Black teas - online vendors?

[burninator]

Originally Posted by dhaus

Had a chance to try the assam I got from Upton Tea Imports next to some golden monkey I got from Teavana (using a gift card my daughter gave me). The assam was $7 for over 4 oz, the golden monkey was $18 for 2 oz. The winner was the assam hands down. I had liked the assam - a lot - and figured the monkey would be better due to the price and the fact that the Teavana folks had bragged about it being a true quality tea. For me, that is not the case. I tried steeping the monkey for 3, 4, and 5 minutes, using slightly different amounts to try and get it to taste better, nothing worked. Guess I'm just a cheap date! I'm going to have to try some golden monkey from another shop to see if it is Teavana or just me. Really astonished at how much better the assam was.

It's been my experience that the teavana folks are willing to brag about the superior quality of pretty much whatever tea they randomly grab off the shelf behind the counter.

I went in there recently looking for some lapsang souchong. After having to explain to the tea dude what that is, he recommended an oolong that would be very similar and was of the highest quality.