May 6th, 2024 marked 8 years since I started Tea Thoughts shop! I don’t always celebrate the shopaversary but this year’s came after a super busy weekend and I just had a feeling I couldn’t skip over it this year. Eight years, when I say it out loud it sounds a bit crazy! Since it’s been so long, I wanted to share some information and thoughts on running the shop. I’m celebrating in my shop with 30% off through 5/12 with code 8YEARS CELEBRATE ✨ CELEBRATE✨ CELEBRATE ✨ How It Started - The BlogMany of you have been my friends and supporters since the very start of the shop so you know how I got ..read more

Happy October! I know it may seem early to talk about holiday items now but it will take a long time to pack and ship holiday countdown boxes so I have to release them early! Additionally, mail is always a little slower during the holidays from the increase of packages going through the system! I also noticed that some brands much larger than me have already sold out of their calendars! Anyway, I wanted to share about the boxes because I am doing TWO boxes this year. I am doing the 12 day Winter Countdown that you know and love but I am also adding a 24 day stationery countdown/calendar! I de ..read more

Shipping, it’s a topic that is prevalent in all our lives as we do more and more online shopping. It’s also a topic that I don’t think many shoppers understand unless they’ve shipped items themselves. Throw in the fact that you can pay for a prime membership and get everything shipped “for free” and there is a huge misunderstanding about how shipping works. I’ve been running Tea Thoughts since 2016/2017 and while I don’t claim to know everything, I have learned a lot about shipping in the process. Before opening my shop, I also had a lot of experience shipping because I frequently sent package ..read more

I’m changing up the normal spotlight with something new! I had the pleasure of completing a design project for my friend Taniya over at Yoga Tea Poetry! I am honored that she chose me to bring her idea to life through my design and I’m excited to share the result with you and more about Taniya! This process was amazing, not just because I got to work with someone I already know well but because It was an incredible experience being able to create something that Taniya enjoyed and is now going to have available in her shop! Designing for someone else can be difficult because communicating a vis ..read more

I’m really excited to be doing a new kind of spotlight! While in the past I’ve done spotlights on small businesses and retailers, I want to now share a creator spotlight in honor of Pride month on Cody AKA The Oolong Drunk AKA our favorite tea show host! Learn more about Cody below and please check these links to his website and some of the pieces he’s written! The Oolong Drunk Recent Posts: White Tea Matcha A Begginer’s Guide to Gongfu Can you introduce yourself and The Oolong Drunk? My name is Cody and I’m known as The Oolong Drunk!! At the time of this interview, I’ve been blogging about t ..read more

I’m excited to share another retailer with you! You can now find a selection of Tea Thoughts goodies at The Tea Girl! Read below to learn more about Sarah and her shop! Can you introduce yourself and The Tea Girl?   Hello Tea Friends, my name is Sarah, but my friends know me as Sarah Teagirl! I have had this moniker for at least 15 years, much longer than the brand itself. Through The Tea Girl I create and flavour my own tea blends to sell online on my website, theteagirl.com, plus through local cafes and restaurants. Fun Fact, my license plate on my car was personalized as TEAGIRL l ..read more

INTRO I first learned about Onyx coffee when I was on the hunt for a coffee advent calendar. Throughout the years, I’ve tried different coffees to try to get a taste for it but it’s not really my thing so I stick to tea. My partner however loves coffee. While he does drink tea with me and enjoys it, he prefers to start his day with coffee. On the hunt for a coffee advent calendar in 2020, I cam across Onyx on Instagram. I liked the way they described their coffees and the information they gave about the beans. This is something I look at when I’m purchasing teas as well. There is also a story ..read more

I want to start off by saying that this post is not going to be discussing the merits of whether claims about tea are true or false. I’ve been thinking a lot about the narrative around this topic for a while. As tea has become more popular, you can find it in all different forms and you can find it in many more locations than before. When I go to the grocery store, the tea choices seem to have doubled! This means, more companies are either getting into the business of tea or are adding tea as a product to their offerings. With this increase, I have also noticed that health benefits of tea are ..read more

Where did it all start? It’s hard to believe but I started Tea Thoughts almost 6 years ago! It was May 2016 and I took the leap to finally start an etsy shop. It’s something that I had wanted to do all throughout college but was scared and intimidated by what came with starting a shop. By this point, I had been writing a little on my blog for a few months and decided to have both the blog and the shop. My shop was called Tea Thoughts Shop, but at the start it didn’t really involve too many tea related items. I was doing a whole range of things that helped satisfy my creative itch. I created cu ..read more

Can you please introduce yourself and Chufunyu?  I am Henri Lin and I have co-founded CHUFUNYU with my brother Kuan Lin. As Taiwanese growing up in Canada and the United States, we have always been fascinated by the clash of cultures. As we were exposed to a variety of different customs, traditions, and ways of life, we were drawn to the idea of bringing these different influences together through a product brand focused on modern teaware. We wanted to create a line of beautifully crafted, functional modern teaware that incorporates traditional elements from the East a ..read more