Best Herbal Tea to Buy at the Grocery Store

While everyone agrees that herbal teas are best purchased from a speciality tea shop, there are times when you can’t go to a special place for your tea. If you are travelling or want to give a type of tea a try before spending more on a fresher variety of the same thing, the grocery store can help you out. You need to know which types of teas to pick.

Certain teas don’t taste great when packaged in large quantities or in low-quality tea bags. Knowing which teas to avoid at the store can save you from purchasing a tea and trying it, only to think that you don’t like it at all.

Earl Grey: While this tea will not have the same delicious hints of citrus when it is purchased at the store, it will still have the rich flavour of spicy black tea that you are looking for. This is a safe bet when you are going to get tea at a restaurant as well since you usually do not know what brand they are offering ahead of time.

Breakfast Teas: Anything that is actually named with this naming convention will likely have come from a source that knows what they mean when they say that they are making a breakfast tea. There are many great, cheaper breakfast teas out there that offer you that morning pick-me-up without too much-lost taste. Black teas are very easy to store and keep well, so there is not much risk that you will dislike breakfast tea that you buy at the grocery store.

Green Teas: These are easy to store, just like Breakfast blends, and they stay bright and flavourful despite lower-quality tea bags and other factors. They may not have as much flavour when they come from the grocery store, but they will still be pleasing and enjoyable.

While there are teas that are a solid choice at the grocery store, there are also teas that you should avoid. While it is possible that you might find the rare brand that offers these teas in mass-produced fashion, and does it well, it is much less likely.

Chai Teas: The balance of flavours in a chai tea is delicate, and many of them do not hold up well or come out when steeped if the tea is packaged for too long. The blend of chai seasonings is often imitated and seldom actually successfully achieved.

Oolong Teas: This is another case of flavours that don’t hold up well to cheap packaging. If you have ever been to a quality restaurant that serves Oolong and have wondered why it was so much better than what you have at home, it is because it was probably not store-bought in a tin. This is a lovely tea that is well worth the money to get it from a proper tea store.

This list of dos and don’ts should help you to navigate the grocery store and have a successful tea experience, even when you are away from home! Happy bargain tea shopping!