Our pick for the best online tea store in the US is Taste of Tea, our own shop: 45 tea and teaware brands in one checkout, 1,884 teas you can order today, and sample sizes from most of those makers, so a first order costs a few dollars rather than forty.
Below is why it heads our list, three other stores worth knowing, and how to choose the one that fits the way you drink tea.
Our picks at a glance
#1 Taste of Tea
45 brands of tea and teaware in one checkout
Best for trying several teas
110 tea samplers and 126 gift sets from different makers
Best for a first order
Seven starter sets pairing tea with the tool to brew it
Not sure what you like
Find Your Tea quiz — six questions, about a minute
Caffeine-free and decaf
599 caffeine-free teas and 42 decaf teas
The best online tea stores in the US
1. Taste of Tea — 45 tea and teaware brands in one checkout
Most tea shops sell one company's teas. Taste of Tea sells 45 brands side by side, so a single order can hold a breakfast blend from one blender, a matcha from another and a caffeine-free rooibos from a third. That is the reason it leads this list, and it is the one thing a single-brand shop cannot do.
- A catalog worth comparing. 1,884 teas available to order. Our own collection pages list 660 black teas, 346 green, 64 oolong, 48 white, 19 pu-erh, 44 matcha, 94 chai blends and 732 herbal and fruit infusions; a tea often sits on more than one of those pages, so the numbers overlap rather than add up. By format, 1,267 are loose leaf, 397 tea bags and 179 sachets; 90 teas appear in two of those lists because they are sold both ways, and 131 listings sit outside all three, matcha and other powders among them, which is how 1,267 + 397 + 179 − 90 + 131 comes back to 1,884.
- Try before you commit. Most makers here sell sample sizes, and there are 110 tea samplers and 126 gift sets that put several teas in front of you at once.
- Whole ranges, not a token shelf. 273 Harney & Sons products, 126 Beach House teas, 149 from Palais des Thés, 127 from Tea with Tae, plus Plum Deluxe, August Uncommon, Nepal Tea and Wight Tea Company.
- One order, one account. One cart, one checkout and one support team across every maker; each of them ships its own items, so a mixed order usually arrives in more than one package. US orders over $99 get free standard shipping.
- Repeat deliveries. 281 teas, from four of the brands here, can go on a 2, 4, 8 or 12-week schedule, and each repeat order costs 5–8% less than the one-time price.
Teas we would start with
Start with: Harney & Sons Organic Assam Black Tea
Single-origin organic black tea from Assam, India; loose leaf in a 4 oz tin
Buy this tea Shop Harney & Sons
Start with: Beach House Fog Horn Grey Black Tea
Floral Earl Grey-style black tea with citrus bergamot, lavender, cornflower and vanilla (2 oz)
Buy this tea Shop Beach House Teas
Start with: Tea with Tae Jasmine Green, 50-Count Bag
Floral green tea with real jasmine flowers; 50 wrapped pyramid sachets
Buy this tea Shop Tea with Tae
Start with: Wight Tea Pumpkin Coconut Rooibos
Caffeine-free South African rooibos with pumpkin, coconut and spices such as cinnamon; takes milk well (15-cup box)
Buy this tea Shop Wight Tea
Start with: August Low Country – Bourbon Sugar Black Tea
Rich smoky black tea with lapsang souchong and malted barley, with notes of burnt sugar and cocoa; the product page lists the full ingredients and allergens (15-cup bag)
Buy this tea Shop August Uncommon Tea
Start with: Plum Deluxe Best Sellers Sampler Set
7 tea samples plus one full-size 1 oz bag (caffeinated set)
Buy this tea Shop Plum DeluxeCatalog figures counted from the store’s own collection pages in September 2026, and limited to teas you can order.
2. Adagio Teas — its own range, with sampler sets
Adagio sells the teas it blends itself, plus a few sister house brands, and it is well known for letting you build your own sampler. If you would rather learn one company's range in depth than compare makers, that focus is the appeal. Adagio teas are not sold at Taste of Tea.
