Showing posts with label Tea ware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tea ware. Show all posts

5/18/2013

World PAR-TEA (Online Shop, Australia)

Shop 22, 35 Merrigal Rd
Port Macquarie, New South Wales 2444
Phone    (02) 6581 4833
Hours:
    Mon - Sat: 10:00 - 04:30


World Par-Tea is an Australian owned and operated business settled in Port Macquairy Qld, that started as a humble tea market stand in NSW in 2004 and has been selling online, retail and wholesale, since 2007. Many shops in Australia distribute their products, but the only two shops doing so in WA are in Geraldton and Mandurah, so I ordered a few things from their online shop. 

WPT has an amazing variety of teas and tisanes: Black, Green, Oolong, Yellow, Blossom, White, and Rooibos teas; Organic Herbal and Aryuvedic Tisanes; Natural Fruit Infusions, Australian and Fair Trade Teas, both plain and blends. They have more than 180 tea varieties! They also have a huge range of beautiful tea ware (canisters, cups, pots, tea sets, infusion tools, and what's not) for sale.

Their website is very pleasing to the eye, simply organised, easy to browse and shop from, and has a great section devoted to brewing tips. You can check out as a registered customer or as a guest, and select standard or express shipping, the later a bit more expensive but traceable.
They accept major credit cards and PayPal as payment. Shipping costs are weight-based, but up to a maximum of 15 bucks; this is great, especially if buying tea crockery, which tends to be heavy, and you might end paying a lot if the  shipping costs weren't capped. 

After placing your order, you will receive a receipt email and a confirmation order. They shipped immediately, and my parcel took a natural week, exactly, to get from QLD to Perth. Everything was safely packed and in perfect order.

WPT is, in a way, very similar to T2 regarding what they offer for sale, but its approach to business is completely different. WPT is more family-business style, more Zen and organically driven, less corporate and also less trendy regarding branding and image. To me, they are way better than T2 in several fronts:
- Organic herbal tisanes and Aryuvedic blends. They have a great variety of plain or blend herbal tisanes, some of them difficult to find elsewhere. I especially recommend the Australian Lemon Myrtle tea, which is fantastic in scent, flavour and on your stomach. However, their list of herbal teas is huge and you will certainly find those herbs that you like. 
- Variety of prices. 
  • They have different packaging sizes, from the 10 grs sampler (not all varieties, though) to the 250 grs (not all). If you are a fan of any of their products, you can save by ordering a big package. If you want to try something new, just pay for a sample. 
  • The sell their teas in bags or tins, the latter being more expensive for the same quantity of product. I buy the packets, which are made of foil and plastic, resealable, and they are great. 
  • Their tea ware is way less expensive than T2's, and in many cases way better in quality and prettier, at least for the average items.   
  • They have a small selection of tea and high-tea related books.
On the contrary, they have less variety of Oolong teas than T2 has, and a wider range of brewing tools.

Customer service is diligent, and they reply to any query you might have.

The main downsides of the online shop are:
1/ The FAQ area is useless, as it all about tea - the product. They could put that info elsewhere, and introduce here practical information for online shoppers, like:

  • Ways of shipping.
  • Price of shipping
  • International shipping?
  • Average delivery period.
  • Return policies.
2/ They do not send an email informing of shipping if you check out using standard or express check-out. Even if there is no tracking link to give, customers always want to know when exactly the order was shipped. The Order Status in Your Account area is worthless as shows as "processing" those orders that you have already received.
3/ Some of the photos do not zoom in, that is, you get the same small image you have pre-zooming. 

4/ The wish list is great, but it doesn't show the price of the item, so you have to click on the item and go to its specific page. The web designers could correct this easily. 

***
WPT is a terrific shop for tea lovers, organic herbs nerds, and explorers of the world of infusions, no matter you are just are buying for your own use and household, or a business owner looking for a specific unique blend for your business. They have a huge variety of tea-related products, good prices, a diligent customer service, and fast and safe shipping procedures. A great online shop with great products I am in love with! Still, they need to fix some of the flaws of their online tracking system. 

UPDATE
They do not sell pottery teaware, just those made of iron. What a pity.