For all of the travellers who are mourning the absence of Fortnum and Mason tea in their lives, you can now order it online! Go to www.fortnumandamson-usa.com and they will ship F&M tea to the US for you!

Maybe this would make great Christmas gifts? Enjoy your wonderful cup of tea on a cold winter's day!

It would have to be a very very cold winter's day for me to shell out $75 for a hundred tea bags + $5 shipping + $5 per order charge. The Twinings from down at the Kroger will just have to do for now.

Or my favorite, Tetley's British Blend -- good and strong, but very affordable. Just don't tell my Irish ancestor's that I said that.

http://www.bluemoontea.com/teas.htm

Try this link to try Market Spice Tea from Pike Street Market in Seattle, it sounds like it might be a great subsitute for the Fortunm and Mason Tea...rich full bodied and flavorful enough that you need add nothing to it.

On the occasions I feel like sending a gift of tea to a friend or family member, I use http://www.alltea.com. Their prices and selections are the best I've encountered on the web. It was there that I read this:

"Fortnum & Mason has made a corporate decision to suspend distribution of their teas in the United States, effective immediately."

It would seem the "corporate decision" was a strategy of eliminating the ordinary distribution channels, taking a product's wholesale price and multipying by at least a factor of 5, then waiting patiently for kooky North Americans to place orders at the obscene new prices.

No thanks - don't think so, not me.