Shipping, Return, Cancellation, and Matcha Specific Policies

Shipping & Fulfillment

While we're often faster, please allow up to five business days after the day you place your order for processing and fulfillment, and longer during busy seasons. Processing happens before your package is handed to the carrier, so it comes before transit time, including for Priority and other expedited shipping. Carrier delays are common right now, and delivery estimates are the carrier's, not ours. We cannot guarantee any specific delivery timeframe, regardless of the carrier's estimate.

Wholesale orders aren't eligible for free shipping promotions.

Matcha and hot weather. Matcha is the most fragile tea in the world, and heat dulls its color and aroma. We keep ours sealed and cool and we order in small, frequent lots so that it reaches you as fresh as possible. But once it leaves our warehouse we have no control over what happens to it in transit or while it waits on your doorstep. Please be advised that shipping matcha during the warm months involves some risk.

In warm months, please choose the fastest shipping possible, have your order sent somewhere it can be brought inside quickly, and open it as soon as it arrives. At home, keep unopened tins sealed, dark, and cool, and once opened, use the matcha within a few weeks.

Lost, late, or stolen packages. If your tracking hasn't updated in several days, or it shows delivered and you can't find your package, email us within 14 days of the ship date. Packages lost or misdelivered may be covered by Shipsurance. Any replacement or refund depends on the outcome of that claim. We can't replace or refund packages that are stolen after delivery, so please ship to an address where someone can receive your package. We're not responsible for delays caused by carriers, weather, or other unforeseen events.

Packages held for pick up. If no one can receive your package or UPS has trouble getting to your address, they may take it to a UPS Access Point (often a CVS, Michael's, or UPS Store) and hold it there for you to come pick up. UPS usually leaves a notice at your door and updates your tracking, but they may not email or text you unless you're signed up for UPS My Choice, so please keep an eye on your tracking and collect your order as soon as it arrives. 

UPS holds packages for seven calendar days and then returns them to us. If your order comes back unclaimed, we're happy to reship it once you've paid the new shipping and any fees the carrier charges, or to refund it minus the original shipping and any fees the carrier charges. 

Please double check your shipping address before you order. We ship to the address you enter at checkout and can't change it once your order has been fulfilled.

Return Policies

We'll refund or replace an item if it's not what you ordered, if it's missing from your package, or if it arrived damaged. We don't accept returns for personal preference and opened tea can't be returned. Heritage brand matchas (e.g. Yamamasa Koyamaen, Marukyu Koyamaen, Kanbayashi Shunsho, Hekisuien, etc.) are final sale.

Report problems within 10 days. Please email emily@thesteepingroom.mom with your order number within 10 days of the date your order was delivered (or, for local pickups, the date your order was fulfilled). We can't consider requests made after this 10-day window.

What to send us. For damaged items, send clear photos of all sides of the shipping box, the shipping label, the inside of the box showing how the items were packed (including the packing materials), and each damaged item. Carriers require these photos to process a claim, so we can't approve a damage claim without them. For missing or incorrect items (including a tea that doesn't match its label), send a photo of everything that arrived in the box, along with the packing slip. We weigh and check every order before it ships, and we compare your claim against our records. An unboxing video is the best way to support a missing item claim, and we may ask for more information before approving one. Please keep all packaging until your claim is resolved.

What counts as damage. Damage means physical damage you can see and photograph, such as a crushed, broken, torn, punctured, or leaking item or package. Changes in color, aroma, or flavor aren't grounds for a refund or replacement, because we have no way to know whether they came from heat in transit (see Shipping & Fulfillment above), storage after delivery, or natural variation between harvests. If you believe a tea is truly defective (for example, signs of moisture or mold, or glass, metal, or plastic in the tea), email us within the same 10-day window with photos and a description. We'll review it case by case, and any remedy is at our discretion.

Returning an item. Please don't send anything back without contacting us first. We can't accept returns we haven't approved. If we ask you to return an item, it must be unused and must reach our warehouse within 10 business days of our reply. When the mistake was ours or the item arrived damaged, we'll cover the return shipping, and in many cases we won't need the item back. Any other return we agree to is at our discretion, and return shipping is your responsibility. If your original order shipped free, we'll deduct the original shipping cost from your refund.

About tea. Tea is an agricultural product, so some seasonal variance in flavor and appearance is to be expected across different harvests. This variation isn't a defect. We recommend buying a smaller quantity first to make sure you enjoy a tea before committing to a larger purchase. 

Puerh and other compressed teas. Puerh cakes, bricks, and tuo cha are handmade, sun-dried, and stone- or machine-pressed, often in small village workshops. It's very common to find small bits of natural material pressed into them, such as twigs, stems, bamboo husk, fibers from the wrapper or pressing cloth, and the occasional hair. Leaves from old and wild trees often show bug damage, like small holes or bitten edges, since these trees are rarely sprayed. Aged puerh can also develop frost, a fine white bloom on the surface of the cake that's a normal part of aging. Frost is different from mold, which is fuzzy or raised, often green, yellow, or black, and smells musty. If you're not sure which you're seeing, email us photos. We recommend checking the leaves as you break up the cake and giving the tea a quick rinse before your first steep. Many of our puerhs are years or decades old, and their wrappers show it. Expect creases, tears, missing pieces, stains, fading, discoloration, and marks from storage. The wrapper's condition doesn't reflect the quality of the tea inside, and cake weights can vary slightly from the stated weight. None of these are defects or grounds for a refund or replacement.

Final sale. Sale, clearance, and discounted items, tea subscriptions, and gift cards can't be returned or refunded. We don't offer price adjustments on past orders when an item later goes on sale.