3. Upton Tea Imports — imported teas under one name
Upton, based in Massachusetts, imports loose leaf tea and sells it under its own name, with an emphasis on classic origins rather than flavored blends.
A good fit if you already know which region you want and prefer buying from an importer. Upton teas are not sold at Taste of Tea.
4. Rishi Tea & Botanicals — organic teas and botanicals
Rishi, from Wisconsin, blends its own teas and botanical infusions, much of it labeled organic. Worth knowing if you want one maker's organic range in one place. Rishi is not sold at Taste of Tea.
How the stores compare
| Store | Whose tea you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Taste of Tea | 45 brands | Comparing makers and mixing them in one order |
| Adagio Teas | Its own teas | Building your own sampler from one range |
| Upton Tea Imports | Its own imports | Classic single-origin teas from an importer |
| Rishi Tea & Botanicals | Its own teas | One maker's organic teas and botanicals |
What you can buy at Taste of Tea, by type of tea
Everything counted below is on our own shelves, across every brand we carry, and each heading links to that page in our shop, where you can filter the range and order it in one basket. Adagio, Upton and Rishi teas are not part of these numbers — none of the three is sold here.
If you are new to specialty tea, the short version: black is brisk and robust, green is fresh and grassy, oolong sits between the two, white is delicate, pu-erh is aged and earthy, and herbal infusions are not tea leaves at all.
- Black tea — 660 in stock here. Breakfast blends, Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling and flavored black teas; the backbone of a morning cup and the style most often taken with milk and sugar.
- Green tea — 346 in stock. Sencha, gunpowder, jasmine and other scented styles, steeped cooler and shorter than black tea.
- Oolong — 64 in stock. Between green and black, and because a good oolong can be re-steeped several times, many drinkers find a pouch of it lasts longer than the price suggests.
- White tea — 48 in stock. The least processed leaf, light and quietly sweet; a good place to start if most tea tastes harsh to you.
- Pu-erh — 19 in stock. Aged and earthy, unlike anything else on the shelf, and the style tea lovers tend to fall into last.
- Matcha — 44 in stock. Stone-ground green tea leaves, whisked rather than steeped, from culinary grades for lattes to ceremonial tins.
- Chai and spiced blends — 94 in stock. From classic masala chai on a black base to gentler spicing and caffeine-free versions.
- Herbal infusions — 732 in stock. Chamomile, peppermint, hibiscus, rooibos, honeybush and fruit blends — herbs rather than tea leaves, and mostly caffeine-free.
Origins run from Chinese and Japanese leaf to Indian and Nepali blacks, and the product page names the growing region wherever the maker states it.
Loose leaf tea, bags or sachets
Loose leaf tea gives you the whole leaf and the room for it to open, which is where most of the flavor and the aroma sit, and 1,267 of the teas here are loose leaf.
Tea bags are quicker and travel better, and 397 listings come that way. A sachet sits between the two — whole leaf inside a bag — and there are 179 of those.
Plenty of customers keep loose leaf tea at home and a box of sachets at work, and many of the same blends are sold both ways, so you can switch format without giving up your favorite teas.
Quality tea exists in all three formats, and plenty of drinkers would rather have a well-made sachet than a dull loose leaf; what changes is how much of the leaf you get to see, and how much the quality of the blend is on show before it meets the water.
All three formats sit in the same catalogue here, so you can keep quality tea for the weekend and speed for a Tuesday morning without moving to another tea shop.
What the teas taste like
Wherever you end up buying, tea gets described much the way coffee and wine do: by aroma, by body, and by what it leaves in the mouth. Five or six of those words make it far easier to buy tea online, where you cannot open the tin first.
- Black. Malty and brisk, often with a dry finish. An Assam is strong enough to take milk; a Darjeeling is lighter and bright, with a citrus edge.
