Today is a big day for us: the official launch of our own teashop! Introducing...
Our US-based online store focuses on antioxidant-rich ‘real’ and herbal teas, both pures and blends. We have been working on this for a looong time and are so excited to finally share it with all of you!
Here's the story:
A few years ago we tried to get "into" matcha tea given how every year for the last 10+ it has been getting more and more popular (as you may have noticed) but we have really struggled to like it.
Loyal readers will remember our Teas of Japan post where our wonderful Japanese family took us up in the mountains of northern Japan to a Buddhist temple where we enjoyed chawans (whisking bowls) of matcha tea. We realised there that this was was the only time we ever had enjoyed it (mostly!) – the highest quality Ceremonial matcha, in a temple, on top of a mountain, in Japan. So we’ve found good matcha...but it's not exactly ‘accessible’!
For 100% of our other interactions with matcha, the price tag and bitterness got our serious attention, but not in a good way. As we learned more about the matcha craze, we learned that it was due to its high antioxidants and vitamins, combined with its stunning bright-green colour. Then we began to notice that 99.99% of the time it’s served in a latte, ice cream, doughnut, cake or something similarly sweet and calorific. Enjoying the greenness but wrecking the health benefits: just check out #matcha on Instagram…
Why is this? To make the expensive green powder last and hide the bitter taste! If you’ve ever tried straight matcha, you’ll know that it can be VERY bitter. It also costs around $1+ per mug - made at home (not at Starbucks) due to a very short growing season, and limited supply.
People drink it for the antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients, spend painful chunks of their paycheck on it, but most don’t enjoy drinking it. Or they hope beyond hope that they are healthier for eating a cake or creamy latte with matcha in it. What is happening!?
We have always dreamed of having our own teashop.
What stopped us in the past was that we were never sure what we could sell that would fill gap in the market.
So, as you can tell, we found one and decided to tackle it ourselves: there are many other antioxidant-rich, vitamin-rich, nutrient-rich teas out there besides matcha, they are available at a fraction of the cost, and – crucially – they taste GOOD.
(At the end of this blog you can see the actual numbers comparing cost & antioxidants).
Plus the chance to fight bad science...
In addition, as we dug deeper into this idea, we discovered a depressing lack of reliable, scientifically-robust information about alternatives to matcha, the health benefits of tea, and antioxidant levels in these other options. So. Much. Pseudo-science.
Our solution? In addition to the two of us, we are honoured and delighted to have Professor Stephany Morgan to our team. She is our super-smart Herbalist & Tea Specialist, and has degrees in Psychology, Pre-Nursing and Complementary Alternative Medicine, with a focus on Herbal Medicine and Nutrition.
Stephany writes our MA blog and is a professor of Indigenous Medicinal Herbs at the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College in Mt Pleasant, Michigan. She has already built up a fantastic selection of fun, accessible and informative posts (all full researched and referenced unlike almost all other info on tea online).
We have new blog posts every week or so, and would be so happy if you subscribed – you can sign up on our website HERE.
So, at last!
...after sampling and sourcing dozens of antioxidant-rich teas from across the world in our travels we can:
Sell the teas we love – teas that are antioxidant-rich and delicious
Blog about tea and herbal tea with a solid science base
Save people a lot of matcha misery (and money!)
All with MatchaAlternatives.com!
Now you've had the long answer, here's the short answer...because that makes sense: Our launch promo!
How can you as a friend, follower or family member help MatchaAlternatives.com become the most successful teashop in the history of humankind?
…obviously the true question you were waiting to be answered.
There are several ways you can help if you so desire, and we will be forever grateful to you for any and all help:
Tell everyone you know in America to give us a try, friends and family alike!
Gift from us (voila, Christmas, birthday and Festivus shopping made easy)
Subscribe to our MatchaAlternatives.com blog
Leave great reviews of our tea on our site and on Facebook after trying them out
We are so excited to finally have our own teashop. We have worked really hard on this over the last two years and this is a big moment for us. Thank you from the depths of our hearts for your help and support – we are so happy to finally be sharing it with you.
- Elizabeth & Vientiene Ta'eed
Founders of MatchaAlternatives.com
Now you've watched that and get the big idea, it's time for the gritty details:
What do we sell?
