Terms of Service

1. Who these terms cover

My Tea Explorer is a tea reference site: tea room guides by city, a tea brand directory, a tea catalog, brewing guides, a glossary and a quiz. These terms apply to anyone who reads the site, signs in, saves teas, writes a review or joins the newsletter. Using the site means you accept them. If you do not, stop using the site and, if you have an account, delete it from Settings.

2. Accounts and sign-in

There are no passwords. You sign in either with a one-time link we email to you or with your Google account. You are responsible for the inbox and the Google account you sign in with, because anyone who controls them can open your My Tea Explorer account.

• One person per account. Do not sign in as someone else.
• You must be at least 13 years old to create an account.
• You can delete your account at any time from Settings. Deleting it removes your profile, saved teas, tea room marks, tasting notes, badges and reviews.
• We may suspend or close an account that posts abusive or fake content or tries to break the site.

3. Saved teas, tasting notes and your portfolio

Signed-in users can mark teas as tried or wanted, rate them, add tasting notes, and mark tea rooms as visited or favorite. This is a personal log. It stays private unless you switch your profile to public in Settings, in which case your username, display name, bio, badges, portfolio counts and recent tea logs become visible to anyone with the link.

We do not promise to keep this data forever. Back up anything you cannot lose.

4. Reviews and other content you post

Reviews of teas and tea rooms, tasting notes, your bio and your display name are your content. You keep ownership of it. By posting it you give My Tea Explorer a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to show it on the site and in our newsletter, and to keep showing it until you delete it or your account.

When you post, you confirm that:

• It describes your own experience with that tea or tea room.
• You are not the owner, an employee or a paid promoter of the brand or venue you are reviewing.
• It contains no one else's private information, no copied text and nothing illegal.
• It is not spam, advertising or an attack on a person.

We can edit formatting, hide or delete any review or note that breaks these rules, without notice. Ratings shown on the site are averages of what users posted; we do not change them for anyone.

5. Newsletter

The newsletter is free and only goes to addresses that signed up. Every issue has an unsubscribe link that takes effect immediately. Unsubscribing does not delete your account, and deleting your account does not unsubscribe you, so do both if you want both.

6. Links to tea brands, sellers and tea rooms

Most tea pages link out to the brand or shop that sells that tea, and tea room listings link to the venue's own site or map listing. We do not run those sites. Orders, payments, shipping, returns and anything you share with them are between you and that business, under their terms.

7. No ads, no paid placement

My Tea Explorer currently runs no advertising and no affiliate program. Outbound links to tea sellers are plain links and pay us nothing. No brand or tea room can pay to be listed, ranked or reviewed.

If that changes, we will update these terms and the Privacy Policy first, and label paid links where they appear.

8. Tea room hours, prices and listings

Tea room hours, menus, prices and even whether a venue is still open change without warning. Tea prices, tin sizes and stock at online sellers change too. Our listings are a snapshot from the last time we checked. Confirm with the venue or seller before you travel or buy.

If a listing is wrong, tell us and we will correct it.

9. Caffeine, herbal teas and health

Caffeine amounts, steep times and any health notes on this site are general information, not medical advice. Caffeine per cup varies with the leaf, the water temperature and how long it steeps. Some herbal teas (tisanes) interact with medications or are not advised during pregnancy.

If you are pregnant, nursing, on medication, sensitive to caffeine or managing a health condition, ask a doctor or pharmacist before changing what you drink. Do not rely on this site for that decision.

10. How we write and illustrate the site

Articles and guides are drafted with AI writing tools and checked against the sources they cite. Mistakes still get through. Some illustrations are AI-generated and show tea, teaware or rooms in general; they are not photos of a specific product, package or venue.

11. Our content and acceptable use

The site's text, data, photos, illustrations, charts and code belong to My Tea Explorer or the people who licensed them to us. You may quote short passages with a link back. Do not:

• Copy pages, the tea catalog or the city guides in bulk, or scrape them with bots
• Overload the site, probe it for security holes or get around rate limits
• Create accounts or reviews automatically
• Use the site to break any law

12. No warranty

The site is provided as is. We do not promise it will always be online, free of errors, or that any listing, price, steep time or caffeine figure is correct for your situation.

13. Limits on our liability

To the extent the law allows, My Tea Explorer is not liable for indirect or consequential losses from using the site, including a wasted trip to a closed tea room, a purchase from a third-party seller, a reaction to a tea or herb, or lost account data.

If your use of the site or your posted content causes a claim against us, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of dealing with it.

14. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, USA. Any dispute goes to the state or federal courts in Texas. If a court strikes down one part of these terms, the rest still applies.

15. Changes

When we change these terms we update the effective date at the top of this page. Continuing to use the site after that date means you accept the new version.

16. Contact

Questions about these terms: email hello@myteaexplorer.com or use the contact form.