Vendor Review: Chicago Tea Garden

A new feature here will be reviews of not just teas but also the buying experience from vendors.   With all of the online and traditional vendors out there, how does one know what to buy where? I hope to periodically re-visit past reviews with updates.   The selections and opinions are entirely mine.


Chicago Tea Garden (Chicagoteagarden.com)

I have been following this vendor via the blogosphere since late last year.   Being a local Chicagoan, I always like to spend locally when I can.   This internet only vendor has been in business only a couple of months, but I am intrigued thus far with their offerings.

The small selection of high end, self sourced Chinese teas is heavy on Pur-eh (10 items) and light on Greens, Oloongs and Blacks ( 1 each).  I am optimistic as the tea production seasons move on they will fill out their selections.   They also have a small selection of tea ware, including some artisan made tea cups.

The web site is easy on the eyes, and pretty straight forward to navigate, and the product descriptions are informative, with good representative photos. They have a newsletter and a Facebook and Twitter presence as well!

 I was up for a good Yunnan black, and I ordered 50g of the Golden Bi Luo.   I also purchased a Stoneware Tea Cup (I should have grabbed 2...).  

Check out was fine, the only payment option is PayPal, which i understand from the merchant side, but can be a pain at times, if you are not a regular paypal user.

Being local, my shipment arrived two days later.   It was packaged in a content appropriate sized box, with appropriate packing material.  With the tea was a nifty reference card with a description, steeping suggestions, and other info.  They also included a small sample of their Tie Guan Yin Oolong (with a card), which was a nice touch.   The tea cup was wrapped well, and arrived in perfect condition.

The tea itself was packed in a re-usable tin plated steel container. My only little gripe (and this is really very minor) - is that the container can hold 100g, and with my 50g order, left a lot of space for the tea to rattle around in transit.  (My tea arrived in excellent condition - but high end teas like this can be delicate.)

I found their pricing to be very good for the quality, self sourced, teas they sell.   The tea ware as well, especially the artisan made cups.  The quality of the tea is top notch, and I look forward to trying more of their selections.  

If you are looking for a good high quality tea purveyor to try, I highly recommend Chicago Tea Garden!