# Sending Tea to the USA



## Ash (15 Jan 2009)

Does anyone know if there are any restrictions on sending tea by post to the USA?

A thirsty Irish family living there would love to have some genuine Barry's teabags to make their morning cuppa!


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## sparkeee (15 Jan 2009)

be careful this caused a war once.


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## mathepac (16 Jan 2009)

Send either McGrath's or another Irish breakfast loose-leaf tea blend. That rubbish in tea-bags was responsible for switching me permanently to coffee. Barry's Tea bags are available in supermarkets on the East Coast, New England and Chicago.
The internet is your friend - here's a selection of sites that send hampers, including tea AFAIK, no affiliation, just a list

[broken link removed]

http://www.foodireland.com

[broken link removed]

[broken link removed]


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## Ash (16 Jan 2009)

Thanks guys for the thoughts and all the research.

Who knew there were so many companies offering hampers? 

Even though they have .ie addresses, I wonder if they source their goods IN the US and not in Ireland?  During the pig food crisis before Christmas I remember hearing it revealed that Galtee Hampers didn't actually contain Irish bacon products, but rather Danish products!  

So, IF the hampers are actually sourced in Ireland and mailed from here, I guess it means tea is okay to send that way.  
But it wasn't really a big hamper I had in mind at the moment though.  Just a couple boxes of Barry's Tea and wondering would there be a problem sending this foodstuff through the post to the US.  I understand countries can have restrictions on foodstuffs, seeds and the like.  Would not like to have the innocent leaves impounded!

Does anyone know for sure?


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## Bronte (16 Jan 2009)

Send them the biggest box of Barry's you can find or two or three if you can, they are fairly lightweight so postage shouldn't be too bad.


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## Smashbox (16 Jan 2009)

I have to add my two cents here...

Your best bet is to remove all the tea bags from the box, and seal in a ziplock plastic bag. Unassemble the box, leaving it flat but able to re-assemble at the other end. Place this into a Jiffy envelope. Fill out one of those green Declaraitions stickers, available at the post office, fill in your name, tick the 'gift' option, in description write 'teabags from home!' and put a value of maybe $5 in...

Its cheaper to send an envelope than a parcel which would be what the fully assembled box would be, including the box shows that they are genuine tea bags, and filling in a declairation just makes everything a lot easier.


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## govinda (16 Jan 2009)

I've sent boxes of Whittard tea to colleagues in Oklahoma from Dublin with no problems, should be fine!


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## Vanilla (16 Jan 2009)

I sent a big box of Taytos to my brother in the US for Christmas- the local PO told me they would be confiscated at Customs and probably returned but I told them I would take the risk. I declared them as 'taytos' on the customs declaration bit and they were in a big Taytos box sent as it was with just an address label. Got through no problem.


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## Ash (16 Jan 2009)

Thank you all for writing about your experiences in this area.  
Smashbox, I was thinking exactly that about the best way to pack the tea.
I'll go ahead with the package and hope for the best!

Thank you all for your contributions.


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## Simeon (16 Jan 2009)

Not forgetting that after they chucked all the tea into the harbour, the people of America got used to drinking boiled water and have been enjoying it ever since!


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## Smashbox (16 Jan 2009)

Good luck Ash, let us know how you get on! You really should have no problems at all.


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