The United States is not a particularly tea-centric culture. There’s a tidbit that should come as no news flash to anyone. But even if we take this into consideration, it’s important to remember that we Americans have access to a staggering variety of tea. It may be the junky stuff in tea bags that we buy at the local grocery store or a decent quality loose leaf brand from a specialty store or a top of the line rare premium tea that that can only be had through mail order.

While such an embarrassment of tea-related riches can hardly be viewed as a bad thing, it can present a problem, specifically when it comes to deciding what tea to buy. If you drop a couple bucks on something from the grocery store and it turns out to be a dud that’s not really a big deal. If you’ve spent a good bit more – plus shipping – then a lousy tea can be a more significant loss.

If you’re looking for some guidance on what tea to buy there are a number of tea review sites that can be of assistance. We took a brief look at some of them here, but there are a few of the larger ones that are worth taking a closer look at.

Like Teaviews, for instance, which bills itself as “the largest tea review site on the web” and “an online collective of tea lovers and reviewers from across the United States and Canada.” As of this writing, the site lists its stats as follows, “3,701 Tea Reviews Published — 2,677 Varieties & Blends — 198 Tea Companies”. Which makes for a great starting point for anyone heading out to go tea shopping.

Teaviews is run by Stephen Ryder, who serves as the editor of the site and who is assisted by a cast of thousands. Okay, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but if you ever doubted the power of free tea samples, not to mention seeing your opinions in “print”, consider that there are currently more than 50 reviewers listed on the Teaviews contributors page.

Don’t forget to check out William’s blog, Tea Guy Speaks!