Sorry for not writing on this blog for such a long time. I was busy with work, and I also sent my camera to a friend in Ukraine when the Russian invasion started. So from now on I’ll just take pictures with my iPhone 🙂 They have good cameras already.

I’m still drinking a lot of tea, and I’ve recently started to master specialty coffee prepared in a cezve/ibrik. But that’s another story.

So I wanted to update you on the shops I still use to buy good tea. They’ve been tested over many years by now, and they always deliver very good tea.

Chinese Tea

For Chinese tea I’m mostly using two shops these days. The first is Farmerleaf — it belongs to William Osmont, a very famous tea guru. They are based on Jingmai mountain in Yunnan, and they sometimes bring teas from mountain native tribes, sometimes from both sides of the Chinese border. Their teas are always tasty and very natural. Check their YouTube channel, it’s full of great insights. I’d also recommend subscribing to their newsletter to get their news faster.

By the way, I was very pleasantly surprised when they released their Ukraine donation Puerh cake.

Prices are good, shipping is free over a reasonable order amount, the tea is priced right, and most importantly I believe the owner does things properly when it comes to clean, chemical-free tea. I feel it when I drink their teas — sometimes they’re raw, but I always feel good and healthy afterwards.

Another good shop is TeaVivre. It’s a big tea supermarket of a high level, with good prices, promotions, free shipping over a certain order amount and proper tea info for every tea. I especially like their Superfine Tan Yang Gong Fu Black Tea — it’s extremely tasty, and I can’t go long without it. Another one I really love is their Organic Bai Mu Dan white tea — a simple village tea, close to nature.

Korean HwangCha

I’ve also developed a big love for the Korean oxidized tea called HwangCha. It’s a rare one, and you won’t find many shops with Korean tea online. I first tried it at the Palais des Thés shop in Tel Aviv, for a crazy price. But I couldn’t forget it, so later I found two online shops to order from. The better quality one is Hankook Tea in the USA. Slightly better priced, but a bit less tasty, is Korean Souvenirs in South Korea. The taste is rich and balanced, with cocoa notes. By the way, I found a Chinese variety with a slightly similar taste profile — it’s usually called Hong Mei.

Japanese Tea

For Japanese teas I usually use Thés du Japon. They have great regional Japanese varieties, and I usually just search for the word “sweet” and find something really nice. This shop has unique pottery too. Another Japanese shop I’ve used recently is Yunomi. Also great, but delivery can cost a bit more.

Israeli shops

I should probably mention two more Israeli shops:

• Ho Yum Tea — friends who travel the East for tea
• Amitea — a newer shop in Haifa with good prices

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