Aves Specta

A Tea Record

Four cups of tea and their constituent leaves, from above. Steeped hues are golden green, reddish brown, golden brown, and dark brown.

My first cup of tea came at the end of a night's work when, vague memory tells me, the cool New England air, the convenience of Dunkin Donuts, and an experimental mood led me to order a cup. I imagined it would be unpleasant, so I assented to sugar. The girl scrunched up her eyebrow when I asked for three. That hot syrup hit close enough to the mark that I brought the drink, with rapidly lessened sweetening, into my beverage routine.

At the supermarket, I managed to skip past Lipton, Tetley, Nestea, and Red Rose, instead going for Bigelow then Twinings on a friend's recommendation. Not long after, out west, I found Stash at the grocery store and discovered Market Spice's loose-leaf array. From this point, I sought tea shops for stocking up and had pretty good luck overall, but a move back east into a semirural area meant mail order would become the new order.

SpecialTeas' style, selection, and price made me a regular. I supplemented my SpecialTeas favorites, for a couple of years, with selections from Portsmouth Tea Company scooped straight from the warehouse barrel. Then that shop made a couple of missteps (leading to its demise) and SpecialTeas got absorbed by Teavana (a company for which I had already gained an aversion, so I was forced to seek out a new online source. I landed at Upton Tea Imports and have stuck there since. Gifts and random finds keep variety on the shelf.

Upton Tea Imports

I've ordered these. I use 5 stars for the best. Four stars is threshold for "would order again."

Mad Hat Tea Company

I blogged — "Gift teas two: Irish Breakfast and Makaibari Estate Darjeeling, both from Mad Hat, A Tea Company. Both recommended, though neither emphatically.…" (March 16, 2013)

Bag Ladies Tea

I blogged — "Bag Ladies Tea claims to be a specialty tea company, but their tea is not special. It's the packaging that counts. Their 17 offerings appear to differ only in the design of the box or tin they come in and the tags attached to their tea bag strings. "English breakfast" is as far as the website goes to describe the tea itself, which at $12.50 for 24 bags ought to be a premium selection. If you're looking for a cute gift go ahead and order a box, but if you're looking for tea keep searching." (April 14, 2013)

White Heron Tea

I blogged — "A 2-ounce packet of an organic black tea, Dubliner's Breakfast, from White Heron Tea of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, found its way into my Christmas stocking. Santa knows.

"I inferred this would be a hearty, rich brew, that would brace me for morning. Dubliners are Irish, no? Instead, I tasted a nuanced, fruity cup with less kick than anticipated or desired. The packet went into the afternoon collection, taking an honored place in the rotation especially when the mood was more cerebral than kinetic. Three and a half stars." (May 24, 2019)

Encore Chocolates & Teas

Resoundingly recommended when Olympians are asked where to buy loose-leaf tea. My initial visit, in spring 2025, was underwhelming and my first purchase followed suit. A second try was a bit of an improvement, but when it came time to stock up I went back to Upton.

Notes

  1. About the image: Public domain photograph taken by Wikimedia Commons user Haneburger (Hermann Hammer) in 2009. The author's description reads "Tea of different fermentation: From left to right: Green tea (Bancha from Japan), Yellow tea (Kekecha from China), Oolong tea (Kwai flower from China) and Black tea (Assam Sonipur Bio FOP from India)"
  2. Originally posted to Blogger.
  3. Last modified November 15, 2025.

Aves Specta · Est. 1999