F.A.Q

For US and Canadian orders:

Shipping for orders of $60.00 or more is free!

For orders less than $60.00, transportation is $11.75.

For orders outside of these two countries, prices may vary. Please contact us by email to get the cost and we will answer you shortly.

Yes. Shipment is available outside Canada and the US, however it is not through our website. Please email us directly if you’d like your products shipped internationally. Please note that rates and delivery times are determined by the shipper.

Residents of Canada are required to pay sales taxes on shipping costs, books and accessories. There are no sales taxes on spices and teas.

No. However, when ordering from Spice Trekkers it is possible that your shipment may be inspected by your local customs department and that extra charges might apply. However, because this practice is not systematic, we cannot inform you whether or not your spices will inspected by the customs agents in your country.

We ship orders made from Canada via Canada Post and orders made from the United States via UPS.

Orders shipped within Canada are usually delivered in 3 to 5 business days. Expect orders destined for the United States to be delivered within 5 to 7 business days.

Sorry, we are big believers in gift giving but unfortunately are not equipped to gift wrap.

We take great pride and care in choosing our products and can appreciate that our tastes may not be the same as yours.

We can understand that you may not appreciate the taste of a product that you ordered. Unfortunately we do not accept returns based on the likes and dislikes of our customers.

On the other hand, should the product you ordered be flawed, damaged or should a shipping error have occurred, we would be more than happy to correct the situation to the best of our ability.

We are reasonable people, so should anything have gone wrong please contact us at [email protected] and we will do our best to satisfy you. Our goal is to have happy customers.

Gift certificates can only be used at our Jean-Talon Market store. They cannot be used for an online purchase on our website.

You can purchase them (amount of your choice) at our Jean-Talon Market store or by writing us at [email protected].

Two reasons can explain this situation:

1) Your device uses a VPN that either blocks your IP address or locates you in the United States.

2) You are located near the US borders, and this is a geolocation error.

In both cases, prices will be displayed again in Canadian dollars (CAD) once you have entered your Canadian billing address.

If the problem persists, contact us by phone (514-739-7071) or email.

We buy our spices from over 25 different countries. We proudly display on our packaging the country of origin of our single spices, the very same ones that are found in our blends.

Our products are not certified Fair Trade. We have had long standing relationships with most of our suppliers and always pay the price they ask. Call it what you want, we consider the fairness of our relationships to be essential to our success. That is the way we guarantee a steady supply of the world’s best spices year after year.

Our products are available in different sizes for restaurants, bakers, pastry chefs, microbreweries, and most other foodservice professionals. Please don’t hesitate to ask for our price list.

By email: [email protected]
By phone: (514) 739-7071

Our spices are available in over 100 stores and specialized outlets around the world. We distribute our own spices, so please contact us directly for further information.

By email: [email protected]
By phone: (514) 739-7071

Retailers can order what they want from our vast array of 400 products. So if you're looking for a specific product, we strongly suggest that you contact directly the retailer you intend to visit to check its availability.

Find the nearest retailer to you here!

Whole spices contain no gluten and we ensure that there are no gluten based products in our production facility. Trace amounts of gluten may be present however due to the fact that we have to control over which allergens may have come into contact with the raw products in their country of origin. We are continually working on eliminating all traces of allergens from our products, a process that may take several years.

We do not use chemicals or irradiated spices. They may kill bugs, but we believe they can harm people too. We do use steam or vacuum sterilization for some spices and make sure that other untreated spices are safe to use. Our spice facilities are federally inspected by Agriculture Canada.

No. We have spices in our spices – that’s all. Spices are the best preservatives of all. Some of our blends such as our rubs and zaatar contain salt. Unlike many spice companies we list all our spices on our labels.

The enemies of spices are air, light, heat, humidity and time. Spices should be kept whole, whenever possible, at room temperature, in metal, air tight containers, preferably in a cupboard or a drawer so as to protect them from light and dramatic temperature fluctuations. Under such conditions whole spices will keep for years. Don’t forget that they used to be transported by slow camel caravans across the world not so long ago.

Well packaged, appropriately stored spices retain all their volatile oils for at
least four years, after which time they begin to slowly lose their flavor. They can
however still be used, as the date on the can is only an indication of “best
before” not “do not use after”. Spices are among the least perishable of all foods. If
they still smell good, just use them.

We believe in whole spices. Whole spices are the ultimate guarantee of an unadulterated product – you can see what you’re getting. We believe that grinding them just prior to use will release their flavor. Any ground spice starts losing its flavor immediately. Just taste the difference between store- bought ground pepper, pepper ground one hour ago and freshly ground pepper – you be the judge. Many spice merchants say that pre-ground spices allow flavors to “meld” we prefer to call it “stale”. Nothing will improve your food for less effort than taking 30 seconds to grind whole spices. Some spices do not have to be ground to a fine powder, a little texture adds a lot of pleasure.

Both a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder are efficient, but a mortar is more romantic, and helps release daily frustrations. The smells coming out of a mortar will rise directly to your nose as you grind – smell is memory and a great source of inspiration.

It is important to know into which taste category of your spices fall; sweet, sour, acid, hot, bitter or umami. That knowledge allows you to substitute any one spice with another which shares the same taste, e.g. the bitterness characteristic of cumin is easily replaced by another bitter spice or herb such as fenugreek or oregano. By respecting the taste profile of your spice, substitution becomes simple; the flavor however will be affected, as cumin and fenugreek for example do not have the same flavor, but the taste profile of your dish will remain the same.

Each tea had a different caffeine content, Black Tea having the highest, White Tea the lowest. If you want your tea to have a lower caffeine content, try steeping it for 1-2 min a first time, throw it away and the following brews will have a lower caffeine content.

Most tea bags are made up of the dust, dregs and branches left over from the production of loose leaf teas. This means that that teabags brew faster than loose leaf teas, but the quality of the brew is lessened. Tea bags make for a more bitter brew, and do not allow for the full flavors of the tea to come out. Loose leaf teas allow you to control the flavor of the brew better, and are great for re-infusion.

Green, White, Yellow and Oolong loose leaf teas, kept in a dry place away from light can keep for up to a year, whereas black teas can be kept for up to two years. Pu Erh teas can be kept for much, much longer and they only get better with time. Like a fine red wine, Pu Erhs mellow and their flavor become more complex over time. You can keep your Pu Erh for several years, given that they are kept away from light and humidity.

Of course! With each progressive brew, the flavor and caffeine content of the tea will lessen, but you may find that you prefer the second or third brews more than the first. When re-infusing your tea, make sure you steep it for a bit longer than you did the previous time. Most green and yellow teas can be re-infused at least twice, and most Oolong, Black and Pu Erh teas can be infused 2 to 4 times, while some varieties can be steeped up to 8 times!