FAQ

Can you tell me about your shipping?

All items can be shipped locally or nationally. On orders over $85, we ship for free via the United Sates Postal Service.  Depending on where you live and the mail service, it usually takes 2-5 days for the tea or products to get there.  For orders under $85, you will have a choice of shipping options depending on the weight of the package and how quickly you'd like to receive it. For international shipping, please see our International Shipping blog post.

What are my options for buying loose leaf tea if I'm local?

1. You are welcome to visit our tea shop in downtown Kirkland to shop for tea and tea accessories in person. Our address is 115 Kirkland Ave and for parking and hours visit the Find Us page. 

2. You can also order online and pick up your order in the shop. We have enabled a new option in the checkout for picking your order up at our store (the discount code CURBSIDE no longer applies). We will email you when your order is ready to pickup. Picking up your order at the shop will waive any shipping fees.

3. You can order online and pay for shipping. Or if you spend over $85, the shipping is free.

How do I apply a discount code when I'm using PayPal?

When you're ready to checkout, click the "Check out with Pay Pal" button. You will be taken to PayPal's site and asked to log in with your credentials. Pick a shipping address and then click the "Pay Now" button. You will be returned to our site where you can confirm or modify the shipping address and you will be able to enter a discount code. The discount will take effect when you enter a correct code. After entering a correct code, your PayPal account will only be charged the discounted amount. We apologize for and agree that this is not an ideal flow, but we have restrictions on how we can work this when using PayPal's checkout option. If you have any questions or concerns about this process, please let us know!

Do you sell tea bags?

We carry paper tea filters which you can use to make your own tea bags with the loose leaf tea and many types of infusers which are re-usable.

How do I make tea with all these crazy leaves?

It's best to use some sort of filter.  "Permanent" filters are known as "Infusers".  You put the recommended amount of tea (usually 1 tsp for black or denser teas, 1 tbsp for white or "fluffier" teas) in the infuser, put the correct temperature water in your mug or pot, and then drop the infuser inside for the recommended amount of time.  We suggest a timer to keep track of your steeping time (if you're busy people like us, we find it's easy to get distracted without a timer to remind us).  

We have a number of infusers in our Teaware section that you can use in a variety of cups, mugs and pots. We also have mugs, tea pots and iced tea pitchers that include infusers. You can also use tea bags or paper filters, which we also carry. For many of our teas, especially our whites and greens, you can resteep several times.  In these cases, you'll want to save the leaves for the next cup.  Then, when you're done with that set of leaves, just dump them into your compost bin!

How do I measure the temperature of my water?

We recommend starting with boiling water which is a good temperature for most black and herbal teas. If you are steeping green or white teas, you can add a touch of room-temperature filtered water to cool off your water from the boiling temperature.  Another rule of thumb is to put the boiling water into your cup or pot and let it sit. On average, it'll drop about 10° for every minute it sits. So, if you want 180° water, let it sit for about 3 minutes. Of course, if you want to be sure, most kitchen or latte thermometers work reasonably well.

How should I store my tea?

Don't leave it at your mother's house - she'll drink it all because it's nummy!  But seriously, tea is best stored in a light-proof, air-tight container.  This will keep your tea fresh and flavorful for a long time.  The bags we ship our teas in do an excellent job of protecting your favorite teas.  You can also get some air-tight, light-tight tea tins.

When I order whole-leaf tea, what do I get?

Unless you've ordered a gift box, we'll send you an appropriately-sized bag of tea. It'll look like the picture to the right. You may notice that there are two labels - that's intentional! The top label is a permanent label, but the bottom one is a removable label. That's right, removable. You can transfer the label over to a tin or another storage container. Each label has the name of the tea, its ingredients and the steeping instructions.

The bags are great for long-term storage, but if you're like us and have more than a few in the cupboard, they can be a bit unruly to manage. So we often put ours in tins and we don't want our valuable customers having to scramble around to keep their favorite teas organized - just peel off the label and put it on the tin!

Do LizzyKate's teas make a nice gift?

Of course! For your friends and family who are tea drinkers, our high quality loose leaf teas will impress them and we're pretty sure we have some unusual teas they may not have tried before. For friends and family who are new to tea or maybe only use tea bags, we have some great starter teas, a Tea of the Month Club and accessories to complement the tea. Tea gifts are a great idea for that hard-to-buy-for person.

Tea is also a healthy gift and a thoughtful year round gift. Of course, we think tea is perfect for every holiday. Here are some suggestions:

• Holiday gifts: teas and accessories 
• Valentine's Day: tea + chocolate
• Mother's Day: tea + a glass teapot
• 4th of July: tea + iced tea pitcher
• Birthday or anniversary gifts: tea + mug or two
• Hostess gifts: tea + infuser

What's the best way to make iced tea?

Cold Brew!  See our cold-brewing blog post.