The current edition reads 7,306 products from 39 vendors and keeps 4,652 of them. Prices were listed on October 1, 2026. Pound and Canadian-dollar prices use the ECB rate of September 30, 2026.
The index is the median listed price per gram of loose-leaf tea and tisane sold online by specialty tea vendors, in US dollars. Per gram is the only unit that compares a 25 g pouch of Taiwanese oolong with a 357 g cake of puer. Multiply by 3 for a rough cost per Western-style cup, or by 5–7 for a gongfu session.
Every price comes from the public product feeds of the vendors in our catalog (the /products.json listing that Shopify stores publish), fetched on the date shown as "as of". We record the listed price, the pack size and whether the vendor shows the item in stock. We do not use sale prices from emails, coupon codes, shipping or tax. The vendor list, with the date each one was checked, is published with the data.
We keep only tea and tisane leaf: teaware, gift cards, subscriptions, multi-tea samplers, bottled drinks and food are removed by rule, and each rule has test cases. For each product we use one pack size: in stock, at least 20 g, closest to 100 g. Samples under 20 g are left out because small packs cost several times more per gram and would pull the median up. Products with no stated weight (counts of sachets or servings) are left out of the price figures.
Each tea gets one type (green, white, yellow, oolong, black, sheng or shou puer, dark, matcha, herbal, rooibos, blend, chai or flavored) from its name, the vendor's product type and its tags, in that order of trust. Origin comes from the name, tags and the opening of the description. Puer without a stated origin is counted as Yunnan, the region the Chinese standard for the name requires. In our last hand check of 50 random rows, the type was right in 49.
Most vendors price in US dollars. Prices in pounds and Canadian dollars are converted at the European Central Bank reference rate for the date shown, so a move in the exchange rate can move those vendors' figures without a price change.
A median per gram says nothing about quality, and the catalog over-represents vendors with large puer lists. The breakdowns by type and origin are the fairer comparison. Groups with fewer than 15 teas are not published, and brand medians need at least 10 teas.
Each month gets one edition, tied to the catalog version it was calculated from. Editions are not rewritten after the month ends. If we find an error in a published figure, we add a dated correction with the before and after values rather than changing the number silently.
2,654 of the 7,306 products read (36%) did not make the index: they were out of stock, had no stated weight, or came only in packs under 20 g. The type mix below is why the all-tea median should be read next to the type medians, not instead of them.
Enter the price and weight printed on a pack. We divide, then find its bucket and tier.
Spotted a wrong type, origin or weight? Email hello@myteaexplorer.com with the product link. Corrections to published figures are dated and listed below the citation block.
Prices read from vendor stores on . The figures are a dated snapshot, not live prices: put the date next to any number you quote.
Short credit (chart caption)
Source: My Tea Explorer Loose Leaf Index, October 2026
APA 7 reference
My Tea Explorer. (2026, October 1). The Loose Leaf Index: Median price per gram of specialty loose-leaf tea [Data set]. https://myteaexplorer.com/tea-price-index
License: CC BY 4.0. You may reuse and chart these medians, commercial use included, if you credit My Tea Explorer and link to the Loose Leaf Index. How each figure is built: methodology.
| Edition | Snapshot date | Median per gram | Teas | Vendors | Files |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | $0.30/g | 4,652 | 39 |