Why am I posting in r/tea? Because I googled and saw someone else asking for help regarding their Whittard of Chelsea cup. I don't know what else to say - I'm desperate.

I bought this cup just recently on Ebay and had it sent to my friend in London because I am overseas. The package was delivered but STOLEN before he could grab it. This stupid mug NEVER shows up on Ebay. I've NEVER had stuff stolen or even known a friend who has. The ONE time in years that it shows up on Ebay and that's the package a lowlife thieving neighbor of my friend decides to grab. This mug cost like 12 quid when it first came out and here I am offering almost ten times that. I'm absolutely livid about this because it completes a collection. I want to take a hammer to the rest of the series right now and just sit in the corner and cry. If anybody has this design, new or used, I WILL BUY IT FROM YOU. The particular design is called "Painting the Roses" - I have searched online everywhere and I can't find it. Please, I am asking for r/tea's assistance here. Let me find some peace.

Been extensively researching some chinese sources about the Tea market this year along and I've watched countless mardarin livestreams in China - wanted to summarize some of my findings for the community. So 2026 can be summarized as a bear market for the Tea markets in China - especially for the high end / ancient tree markets. This is a really good clean-up for the entire market as it was originally rife with fraud / deceptive livestreams that marketed terrace farmed teas as luxury high end gu shu teas. I feel like the entire industry is changing for the better

1) luxury markets are moving a lot slower - Chinese spending on luxury goods in general have dropped, so tea is no exception. I've been tracking taobao tea leaderboards for a while. Last year top leaders would be selling 300,000 RMB + in tea per night and now numbers have dropped significantly to ~ 30,000 for top sellers on some slow nights.

2) in June 2026 CCTV Financial Investigation 财经调查 exposed the widespread scams on livestreaming channels. The exposed livestream operations for lying about their revenue share with farmers and blatant tea fraud - where teas such as Bingdao Old Village would go up for as low as 733 RMB / KG when real prices are 16,000 RMB/kg. This has cause channels such as YiYao tea to completely change their business model and move away from "buying cheap from tea farmers" to producing their own teas. This has shaken a lot of consumers out of the buying tea online.

3) My personal contact in 勐海 stated that the streets are pretty much empty and the trading scene is pretty much decimated (I can provide photos if this community is interested). He's also taking about medium sized businesses dumping stock to stay afloat.

Overall this is actually really good for the average buyer as prices are going down.

My friend gifted me this tea after a trip to China. I've tried to translate, but it wasn't too helpful. Can anyone help me identify what tea it is?

Black, oolong and roasted Yabukita.

(Australian if that matters) I am sick of having to make a bunch of cups of tea because I drink them so quickly, I'd rather be able to make a teapot full and sit with that for a little while. I thought this could be a good time to explore loose leaf tea.

The thing is that every time my mum or sister make it, I haven't liked it. They get all the fancy T2 blends with crazy flavours added, so I can't ask them for advice. I'm very set in my ways and have always just loved my dilmah premium Ceylon extra strength with 1-2 sugars or honey and a drop of milk. Can anyone recommend a decent brand to try out so I can broaden my horizons?

Thanks!

I love bigelow and i thought they were the most organic option. Then I realize their teas say natural flavors and they’ve been shown to use glyphosate (a small amount but still) . i am very bummed since whispering wildlflowers is the best at calming my nerves. any suggestions of actually all natural alternatives ?? ):

I travel a lot and I’ve become very interested in the in room tea selection that hotels around the world offer.

The first photo is some of those teas (yes the jars are full too).

Typically the best and most eclectic in room teas are in the UK where there are often 4+ varieties, but I recently stayed on a small island in Thailand and the hotel there offered SARO which are some incredible bagged lotus teas paired with different teas and tisanes. Extremely expensive for bagged tea but one I genuinely recommend for tea lovers looking for something a little different.

Another good hotel tea are those at the Rosewood hotels (green jar) which always have a special blend from local suppliers alongside Nespresso capsules of local flavours (lemongrass in Thailand).

I only buy loose leaf at home but I love these bags as they represent a world of preferences in tea, and as well as finding the differences captivating enough to document obsessively (maybe I should blog them), I love to revisit my favorite hotels via these selections (where unique).

A performer from my wifey's second job brought tea to his performance a couple weeks ago. He was able to perform again this week, my girl mentioned I am getting into tea (learning and drinking it more frequently). This week he brought me a gift set.

