FAQ

If you are looking for Rishi Tea & Botanicals we encourage you to check the tea aisle of your local grocery store or ask for it at your local coffee shop. Our products can often be found at Whole Foods, Cost Plus World Market, Wegmans, The Fresh Market, Sprouts, Publix and many other local grocers.

If you are interested in seeing Rishi offerings in a market, cafe, or store near you, please share with your local merchant!

Rishi is an online and wholesale retailer. You can place your order directly from our online store or find us at select markets, retail stores, cafes, restaurants and hotels.

We are unable to retroactively apply discounts once an order has been placed.

Discounts and/or promotions cannot be stacked. If you’ve already taken advantage of a discount or promotion, we will not be able to apply another one to your order.

In effort to get our customers their orders as fast as possible, your order is immediately sent to our fulfillment team and we are unable to make changes to the order details, including address changes, item changes, and cancellation requests. 

FedEx is our preferred shipper for all contiguous US orders. We offer multiple FedEx options to ensure convenient delivery to a range of addresses. If you are unable to receive FedEx deliveries, contact us at Customer Service or 844-467-4744 to place your order.

Orders shipping to APO, AK, HI, AA, AP, AS, FM, GU, MH, MP, PW, PR, VI are shipped via US Postal Service. During checkout, USPS shipping will automatically apply to orders going to regions listed above.

At this time, we do not ship internationally outside of the U.S. or Canada.

If you are interested in Rishi products outside of North America, please contact us and we will evaluate the possibility of international shipping.

Yes! We do ship Canadian orders via Delivery Duty Paid (DDP) shipping through FedEx. Duties and fees are collecting during checkout.

A shipping confirmation will be sent to your email when your order ships. This email includes either a FedEx or USPS tracking number. 

You can also follow your order through your account on our website, you can find tracking information under “My Account” > “Past Orders / Shipments”.

Orders sent via FedEx can be tracked with the tracking number provided in your shipping confirmation email here- FedEx Tracking

Orders sent via USPS can be tracked with the tracking number provided in your shipping confirmation email here- USPS Tracking

Pending Status 
When packages enter high volume facilities, FedEx automatically updates the expected delivery date to pending. Once your package enters a lower volume facility, a new expected delivery date will be generated. 

 
Strange Routing 
With FedEx Economy shipments, you may follow your package updates and notice that it has gone a strange way, or seemingly away from your address during its journey. 

These packages must be sorted through certain facilities, and this may be why you see a strange direction on your tracking details. This process may also add additional transit days to your order. Be assured once sorted, it will arrive soon. 


Extended Transit Times 
We do our best to provide estimated times in transit, but please note transit time vary by carrier and distance, delivery may be extended past estimated days in transit. Please allow ample time for your order to arrive. 

We work hard to ensure orders are filled correctly and completely, and all items are packaged carefully to prevent breakage. If you experience any problem with your order, please contact our customer service team for assistance. We’re happy to rectify any problems to ensure your satisfaction.

As a Safe Quality Foods (SQF) facility, we are unable to accept returns or exchanges.

If you are not satisfied with our products or feel the quality of our products is less than expected, please contact our customer service within 45 days of your date of purchase. We will need the lot code and photos of the issue to process your inquiry.

Please note that because we are unable to control the quality of our products sold by unauthorized sellers, unless otherwise prohibited by law, our Guarantee is not available for products purchased from unauthorized sellers, including unauthorized internet sites/third-party marketplace storefronts.  If you have any questions regarding whether a seller is an authorized seller of our products, please contact our customer service.

Rishi Tea & Botanicals is dedicated to sourcing only the highest quality products and your experience is important to us. If you are not satisfied with our products or feel the quality of our products is less than expected, please contact our customer service within 45 days of your date of purchase. We reserve the right to evaluate situations on a case-by-case basis.

Please note, as an agricultural product, some seasonal variance is to be expected in the flavor profiles of tea. For this reason, we recommend purchasing smaller quantities such as our “Teaser” sample size, ensuring the tea is to your liking before committing to larger bags. For insight into the most recent crop tasting notes, our Customer Service team can help.

If you purchased your tea from a third-party retailer, we kindly ask you to first contact the retailer from which you purchased the items for the resolution of all product-related issues. If you are not satisfied with the resolution offered by the retailer from which you purchased your tea, please contact our customer service with your proof of purchase.

