>All commercial imports of food products require the filing of Prior Notice with FDA, and foreign manufacturers and/or distributers of food products must register with the FDA before their goods may be admitted.
>Imports of tea, coffee, and spices are subject to review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and their admissibility is determined by the FDA.
So it would still have to go through the FDA. It may not be as stringent as something like meat but it still has to get approval.
Also, you don't need to be a distributor to fall under this, you just need to be importing it for commercial use. That means if you are buying a box to sell or just the leaves to sell, both would fall under these rules.
It is only for commercial purposes, so a consumer buying and importing the tea for purpose of consumption is fine and doesn't need to work with the FDA.
>All commercial imports of food products require the filing of Prior Notice with FDA, and foreign manufacturers and/or distributers of food products must register with the FDA before their goods may be admitted.
You can see the rest here: https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/337/~/importing...