Matcha Specific Policies

Our goal is to offer top tier matcha at a fair price to as many people as we can. Because of this, matcha products bought through our retail site may not be resold, in original packaging or repackaged. Approved wholesale accounts are covered by their own terms (see Wholesale Orders below).

Purchase limits. We enforce two purchase limits on several heritage brand matchas: one per household for most individual items, and a maximum of four heritage brand matcha products within any three day period. A household means any orders sharing a shipping address, billing address, name, email address, phone number, or payment method. Orders that exceed either limit are cancelled in their entirety, without fulfillment, and refunded in full. This includes orders placed under different names or accounts to get around the limits. Everyone wants matcha right now, and this is how we keep it available to as many people as possible.

Final sale. Heritage brand matchas (for example Marukyu Koyamaen, Yamamasa Koyamaen, Kanbayashi Shunsho, and Hekisuien) are final sale and aren't eligible for refunds, replacements, or discounts for personal preference. This includes minor cosmetic damage that doesn't affect the matcha itself, such as dents or scuffs on tins, dented boxes, or matcha dust on the outside of a bag. Please see Shipping & Fulfillment above for how heat and transit affect matcha, and what we recommend in warm weather.

We reserve the right to cancel any matcha order we reasonably believe is intended for resale, and to decline future matcha orders from customers who have violated these policies.

Teaware

Much of our teaware is handmade, so no two pieces are exactly alike. Variation in color, glaze, clay, size, capacity, lid fit, pour speed, and small marks from the kiln or the maker's hand is part of the piece, not a defect. Product photos show a representative example, and the piece you receive may look slightly different.

Teaware that arrives damaged is covered by our Return Policies above, including the 10-day window and photo requirements. Teaware that has been used can't be returned.

We can't replace or refund teaware that breaks or cracks after delivery, including from drops, sudden temperature changes, dishwashers, microwaves, or direct heat. 

Tea Club

Tea Club renews automatically  and is charged on the billing date shown in your account portal. You can skip a month, pause, or cancel anytime through your account portal before your next billing date. Changes take effect with the next billing cycle, and we can't refund a box once you've been charged for it. Prepaid memberships aren't refundable.

If a Tea Club box arrives damaged, is missing items, or is lost in transit, the same 10-day reporting window and photo requirements apply. Because each month's teas are selected in limited quantities, we may substitute a tea of equal or greater value if the original is no longer available.

Wholesale Orders

Wholesale orders are available to approved business accounts and are covered by the terms provided when your account is approved. Unless your wholesale terms say otherwise, wholesale orders can't be cancelled once fulfilled, and damaged, missing, or incorrect items must be reported within 48 hours of delivery with the photos described above. Wholesale orders aren't eligible for free shipping promotions.

Local Pick Ups

We're open for local pickups of online orders Monday through Friday 9:30 am to 3:00 pm and Sunday 10 am to 2 pm (except holidays). Please wait for your pickup notification before coming in.

Because our teas are weighed, packaged, and labeled to order, pickup orders are completed, custom work. Orders must be picked up within 3 weeks of your pickup notification, and we'll send a reminder before your pickup window closes. We can't refund orders that aren't collected in time, but we're happy to ship uncollected orders to you once you've paid the shipping costs.

Please check your order when you pick it up. The 10-day reporting window for missing, incorrect, or damaged items starts on the date your order was fulfilled.

Order Cancellation

If you need to cancel your order before it's fulfilled, email us right away at emily@thesteepingroom.mom with your order number, and wait for our confirmation reply. We need an accurate order number to find your order. An order isn't cancelled until we confirm it, and once an order has been fulfilled, we can't cancel it.

Orders we may cancel. We may cancel all or part of any order, and refund you in full for anything cancelled, if the order exceeds our purchase limits, if an item was listed at the wrong price or is out of stock, if we suspect fraud or resale, if the order is being shipped to a freight forwarder or package reshipping service, or if the order otherwise violates these policies.

Incorrect addresses. If your order comes back to us because of an incorrect or incomplete address, we're happy to cancel and refund it (minus any shipping, return, and carrier fees) on request, or to reship it once you've paid the reshipping costs and any carrier fees. Orders returned to us that aren't claimed within 30 days will be refunded minus these fees.

Refunds. We process approved refunds to your original payment method within 3 business days. Your bank or card issuer then usually takes 5 to 10 business days to post it, and that timing is out of our hands. Refunds never exceed the amount you paid for the order.

Taxes, Tariffs, Duties, and Handling Fees for International Orders

Any fees, taxes, tariffs, or duties that your customs agency or post office adds to the cost of delivery must be paid by you directly. We have no way to predict or cover these costs. You're responsible for knowing whether the products you order can be imported into your country.

If you refuse a shipment to avoid these costs, or it's returned to us because it wasn't collected, [we'll refund the cost of your items minus the original shipping, the return shipping, and any carrier fees / no refund is issued]. We're not responsible for packages delayed, opened, damaged, or seized by customs.

Freight forwarders. If you use a forwarder for your order, our responsibility ends when the carrier delivers your package to the forwarder's address, and any claims for loss or damage after that are between you and the forwarder.

Billing Disputes

If something's wrong with your order, please contact us before disputing a charge with your bank. We can usually fix the problem faster than a dispute can. If a dispute is filed, we'll respond with our order, shipping, and communication records.

Changes to These Policies

We may update these policies from time to time. The version posted on this page when you place your order applies to that order. If you have questions about any of these policies, email emily@thesteepingroom.mom before you order.