Best supplier of Oolong Teas anyone?

Hey everyone,

Please help with any suggestions. I have tried some from local stores, but find that online opens a lot more doors and I can get a sample usually too.

Anyone have a suggestion? I prefer darker oolongs, not so much the floral ones.

Thank you all!

26 Replies
mrmopar said

Taiwan/Yunnan sourcing and White2tea have some good ones. You may want to gander around Chawang shop and some eBay sellers. Berylleb has a good, in my tastes Daffodil Oolong.

AllanK said

I’ve gotten a couple of excellent oolongs from Berylleb. I’ve been wanting to order from Taiwan Sourcing.

Oh yeah… the hand picked Dauyling is wonderful, but it is on the light side.

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Jorgomli said

Beautiful Taiwan Tea is a favorite shop of mine. They have a very small selection of white teas too, but they are all really good. I LOVE the Misty Mountain Oolong.

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White2Tea has some nice darker oolongs.

Eco-Cha is also another option for nice oolongs that isn’t already mentioned.

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Grill said

So far from vendors I’ve tried….

Teamasters for taiwanese oolong
Tea Habitat for dancong
Essence of Tea and Cliff Three for yancha

None of these are cheap options. Some of Imen’s dancongs are 4 dollars a gram. I’m sure there are other equally as good vendors or better vendors but this is the best from what I’ve tasted

Rasseru said

yeah I have been eyeing up those three for various reasons. still cheaper than champagne and lasts longer?

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Taiwan Sourcing has excellent oolongs, I highly recommend the Alishan High Mountain GABA.

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Lindsay said

Eco-Cha (http://eco-cha.com/) and Verdant (http://verdanttea.com/shop/by-tea-type/oolong-tea/) are both vendors with high quality tea, and who can tell you exactly who grew it and under what conditions, which I really appreciate.

Taiwan Tea Crafts (http://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/welcome/) is another in that category, though I haven’t personally ordered from them. They’re best known on Steepster for their black teas, but I assume their oolongs are also great (and they have some beautiful teaware, omg).

Tealyra (http://www.tealyra.ca/buy_oolong_tea_online_store) is much more of a gamble in terms of quality/origin, but I’ve had several oolongs from there that I liked and the 25g bags are a good size for trying things out.

+1 for Tealyra/Tealux & Verdant

Also: Teavivre, Lupicia (but these tend to be green oolongs), ZenTeaLife, Green Terrance, TeaAve

LuckyMe said

I can vouch for Taiwan Tea Crafts. Their oolongs are some of the best I’ve tried. Since the OP prefers darker oolongs, I would steer him towards Verdant or Yunnan Sourcing.

Grill said

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17766&p=228490#p228490

http://teacloset.blogspot.com/2012/09/moving-non-humorous-controversy-to.html?m=1

Some links on Verdant being caught marking up tea 900%. They aren’t the only ones doing it either.

For beginners you really can’t go wrong with the suggestion of Yunnan Sourcing. Scott has a wide selection covering everything and his prices are very fair.

^ that, but for pricing outside of the Yunnan area Upton is probably the cheapest

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Lots of good options – I’m surprised to not see Tea Ave.

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cookies said

I was fond of all the http://www.taotealeaf.com yancha I purchased.

Mountain Tea http://mountaintea.com/collections/dark-oolong is best known for their less-oxidized oolongs, but they have some incredible darker ones as well.

https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/shop/product-category/tea/oolong-teas/ Is one of my absolute favorite oolong vendors (though I tend toward the floral variety) I’ve had two of their darker oolongs and they were very nice quality.

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AllanK said

I just drank an excellent Da Hong Pao from Streetshop88 on EBay. I have not previously bought oolong from them. This was their Nonpareil Da Hong Pao and was quite good. All of their best teas they call ‘Nonpareil’.

Rasseru said

Im interested to try it after reading that, to compare to my one im tasting. same price bracket

AllanK said

It was really good in general. Not too roasted. They didn’t use roasting to cover up low quality tea as is sometimes done. I also bought his middle quality Da Hong Pao but haven’t tried it yet.

LuckyMe said

Whispering Pines has an excellent Da Hong Pao. Gently roasted and fruity with no ashy taste.

Verdant’s Big Red Robe is very good too, but WP slightly edges it out.

Rasseru said

Im enjoying the what-cha version right now. less charred more mellow, with a very slight buttery thing, not overpowering – reminds me of unburnt wood rather than burnt wood.

Very good prices for tea if you are UK based.

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