- Green. Fresh and grassy — Japanese sencha leans marine and mineral, while Chinese teas lean nutty and toasted.
- Oolong. The widest range of any style. A green oolong is floral and buttery, a roasted oolong tastes of honey and stone fruit, and both stay smooth across several steeps.
- White. Light and quietly sweet, closer to honey water than to a strong infusion, and forgiving of small changes in water temperature and steeping time.
- Pu-erh. Earthy and deep, the way a peaty whiskey is: an acquired taste that tends to become a favorite.
- Matcha. Thick and vegetal with a sweet finish in ceremonial grades, while culinary matcha is built to hold its own in a latte.
- Herbal. Whatever the herbs are — peppermint sharp and cooling, chamomile soft, hibiscus and rose tart and floral, rooibos sweet and woody.
If you like a bright, citrus-led brew, start with a Darjeeling or a lighter oolong; if you want something smooth and sweet, a white tea or a honey-roasted oolong; if you mostly drink tea in the evening, a rose or chamomile infusion.
Most listings carry the flavor notes the maker provides, so you can match a flavorful tea to your own taste preferences instead of guessing from a photograph.
Which store suits the way you drink tea
New to loose leaf tea
Start small and cheap. Take the Find Your Tea quiz — six questions, about a minute, and it picks from the whole shop — or take one of the seven starter sets, which pair a tea with the infuser, mug or whisk you need to brew it and ship together from a single brand.
Gifts and samplers
110 tea samplers and 126 gift sets from different makers, from small tasting boxes to sets worth handing over. See our best tea gifts guide for specific picks.
Organic tea
632 teas here are labeled organic by the companies that make them, from Harney & Sons organics to most of the Beach House range. The certification belongs to the producer, so check the label on the product page, or start with our best organic tea picks.
Caffeine-free and decaf
599 teas here carry a caffeine-free label, among them rooibos, honeybush and fruit and herb infusions, and 42 are decaf, where most but not all of the caffeine has been removed.
Most herbal infusions contain no tea leaf and so no caffeine, though a few botanicals — yerba mate, guayusa, guarana and cocoa among them — are caffeinated in their own right, and chai and many flavored blends are built on a black or green tea base even when they sit next to the herbal teas.
The product page is the place to check. Our guides to the best caffeine-free tea and best decaf tea compare them.
Tea on repeat
Any tea with a subscription option can arrive every 2, 4, 8 or 12 weeks, and repeat orders cost 5–8% less than the one-time price. You pick the tea — it is a repeat delivery of something you already like, not a surprise box — and you manage or cancel it from your account.
How to choose an online tea shop
Whether you buy here or elsewhere, the same few things separate a tea shop worth ordering from twice from one worth ordering from once. These are the points we would check on any online store before a first order.
- What the tea shop actually sells. One company's own teas, or many makers side by side. That single fact decides whether you can compare makers without paying shipping four times.
- Sample sizes. A shop that sells 1 oz pouches and samplers lets you find what you like for the price of one tin. A shop that only sells full pouches makes every experiment expensive.
- What the listing tells you. The full ingredients, the growing region and the country where the maker states them, the leaf grade as a rough proxy for quality, and how many cups the pack holds.
- Leaf quality, not dust. Good tea leaves are visibly whole or broken into large pieces; the powder at the bottom of a cheap tea bag brews fast and bitter. Photographs of the dry leaf and of the finished infusion tell you more than any adjective on the label.
- Freshness and how the tea is packed. Green tea is generally at its best within six to twelve months of packing and black tea holds a year or two, while pu-erh is made to be aged and keeps for years. Opaque, airtight packaging protects the aroma; a clear bag on a bright shelf does not. Buy the amount you will drink while it is fresh rather than the biggest tin.