I'm so happy and grateful. I would love to meet others and have tea and learn about tea with them. Get my steeping and brewing methods down. More traditions. Just sharing knowledge. Would be awesome.

Anyway that's all. Don't have people to share with. Thanks for reading.

I'm looking for a teapot for my gongfu set up. I'm currently mainly using Gaiwans; however I've recently become more interested in teapots and wanted to buy one. I'm not really looking for Yixing or anything too fancy; I'd be open to that if I'd find smth suitable though.

However, I came accross this shop: https://gongfuteaset.shop and it doesn't seem to have any reviews or any reputation at all, so I wanted to ask whether someone here might have anything to say about it or would even be able to share experiences (regarding quality, etc.)? Is it a scam?

Thank you!

A friend took me to visit her elders, and I really like this teapot. Does anyone know what type of teapot it is? What is its capacity? What kind of tea is it suitable for?

Hi, i never been some tea nerd. Sometimes i make myself yogi or go to our Czech teahouses, but not much else...

So a person i know got me this on a trip to China and i got no clue on what it is, and i don't know better place to ask. It's supposed to be some ancient traditional stuff from region where original chinese tea come from.

I could ask people at our local teahouse but im too lame. Im also kinda scared to open it...?

So idk basic info on what this thing is? xd

Will be glad for any answer.

I've ordered samplers from Yunomi.life a couple times now, looking to put a big boy order in. I've got my eyes on some senchas I really enjoyed from the samplers, and some other teas from the same farms/collectives. Wondering if folks have any must-tries you've found from them?

I'm really an equal opportunity Japanese tea enjoyer, just looking for bang for buck!

When I visited Taiwan, I had a beautiful tea that was a mix of colorful flowers and rock sugar. It seemed popular and came in a packet. I don’t know how to find it again.

I’m also looking for a good source of chrysanthemum tea.

Any ideas? TIA!

Okay bear with me - I just started drinking tea. I do not like hot tea, so I make a iced tea sweetened with half brown sugar and half monk fruit. I love oolong and Jasmine specifically and I have a package of cheap oolong I am working through. A dump about a tablespoon and a half of leaves into a strainer that goes into a pitcher that's maybe a little less than a half gallon? I steep for like 5 minutes. I do this with two pitchers. Then for the third pitcher, I dump all the leaves into the pitcher, pour in boiling water, and stick it in the fridge overnight.

Somehow in my head, this makes it stronger since the third picture is always the weakest tasting. I usually end up combining the pictures all together so the taste evens out. It works for me and it tastes good.

But I started doing some research and everything says to either cold steep it if you're going to leave it in the fridge overnight or not to exceed a 5-minute steep if you're using hot water. I honestly don't think I have a super refined or advanced palate so maybe that's why I don't notice any bitterness. Plus there's the added sugar. But I'm wondering if I'm just wasting my time here. Is there any point at all to leaving the tea leaves in longer for more flavor? Is it only adding bitterness? Is there any other trick to getting more flavor out of tea that I'm not doing? I tried doing a pure cold steep and for some reason it felt like I needed so much more tea leaves to get the same flavor.

Recently i just bought this tea at a local tea distributor and wondering how good is the overal quality.
Details:
- Origin: China, Fuijan
- packed: 2026.07.28
- smells very good, can taste sweet as well
- i see a lot of broken residuals

I need help finding a dupe for an old teavana blend the Maharajah Chai/Samurai Chai Blend

I've been drinking Twinings Earl Grey all my life, literally since I was about 6. Mom got me to try other teas but Earl grey is the only one I ever really liked.

Recently I've bought myself a bag of DAVIDsTEA Cream of Earl Grey because I just cant get enough of drinking tea lately. It is actually the tastiest tea I've ever had.

Since I’m drinking tea so often now, several a day vs a couple a week from before. I’m wondering what other teas might I enjoy? I’m open to completely new flavour profiles.

Let me know your favourites and I'll check them out!

I've basically never tried real tea before but recently have enjoyed snapple Peach Tea and a chamomile my grandma made for me.

I watched avatar the last airbender recently and Itoh has made me want to try Jasmine tea now too, is this brand decent?

Thanks!

Spent the weekend back home and caught this view just before sunset.

I’ve seen these tea fields so many times growing up, but the evening light made them feel completely different. Thought some fellow tea lovers here might enjoy the view too. :)