew ice tea. I think JUST the red tea would be overpowering for ice tea, but cut with regular black tea it gives it a wonderful flavor.  []
    Nicole- These Lipton pyramid#%92s also come in a green tea with mandarin orange that I bet would be worth trying![8D] http://www.liptonpyramidteas.com/home.asp

Oooh!  Haven't seen the new Lipton pyramids yet, but I will keep my eye out for a sale They have a herbal tea with peach that's decent, and I tried a few of their green teas.  I'm picky on my flavors, though, and I hate to spend a lot of money trying new ones that I  probably wont like so I tend to stick with something tried and true. 
 
One of our supermarkets usually has a tea and coffee free sample area so I tend to try a lot of those!  lol, hey it works for the store and for me.....

Just as a heads up, I posted this question on another forum as well, and these are some of the things I have come across:

www.mightyleaf.com -- this one seems nice, and they are pretty reasonably priced.

and

www.adagio.com -- This one has reviews of each tea and ratings.

Just as a heads up, I posted this question on another forum as well, and these are some of the things I have come across:

www.mightyleaf.com -- this one seems nice, and they are pretty reasonably priced.

and

www.adagio.com -- This one has reviews of each tea and ratings.

 
COOL! I will have to check those out![]