Enjoy 20% cash back on your first order when you sign up for emails and text messages from Rishi. CashBack can be redeemed as a Visa prepaid gift card or a digital gift card for Rishi-Tea.com. CashBack cannot be used with other discounts or offers.

Once signing up for emails and text messages from Rishi, you will receive a link via email and text which will automatically apply CashBack on your first order (no code required). Proceed to complete checkout and you will receive an email to redeem your CashBack reward. Please be sure to use the same email address you used to sign up for emails when placing your order.

After a qualifying purchase, you will receive a confirmation email to redeem your CashBack. Select between a Visa prepaid gift card or a digital gift card for Rishi-Tea.com, and you will receive an email with your reward, which will be available for use once the 30 day holding period ends.

There is no discount code associated with applying CashBack to your first order. You will receive a link via email and text message to auto-apply your CashBack offer to the qualifying order.

You will receive an email with instructions to redeem your CashBack. If you can no longer locate that message, please contact us to assist.

To deter fraud, the CashBack program includes a 30-day holding period. You may redeem your CashBack reward once that period has lapsed.

Caffeine is one of three stimulating alkaloids found in tea, the others being theobromine and theophylline. Theobromine is a mild stimulant found in greater concentration in chocolate.

In general, a brewed cup of tea has about 1/3 to 1/2 the caffeine of a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee has about 100-120 mg per 8 ounces. Most teas fall between 20-50 mg per 8 ounces. Contrary to popular myth, this average is true regardless of the type of tea (green tea, black tea, etc). This makes sense when you consider that all true tea is made from a single plant species, Camellia sinensis.

The cultivar or “cultivated variety,” is one of the most significant factors determining how much caffeine might be available in any given tea. Broad-leaf variety teas grown in Yunnan and Southeast Asia contain more caffeine than small-leaf varieties. But with hundreds of cultivars in existence, the range varies greatly.

Caffeine is more readily extracted at higher temperatures, so brewing tea at a higher temperature or for a longer period of time will result in a higher concentration of caffeine in your cup. For this reason, cold brew teas can contain less caffeine.

The six tea types are differentiated by their processing steps. The techniques used to process fresh tea leaves– such as rolling, firing, oxidizing, or drying– do not alter caffeine on a molecular level, and thus they do not affect the amount of caffeine contained in the fresh leaf. Teas that undergo baking or roasting in their final stages, such as Houjicha or Iron Goddess of Mercy, may lose some caffeine by pyrolysis, where the caffeine molecule is literally baked out of the tea leaves. In general, the processing methods do not affect caffeine content so various types of tea can have similar levels of caffeine. 

A greater factor influencing the amount of caffeine potential in tea is the cultivar of the tea plant. The brewing technique also plays a large role in determining how much caffeine is extracted into the final cup. 

We worked with an independent lab to measure the caffeine content of our packaged teas. The teas were brewed according to our recommended brewing instructions for temperature and infusion time, and then the caffeine content of the infusion was measured. We found that most teas registered within three tiers: 

LOW: < 20 mg / 8oz cup 
MEDIUM: 20 – 40 mg / 8oz cup 
HIGH: > 40 mg / 8oz cup 

An average cup of coffee contains about 90 – 120 mg / 8oz cup.

A decent amount! After a first 4-5 minute infusion, most teas have only released 30-50% of their total caffeine. The tea leaves will release the remaining caffeine in subsequent infusions. 

There are some variables, of course. If a tea is made of very small leaves and leaf particles, more surface area is exposed to water, and more caffeine will come out in the cup. The water temperature also affects the extraction rate greatly. 

No. It takes several minutes to extract significant amounts of caffeine from the leaf. Using higher temperature water and a longer infusion time will yield more caffeine in the cup. By contrast, cooler water and short infusion times do not extract as much caffeine. 

Tea is known to create a more even, sustained lift compared to the buzz and crash of coffee. There are several reasons for this. 

First, the amount of caffeine in tea is about 1/3 to 1/2 that of coffee. The peak of the tea high does not spike as high as the coffee jolt. 

Secondly, there are other compounds in tea, such as l-theanine, that are attributed to relaxation.  L-theanine is thought to evoke a feeling of relaxation.   

Rishi tea sachets are made from a plant-based material called polylactic acid (or PLA for short). PLA is made by breaking down starches found in plant sources like corn and sugarcane.