The sources list is compiled from a combination of personal experience and online catalogues of vendors. It’s never going to be comprehensive – there are way too many distributors – so the object is to limit the list to a selection of what are hopefully the best.
Probably the best online catalogue is on Reddit. This has many more vendors on it, but Reddit is going through some upheavals at the moment.
This is a list of suppliers of tea, by country. These are specialists, concerned with teas produced in the same country. In principle, they should be cheaper than those who curate teas internationally, although you obviously have a much greater time overhead when selling overseas. They should also be able to work directly with a wider range of individual tea gardens than is practical for vendors collecting their teas across the globe.
Chinese Teas
Indian Teas
Taiwanese Teas
Vietnamese Teas
Japanese Teas
For broader access to tea, it’s usually better to work with local tea importers/traders that stock teas from around the world. Of course, they don’t always have the sheer range of some of the specialists. Long international shipping times and international bureaucracy mean the teas would need to be stored locally – just-in-time reselling would be almost impossible – and that means they’re either stuck with a smaller range of teas that sell very well or with higher costs to cover the overheads.
American Tea Vendors
British Tea Vendors
French Tea Vendors
Indian Tea Vendors
Norwegian Tea Vendors
This list is maintained by J.
Edit: J really likes his tea…