Tienda.com

Full review
I first discovered Tienda.com after studying abroad in Spain in 2002, and proceeded to tell all of my family and friends about it. Over the years, I've ordered many hard-to-find Spanish food products such as Spanish bonito (tuna) in olive oil, piquillo peppers, smoked sweet paprika, Spanish drinking chocolate, tortas de aceite, and a Spanish cheese sampler. They have Spanish spices and cooking ingredients such as squid ink, flor de sal, seafood (including rare baby eels), olive oils, and vegetables (including my favorite luxury, white asparagus from Spain (NOT China or Peru, like in the US).

Although I live in Texas, only Mexican food is readily available where I live, so Tienda is my only source for a taste of Spain. I love their torrefacto (sugar-roasted) coffee; this is the same blend that bars throughout Spain use for their cafe con leche. Other gems include their seasonal Spanish Christmas sweets such as turron (a honey-almond nougat), mantecados and polvorones (crumbly almond-powdered sugar cookies), membrillo (quince preserves commonly served with cheese) and pan de higo (a dried fig cake perfect for serving with Manchego cheese).

Tienda.com also carries Spanish gifts, including bath and body products such as Magno soaps, Gal lip balms, and Heno de Pravia collections, hand-painted ceramics from the Talavera region near Toledo, Spanish kitchenware (paella pans, espresso makers, churro makers, cazuelas), cookbooks, and a large selection of Spanish wines. It's also the only place I know of to order authenic Spanish meats, including chorizo, butifarra, salchichon, lomo, and jamon serrano and pata negra. Tienda.com also offers some harder-to-find cheeses such as Galician Tetilla, Basque Idiazabal, Asturian Afuega’l Pitu, and more.

Tienda.com has continued to evolve (at one point, it offered accomodations in the Madrid area and cuerdo seco ceramics from Sevilla), and prices have gone up a bit over the past several years, but I feel that it was necessary given the newfound popularity of Spanish products in the US (other stores such as Zingerman's Deli are selling the same products at a markup). Customer service is excellent; in fact, we heard from owner Don Harris on several occasions.

If you're a fan of Spain, a former exchange student, or a Spaniard living in the States, Tienda.com will become your favorite website.