On 4 Feb 2007 03:00:24 -0800, wrote:

>Hi everyone, I'm wondering what the best online tea vendors are in
>your opinion? By best I mean fast shipping and fresh, hiqh quality
>tea. I live in Finland, which is a coffee country, so there is very
>little good quality tea available. I'm into unblended, unscented teas
>and enjoy mainly greens, oolongs and occasionally a cup of black tea.

Hi and welcome!

I live in Norway which is also mainly a coffee drinking country. Le
Palais des Thès recently opened a store in Oslo, and as far as I know
that is the only place in Norway where you can get some decent teas.
But their prices are rather high. My girlfriend bought me 50 grams of
Xiao Hong Pao (their allegedly best oolong) as a gift and paid 300
kroner (approx. USD 45) for it. The tea was very good, but maybe not
worth the price.

As I have to order my teas from abroad, I try to stick to online
vendors based in the tea-producing countries. These are my favourites:

For Chinese teas
http://stores.ebay.com/Yunnan-Sourcing-LLC
http://www.jingteashop.com/
http://teamasters.blogspot.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/Teahome-Premium-Formosa-Tea

For Japanese teas
http://www.hibiki-an.com/
http://www.o-cha.com/green-tea/
http://www.kaburagien.co.jp/english/index.php
http://www.marukyu-koyamaen.co.jp/eng/index.htm

Others on RFDT have recommended:
http://www.teaspring.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/Dragon-Tea-House?

If you want to order from European vendors I particularly recommend:
http://www.nbtea.co.uk/
http://www.wilstea.com/

I have also ordered several times from this excellent US based vendor
http://www.houdeasianart.com/

Lars

Bergen,
Norway