frenchaucoeur

Sassy, that's another great idea. Their locations are a bit inconvenient to my hotel, but it may be worth it since they handle everything, including documentation. I'll look into it further.

Weisser Tee. I absolutely agree abour Dammann tea. I was lured by the window display into their shop in the rue d'Italie in Aix years ago, and I've been buying their tea ever since. As I said, my husband loves the MF Princeton Darjeeling, which is easily available here, thank goodness, at reasonable prices, as J62 notes. I've been buying it on the internet for years from a shop in San Francisco, and they've been very reliable.

ekscrunchy

When the hotel sent my things, I did not fill out any forms. If you do need a form, you only need to state how much the package is worth, and what is inside...it takes about 1 minute.

Are you shipping boxes or then metal tins?
Twenty boxes you can stuff into your suitcase.

Another options is to just buy a cheap suitcase and put them all inside and check it.

There is n problem bringing teas from France..I did it many times, and I've also shipped teas from South Africa.

frenchaucoeur

EK : Normally I’d agree and just carry the tins. But Paris is the first stop on my trip and I would have to carry them around for a couple of weeks to several destinations in the UK, plus the flight home. I’m traveling solo and had back surgery last fall from which I’m still not 100% recovered, so I want to minimize what I have to schlep.

sassy27

Frenchaucoeur that’s too bad MBE might not close to you. In other cities, I walked kind of far or took buses to their location as I just find them easy to use for my packages. They have all different size boxes and supplies and help with whatever documents you may need. This is why I am a returning customer.

When I mailed from Paris, I used the local post office which was not ideal. They didn’t have the size box I needed and it was more costly. It also wasn’t easy to find the shipping supplies I needed at an office supply store even after asking. I had the opportunity to use the US Embassy shipping but was told I had to have my own supplies. They were shocked when I showed up with what I was able to get,, a store employee gave me an empty box they were throwing away. My box weighed less than 12 pounds and maybe the size of a small ottoman. MBE always has the size I need and give all mailing options so you decide. I think the service I get from them is worth a bit of inconvenience so definitely keep them in mind if your initial plan doesn’t work. Good luck.

ekscrunchy

Oh, yes, I remember the Paris is your first stop, and you are buying the tins of loose tea....I would not want to drag those around with me, either!!

Do you mind naming some of your favorite MF teas? They have so many and I never know what to buy....the last one I bought, a tin of Emperor Chen Ning (not sure of spelling) is very nice. smoky. I used to buy a lot of Marco Polo but I think I want something more substantial now... If I like Earl Gray a lot, so bergamot, is there an MF tea that would be similar, but much better? I just like to read people's opinions so I can try something different.

A shop 2 blocks from my house sells MF but they have very few types....I think I paid about 22$US for one tin, but not positive about that.

tomboy

This discussion makes me wish I could ship some frozen Pain au Chocolat aux Amandes from a bakery in Provence.

frenchaucoeur

EK, I’m not a great fan of Earl Grey because I don’t like lemon. You might try Blue of London Earl Grey from’Palais des Thes. It’s a lovely Earl Grey with just bergamot. I really like it. Do note that it’s one of those teas with bits of dried flowers in it (I assume that’s the blue). But it has a really fresh, light taste.

i tried the MF Marco Polo tea and wasn’t wild about it. I tend not to like tea that has too much going on besides the tea! And one time we tried the Gunpowder tea- which we hated so much we actually threw it out.

One other tea you might like, and don’t laugh, is one from Maxim’s. I know Maxim’s is an overpriced joke these days, but I discovered this tea decades ago, and I love it. It’s basically a rich black tea with bergamot but no lemon, and it’s become an afternoon ritual for me. About a year ago, they changed the name (it’s now called Une Soirée chez Maxim’s - pretty cheesy), put it into fancy tins a third the size of the old red tins, and raised the price. It’s become hard to find here, and most places that do carry it sell it at an absurd markup measured against the current price-sometimes five times the Paris price. My one reliable reasonable source has stopped carrying it in favor of Palais des Thés products. That’s why I’m going to ship a ton of it back home from,Paris in June!

hope you find something you love. It’s just trial and error.

frenchaucoeur

EK, I get my MF tea from ZGO Parfumerie in San Francisco . They carry a huge range of MF tea. It probably works out close to the same price as buying directly from MF.

ekscrunchy

Thanks so much!! Do let us know how you fare!!

rosiecaro

For about 70 bucks you can go to the post office, buy a colissimo box, fill it to the brim, up to 14 pounds I believe, and ship your stuff home. With one exception and I’ve been doing this for about 10 years everything has showed up intact (this past year the box was battered and in a garbage bag, though everything was there) so I don’t see why all the confusion about. This it’s cheap, it’s easy ,and yeah ,you don’t have to schlep anything!

sassy27

I am someone who can appreciate a post like this. I have had 3 vastly different experiences when being in a similar situation.

The French post office, when asked, would only give me a box that fit 2 sweatshirts and a few very tiny items like pens. They saw what I had as I brought it all with me. It was certainly not even close to 14 pounds and just some of my clothes and souvenirs. I had to return back to my friend’s with the items that wouldn’t fit. I refused a second like that box. They also wouldn’t accept that I was there mailing it to myself. They insisted I have a Paris mailing from address which was a problem as I wasn’t staying at a hotel and didn’t know my friend’s address.

It very well could have been that I only speak English, I am not sure as I did read about a colissimo box from posting here but that wasn’t what I got. I know I kept asking for something bigger and maybe they just didn’t have it. I am like the OP, I always do as much research I can beforehand. It doesn’t always go like I think. I just never had this problem at MBE so thought it was worth mentioning along with my experiences . I always mail home the same amount or less when needed.

I am hoping it works out for just the tea.