As a Darjeelingey, I prefer getting my tea directly from Darjeeling. I ask my folks (only once in a while) to send me teas, which is quite an involved process in practice. They have to walk all the way to the town, taste the tea, buy it, pack it and then send it through a reliable courier service. I avoid troubling them unless I desperately need to. For this reason, I have been purchasing Darjeeling tea from the following online retailers:
Teabox
I have been regularly buying tea from Teabox , and I have had nothing but good experiences. They are based in Siliguri, West Bengal, which is a few hours away from Darjeeling. The entire journey has been excellent, from their website and product to delivery and customer service.
Website
I love their website, and the web experience is fun. I like that the images and feelings are focused more on the tea itself rather than imposing their brand on the face. A subtle, product-focused marketing is good marketing, in my humble opinion. The ability to hover your cursor on top of an image and quickly add the tea to your cart is handy and avoids extra clicks. They provide a detailed description of each tea and its life cycle - from the plucking date to processing, sorting, vacuum packing, storing and shipping dates. Nice!
As a customer, you can provide comments and feedback for each tea, which is published in the comments section. However, I would be skeptical, as only positive comments are published. They did not post y last negative comment about a teaspoon I bought from their website.
Tea Selection
As they deal directly with the tea estates, they always have a good inventory of tea, and the selection was even better this year. I saw some of my favourite second flushes, Giddhapahar, Margarets Hope, Castletonton, Jungpaana, and Seeyok on their website before any other sellers had it!
Tea Quality
Most teas that I’ve bought from Teabox have been excellent, with a few exceptions once in a while.
Price
They are price competitive, but I’ve noticed that this year their prices were higher. Also, the courier service fee has increased quite a bit, which adds to your overall cost. However, if you purchase over $100, you qualify for free shipping.
You can pay using your credit card or through PayPal.
Courier and Packaging
The teas are vacuum-packed, and storage pouches are provided for each tea you buy. They have minimal packaging and marketing materials, which I love. You can track your parcel, and the delivery is always on time. Also, you don’t have to pay any import tax/fees.
Customer Service
Excellent customer service. Prompt response.
Capital Tea
My first experience with Capital Tea was disappointing as they misplaced my parcel and the delivery was delayed. I didn’t have any tea to drink for an entire 48 hours - imagine! However, other than the first incident, my overall experience has been pretty good so far. They are importers of fine tea and are based in Toronto.
Website
They have a simple website, but it’s easy to navigate and find the products. The “New Arrivals” option is helpful to check what’s new on their inventory quickly. I also love the drag and drop option to add tea to your cart from the landing page.
Tea Inventory
They hold a decent variety of tea sourced from the popular tea estates in Darjeeling. I usually buy my favourites such as Castleton and Margaret’s Hope from them. As they are based in Toronto, they do not always keep up with the latest seasonal batch. All the same, it’s always handy to have a good inventory of Darjeeling tea just a few hours away from where you live - even if they’re older stocks.
Tea Quality
Most teas that I’ve bought from Capital Tea have been excellent, with a few exceptions when I ventured out to lesser-known tea estates.
Price and Payment
They are price competitive and cheaper than Teabox and Vahdam Tea, given that their shipping fees are much lower. Also, if you purchase over CAD$60, shipping is free within Canada. I always get free shipping!
You can pay using your credit card or by calling them on the phone.
Courier and Packaging
The teas are packed and sent in a sealed storage pouch. They have minimal packaging and marketing materials, which I love. You can track your parcel, and the delivery is on time.
Customer Service
Not the best customer service. Their response time is slow, and you can never reach them on the phone.
Vahdam Teas
Vahdam Teas is a Noida-based retailer and exporter of fine teas. I started buying from them this year. My experience has been good so far, other than the import tax that I had to pay, which they resolved quickly.
Website
While they have a modern-looking website, I am not a fan of their navigation, especially the inability to filter Darjeeling’s tea variety (First Flush vs the Second Flush). I only drink Second Flush and prefer the ability to filter out the noise. Vahdam Teas' website does not have that option, which means scrolling and paying attention to every black tea in their inventory. They highlight new arrivals with a tag, but it is still not helpful when you have to keep scrolling. Also, you have to click a couple of times to add a tea to your cart, not the best experience. If anyone from Vahdam Teas is reading this article, you need to add a filter and improve the navigation. Furthermore, as compared to Teabox and Capital Tea, where you have the option to buy 100 grams or more, Vahdam Teas mostly offer 100 grams.
Tea Inventory
They have a good variety of tea in their inventory but scrolling through all the teas they have in their inventory is painful (more whines about their website).
Tea Quality
My first experience has been great. I recently bought Okayti, Jungpana, and Margaret’s Hope second flushes from them and all the teas were excellent. Read my review about these teas at Review of Darjeeling’s 2021 Second Flushes.
Price and Payment
They are price competitive and cheaper than Teabox, given that their shipping fees are much lower. You can pay using your credit card or through Paypal.
Courier and Packaging
The teas are vacuum-packed, and storage pouches are provided for each tea you buy. I was not impressed with the unnecessary packaging and marketing material in the parcel. I guess that’s the reason why I had to pay the import tax.
You can track your package, and the delivery was on time. Note that you may end paying import tax, but they will refund the amount if you reach out to their customer service.
Customer Service
Good customer service. I reached out to their customer service with my complaints about paying a high import tax, and they quickly resolved it with a refund.