Good loose leaf vendors online or local to Pittsburgh, PA

[Rory]

I was at the mall roughly 6 months ago and passed by a Teavana. The only reason I stopped was because of all the cast iron teapots. My mother is a cast iron junkie with several skillets, grill plates etc. I picked up the teapot for her and was immediately hooked on one of their blends that they sweeten like crazy! I still bought a big tin of their White Ayurvedic Chai and Samurai chai mate mix because I knew I'd enjoy it less sweetened. Great, great tea but a little on the expensive side all things considered. I bought a small cast iron tea cup, the pot and the tea and it came to something like 180 dollars.

I remember right after my purchase stumbling across a loose leaf tea site that some rumored teavana themselves used for tea purchases. I have no idea how truthful that statement is but I know the tea was less expensive. Anyway to get to the point. I'm looking for a good loose leaf tea site to use for future purchases, possibly the same two to blend together. Any help will be greatly appreciated. My first name is Rory by the way and I live In Pittsburgh, PA for a very brief intro. I'll post a formal intro sometime soon in the other sub forum. Thanks in advance for any and all information.

[kymidwife]

Rory,

Here's an ongoing thread about Teavana with some perspectives from customers and former/current employees. Very enlightening.

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7509

SpecialTeas is apparently a sister company to Teavana, selling only online. They don't publicize this, but good sources say they are one and the same. The interesting part is that Teavana is generally more expensive, generally into the "hard sell", has to pay for its storefront overhead, and leans heavily to the direction of flavored teas. SpecialTeas has a wider selection, sells some of Teavana's same teas under other names for better price, and carries some higher-quality teas that are actually quite good and a decent value.

Cast iron cups... yeah... I had some of those. They burn the *&$)+@!!!! out of your fingers.

Welcome to TeaChat, and check out our host, Adagio... great prices, good entry-level exposure to a wide variety of teas, great customer service, and some basic teawares for sale that are reasonable, practical, and won't burn your fingers off.

Hang with TeaChat and you will hear about such a vast array of excellent vendors, your head will spin.

Sarah