I was a bit obsessed with Sichuan peppercorns a few years back..
If one wants to have a good introduction to them, Huang Fei Hong Spicy Peanuts are on Amazon and many asian grocers.. they consistently have fresh and numbing pods mixed in.
I've never got good numbing Sichuan peppercorns retail in the US, but have gotten some really strong ones off of Amazon.
Try the Mala Market 0]. They have really good Sichuan products that are hard to find in the US. The quality is really good as they are a low volume business and travel to China to pick specific items. They definitely charge for this, but the quality for some things is well worth it.
I use them for things I can't get locally like rapeseed oil (caiziyou) or where the quality is wildly better like Sichuan peppercorns, Facing Heaven chiles, extra aged Pixian Douban Jiang. They used to be the source for Yibin Yacai, but now you can find that on Amazon and finally one of the local Chinatown grocers started carrying that for about 1/4th the cost.
If one wants to have a good introduction to them, Huang Fei Hong Spicy Peanuts are on Amazon and many asian grocers.. they consistently have fresh and numbing pods mixed in.
I've never got good numbing Sichuan peppercorns retail in the US, but have gotten some really strong ones off of Amazon.