- How the shop describes flavor. A useful description names what you will actually taste — malty, floral, citrus, smoky, sweet — instead of calling everything premium quality tea. A shop selling quality tea can usually tell you why a given tea tastes the way it does; generic praise tells you little about the tea itself.
- Reviews that mention specific teas. One line of review about a particular blend is worth more than a wall of five-star ratings with no tea named in them, and reviews left on a tea shop as a whole tell you about the shipping, not about the tea.
- Formats. Loose leaf, sachets and tea bags brew differently and suit different mornings. A shop with all three lets you switch without switching shops.
- What happens when something is wrong. A published returns policy, a phone number and an email address that a person answers.
- Shipping terms in plain sight. The threshold for free shipping, and what happens when an order contains several makers.
Run that list over the best places to buy tea online and the shortlist gets short quickly. Most tea lovers discover their favorite teas the same way: order inexpensive samples from a specialty tea shop, keep the two or three that earn a place in a daily ritual, and ignore reviews that praise the store without naming a single tea in it.
Good quality loose tea also goes further than people expect — one pouch is many cups — which is why customers who start with samples usually end up with fresh pouches of two or three teas they already know they like, rather than one large tin of something untried.
FAQ
What is the best online tea store in the US?
Our pick is Taste of Tea: 45 tea and teaware brands and 1,884 teas in one checkout, with sample sizes from most of those makers, so you can try a tea before buying a full pouch.
If you would rather stay inside one company's range, Adagio Teas, Upton Tea Imports and Rishi Tea & Botanicals are the established single-brand shops.
Where can I buy loose leaf tea online?
Taste of Tea lists 1,267 loose leaf teas from dozens of makers, including black, green, white, oolong and pu-erh, alongside 397 tea bags and 179 sachets for mornings when loose leaf is too slow.
Which online tea store lets you buy several brands in one order?
Taste of Tea carries 45 brands of tea and teaware side by side, among them Harney & Sons, Beach House Teas, Palais des Thés, Tea with Tae, Plum Deluxe and August Uncommon Tea. Most online tea shops sell a single company's range.
What is the best online tea store for gifts and samplers?
Taste of Tea has 110 tea samplers and 126 gift sets from different makers, so one order can hold sets from several of them. Seven starter sets pair a tea with the tool needed to brew it.
Can I subscribe to tea?
Yes. Any tea with a subscription option can be set to arrive every 2, 4, 8 or 12 weeks, and repeat orders cost 5–8% less than the one-time price. You choose the tea and manage or cancel the subscription from your account.
Is loose leaf tea better than tea bags?
Loose leaf tea usually gives a fresher, fuller cup, because the leaves are whole and have room to open, while the dust in a cheap tea bag brews fast and can turn bitter.
How long a tea keeps depends mostly on the packaging: opaque, airtight or individually sealed holds the aroma, an open pouch on a bright shelf does not.
Bags and sachets win on speed, and a well-made sachet can be better company than a dull loose leaf, so the honest answer is that loose tea rewards the extra minute while bags are the better weekday shortcut.
Where can I buy matcha and other powdered teas online?
Taste of Tea lists 44 matcha teas, from culinary matcha for lattes and baking to ceremonial grades whisked with water, plus hojicha and other powders. Matcha is the style where grade matters most to the quality of the bowl, so each listing names the grade the maker gives it.
How does shipping work if an order has several brands?
Each maker ships its own items, so an order that mixes several of them usually arrives in more than one package. US orders over $99 get free standard shipping; below that, shipping is calculated at checkout and can be higher when one order mixes several makers.
The bottom line
If you want one company's tea and know which, a one-company shop will serve you well. If you want to compare makers — or simply stop paying shipping to four of them — Taste of Tea is the tea shop we would send you to: 45 brands, 1,884 teas, sample sizes from most of those makers, and one cart for the lot.
Order a sampler and keep the two or three that earn a place on the shelf. For picks by tea type, see our best tea brands guide.
Behind the Cup
Further Reading