We sell antioxidant-rich loose leaf teas and tisanes (herbal teas). In total we have around 70 different teas! Such as:
Super-caffeinated yerba mate (almost the same caffeine as coffee)
Protein-packed moringa powder (antioxidants, vitamins & nutrients galore)
Uber-antioxidant honeybush and rooibos (caffeine free for all-day-drinking)
Sweet-and-smooth green tea (a gently caffeinated wake-up)
Stimulating tulsi holy basil (a new-for-America herbaceous tea from India)
Sleep-inducing chamomile
Plus some gorgeous teaware such as our glass pitchers and teapots.
Each one of these is available pure or in a host of blends, with only natural blending ingredients (e.g. citrus oils). We have a lot of information about each of our tea types on our website if you’re curious to learn more.
Do we sell matcha?
Nope! We sell alternatives to the matcha craze. We sell teas that are even better: tastier (not bitter, for one), cheaper and all still packed with antioxidants. Many have significantly more.
If you want a direct matcha substitute, try our moringa tea powder – a beautifully green superfood for your cereal, latte or to drink straight. You’ll never go back to matcha after moringa!
Where are we based? Do we have a physical shop? Where do we ship?
We are an online tea store, selling only within the USA (for now...). Naperville, Illinois is where we have our warehouse and our wonderful fulfilment team. Perhaps someday we'll have a physical shop, but not just yet!
We offer 100% free shipping on everything to the Lower 48, with no minimums. This is the wonder of the modern age: while Vien and I are travelling, we have an amazing fulfilment team in the US who pack and ship our teas to you.
What’s the tea blog like? Should you subscribe?
Our MatchaAlternatives.com blog is a no-nonsense (but light-hearted) resource for everyone who is interested in herbal teas, ‘true’ teas and the science behind them.
We go in-depth on the various teas available in our shop, but also explore the world of matcha, antioxidants, superfoods and how these can all be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle. We also smash pseudo-science myths – it’s fun. The image shows a few of our recent posts, with many more on the way.
We publish every week or so, and YES, you should definitely subscribe!
What are our prices like?
Almost all of our teas start at $6-7 for 1oz, which is about 12-14 cups of tea, which includes free shipping to your door - perfect for sampling! Then they get substantially cheaper per ounce for larger 4oz and mega 8oz packages.
We have a range of offerings from everyday to stunningly premium. Our teas average $0.37 per cup - far cheaper than a matcha where a standard cup of matcha is $1! And that’s drinking it at home, without factoring in shipping cost.
We also have a cool bulk buy system: if you spend $50+, you get an automatic $4 off all teas in your cart. If you spend $100 you get $10 off tea, and if you spend $175 you get a whopping $20 off your tea purchase.
Again, this is on top of FREE shipping to the contiguous USA (sorry Alaska and Hawaii, we do ship to you but with a little fee 'cause you're so far away), with no minimum order.
What should you do if you don’t drink loose leaf tea?
Never fear, we’ve thought of that – we sell some cool biodegradable DIY teabags that make it easy for teabag devotees to enjoy our teas. You spoon in some tea, and then chuck it into a mug or pot as normal.
Or we sell individual tea balls, or in a set, perfect for mugs or pots.
Where should you start?
Because we know that you may not have heard of all our teas before, we’ve created a Discovery Selection that is a nice introduction to the less common but quite wonderful teas and their taste profiles (plus an included tea ball). Have a look!
Or, you could browse All Our Teas, or by All Collections (e.g. for sleep, caffeinated, fruity, iced, etc.).
As promised, we with our Tea Expert & Herbalist have researched and researched, and found the following data from a whole host of robust studies. This is why Matcha Alternatives exists!
References are found in our blog post on MatchaAlternatives.com: The Dark Truth about Matcha Tea which is a more in-depth article about why matcha tea became popular and at the same time, why no one drinks it!
Thanks for reading and supporting our dream to sell tea!
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment! And our launch is going very well so far!! xxxx
I love this website!The lightheartedness is so delightful and the graphs re oxidant levels are easily informative and you two should be very pleased and successful with all your efforts. I love the photography, I love the backstories, just great. I would think that people would be enticed on so many levels. May your launch be going well really, really well! Janet B.